The Mind as a Fortress
A gift of shared wisdom from the Legacy of June Crane
“The Buddha advised his followers that the mind should be turned into a fortress — meaning constant vigilance is needed regarding the contents of the mind. Without this attentiveness, the mind becomes like a vacant house situated on a busy street, its front doors wide open, allowing various and sundry thoughts to enter at will.”
Recalling that thoughts are living things, there is one unsavory character that should never be allowed entrance. We may refer to him figuratively as the Arsonist — a fitting name. Just as an arsonist destroys buildings through fire, anger wreaks incendiary havoc by inflaming passions and emotions. Its intensity ranges from annoyance and petulance on the low end to rage and irascibility on the high end.
Of all the vices to which mankind falls prey, this one is particularly noxious. In Moralia, Plutarch writes:
“None of the passions when stirred up and set in motion has so palpable a birth and growth as anger.”
Seneca agrees in his treatise De Ira:
“Other vices may be concealed and cherished in secret; anger shows itself openly and appears in the countenance, and the greater it is, the more visibly it boils forth.”
When the flame of anger burns intensely, it is common to mistake:
- intensity for vigor
- threat for confidence
- obstinacy for strength of character
One is carried away by the passion of the moment — only later seeing the damage that has been done.
A person who frequently succumbs to anger will end up burning more bridges than Alexander, Hannibal, and Caesar combined.
Montaigne, a student of Plutarch, describes it this way:
“There is no passion that so shakes the clarity of our judgment as anger… It is passion that is in command at first, it is passion that speaks, but it is not we ourselves.”
Francis Bacon offers this guidance:
“There is no other way but to meditate and ruminate upon the effects of anger… And the best time to do this is to look back upon anger when the fit is completely over.”
Seneca adds:
“The best course is to reject at once the first incitement to anger, to resist even its small beginnings, and to take pains to avoid falling into anger.”
This is wise advice. Otherwise, we are swept away by the raging inferno, learning only later — as we sift through the smoldering ashes — what Montaigne understood well:
“Once you are over the precipice it does not matter what gave you the push, you still go all the way to the bottom.”
Shared by June Crane with Renae Jensen Feb, 2020.
Source The National Lodge -Dec 2019
June said “This is a theosophical essay on anger. I thought you’d find it helpful when working around others who are angry.”
