Is There Righteous Anger Ever?
by J. Krishnamurti
[Listen to Audio!]
 One of the most common expressions of violence is anger. When my wife or sister is attacked, I say I am righteously angry; when my country is attacked, my ideas, my principles, my way of life, I am righteously angry[…] So, when we are talking about anger, which is a part of violence, do we look at anger in terms of righteous and unrighteous anger, according to our own inclinations and environmental drive, or do we see only anger? Is there righteous anger ever? Or is there only anger?
The moment you protect your family, your country, a bit of colored rag called a flag, a belief, an idea, a dogma, that very protection indicates anger. So can you look at anger without any explanation or justification, without saying, "I must protect my goods," or "I was right to be angry," or "How stupid of me to be angry?" Can you look at anger as if it were something by itself?
[…] It is very difficult to look at anger dispassionately because it is a part of me, but that is what I am trying to do. Here I am, a violent human being, whether I am black, brown, white or purple. I am not concerned with whether I have inherited this violence or whether society has produced it in me; all I am concerned with is whether it is at all possible to be free from it. To be free from violence means everything to me. It is destroying me and destroying the world. I feel responsible — it isn’t just a lot of words — and I say to myself, "I can do something only if I am beyond anger myself, beyond violence, beyond nationality." But to be beyond violence I cannot suppress it, I cannot deny it…I have to look at it, I have to study it, I must become very intimate with it and I cannot become intimate with it if I condemn it or justify it.
About the Author: Excerpted from "Freedom from the Known" by J. Krishnamurti.
Latest Community Insights  |
Is There Righteous Anger Ever?
How do you relate to the notion of looking at anger as just anger without justifying or condemning it? Can you share a personal story of a time you were able to look at your anger without condemning or justifying it? What helps you move beyond a sociological analysis of anger and toward freeing yourself from it? |
| Jagdish P Dave wrote: A very wise statement by J.Krishnamurti. As I understand, anger is anger, righteous or unrighteous. Anger burns us and burns others. As far as I am concerned I do not intend and want to bu… |
| Kristin Pedemonti wrote: Anger is a challenge for me: it is an emotion I was forbidden to express as a child/teen and it seems to come out now rarely and perhaps most often as tears or even as depression which is often… |
| Rajesh wrote: As Krishnamurti points out, any protection of dogma, country etc. is itself indicates anger. To me, it means that anger begins in very subtle ways and at some point becomes gross enough that it… |
| david doane wrote: I have looked at my anger. I can’t remember a time that I became angry that I am proud of or after which I felt good or believed my anger was good for myself or the other person. At… |
| Amy wrote: Only God can free us from it! I learned “anger” from my father! As an adult now, I want to keep as far from it as I can! Anger cheats and destroys (just like “the evil one”)!… |
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Editor’s note: Integrity means embodying kindness consistently, even when the temptation to act otherwise is at its highest. Kindness is not a matter of convenience – it’s often most needed when it’s hardest to practice. Whatever the challenges may be, may you always have the strength to be kind first.
Sangha of Auspicious Companions 