Are you feeling “emotional” today? For most people, it’s hard to imagine a day going by without experiencing a variety of emotions. From joy to despair, surprise and excitement to disappointment and fear, emotions seem to accompany every experience of life. Below, Sadhguru discusses the relationship between our thoughts and our emotions, and he shares insight on the nature of some specific emotions, including one which provides a particular allure for many – the emotion of anger.
Emotions: The “Juicy Part” of Thoughts
Sadhguru: “Thought and emotions are not different. The way you think is the way you feel. The way you feel is the way you think. It is just that thought is dry, emotion is just the juicier part of the thought. Isn’t it so? If you think somebody’s really wonderful, then you have sweet emotions towards that person. If you think someone is horrible, then you have nasty emotions towards that person. You cannot think someone is very wonderful and have nasty emotions towards that person, nor can you think someone is horrible and have sweet emotions towards that person, it does not work like that, isn’t it?
And thought can turn whenever it wants, and emotion is not able to turn that quick. Today, you’re looking at somebody and thinking, this person is the most wonderful person on the planet. Tomorrow morning, if you see that person doing something that you don’t like, your thought instantly makes a 180 degree turn. But your emotion, unable to turn, continues to move in the same direction, that is the pain you go through, because thought is going this way, emotion is still continuing to go that way because emotion has the long-turning arc. This fluctuation is what you go through as emotional pain and suffering.
Whatever is happening in your thought, whatever is happening in your emotions, is a psychological reality. What is a psychological reality has nothing to do with the existential reality. If you come down to this world, if you drop your psychological reality, now you’re in reality. The psychological reality has become so important today in your mind, the way you think and feel is determining the very quality of your experience of life, isn’t it so? Right now, the flowers are blooming in the tree – that doesn’t determine the quality of your life. Right now, in your mind, some nasty thought is going on, some acid emotion is coming up. That determines the quality of your life, isn’t it so? Your psychological reality is determining the very fundamentals of your life, not the existential reality. So when you say a guru, you’re talking about somebody who’ll destroy your psychological reality so that you can come down to the existence.”
A Spectrum of Emotions
Sadness:
“One can make any emotion into a creative force in their life. If your sadness reminds you that you are incomplete, it is good; make use of your sadness to grow. But, when you get sad, if you are going to get irritable and angry, and that whole world is wrong, you are a fool. Do you want to make this sadness into anger or into love and compassion? It is very easy when you are sad, to become compassionate. It is already a dissolving kind of energy; you can use it for further dissolution which leads you to your ultimate well-being.” Read More
Happiness:
“Happiness does not only come from achievement. When you were a child you were simply happy. That is your nature. If you go against your own nature to be happy, you will never get anywhere. To be happy is not the ultimate aspect of life. It is the fundamental aspect of life. If you are not happy, what else can you do with your life? Only if you are happy, can other great possibilities arise in your life.” Read More
Fear:
“…What is fear about? Your fear is never about what has happened. It is always about what may happen. It is always about the future. The future is yet to happen. It has not yet happened. That means, it is not in existence. So, being fearful means you are suffering that which does not exist. If you suffer that which does not exist, should we call you sane or insane? Your only comfort is ‘everybody is like me.’ You have the majority with you! But that still doesn’t make it right because you are suffering that which does not exist.” Read More
Love:
“What you are referring to as love is basically the sweetness of your emotion. If you look at this carefully, naturally your innermost longing is to be free of every human being on the planet, to be free of everything so that you can be just the way you want to be. Once a human being becomes more aware of his own nature, he begins to experience love, blissfulness and ecstasy. Even to experience orgasmic ways of life, you actually don’t need anybody. If you just sit here, you can make it happen within yourself because after all, it’s your body, it’s your mind, it’s your emotion, it’s your chemistry and you are the one who is creating all the experiences of your life. So, if it’s self-created, right now, if you sit here, would you choose to maintain the sweetness of your mind, body, emotion and energy or would you like something bitter?” Read More
Out of all of the wide range of emotions, why are we so attracted to anger? Whether it’s flickering in front of us on the movie screen, headlining the evening news, or even on the streets outside, outbursts of anger never fail to grab our attention. And while angry characters can easily capture our imagination, our own anger can also easily overtake our own mind and other emotions when situations don’t go our way. Below, Sadhguru explores our obsession with anger:
The Attraction of Anger
Sadhguru: Anger must be a very beautiful thing, because a lot of people have taken onto it. It must be a very wonderful thing, because so many people have chosen it, like Coca-Cola. Probably more people are into anger than Coca-Cola, isn’t it? So it must be a really great thing so many people have chosen. But they have not chosen; they have helplessly fallen into it, that’s the problem.
They have fallen into it because, for most people…in a way they have chosen it unconsciously, because the most intense moments in their lives are either pain or anger. These are the only two intensities that they know and every human being always longs for intensity. So today watching these sports and other things has become such a big thing, because of the intensity in it.
You remember the film The Gladiators: these gladiators – it is a sport, a wild sport – war was a sport. Because it is not the violence, it is not the blood, it is not the killing that people like. People want to see something intense. Now why all these thrillers and action movies and sports events are so popular is that people want some intensity, somewhere. They don’t know how to be intense. Either through physical action, or through anger, or through pain, this is the only way they know how to be intense.
The very reason drugs and sex have become such a big thing in the world is somehow they want to experience some intensity, at least for a few moments; they want to know some intensity. It is the intensity which draws them. And as you know, I am always talking about intensity because that is the only thing that man is seeking for, and that is the only thing that will liberate man from his present bondages.
Anger is Intensity
So anger is enormous intensity; (but) it’s an intensity which hurts you. It’s an intensity which can get you into a lot of trouble. It’s an intensity which can destroy you and the people around you. It’s an intensity which gets you into absolutely stupid states of action. Though you know it causes so much damage, here and there you want to get into anger.
And people like the angry man, please see. See, you want to go and watch a movie; if your hero, the Hollywood man, is a very calm, quiet man, you’re not so interested in him. If he’s an angry man, who stands up and does things in anger, not peacefully, you like him because he’s got intensity about him. So you would like to do the same thing, but you pay a very big price trying to be angry in the situations in which you live, because people around you are going to get even more angry with you, and they will do their own things to you.
People have done wonderful things out of anger also. A lot of people still believe genuine action will come forth only in anger. See now, for example, we have to fight a battle, let’s say, to protect ourselves, to protect our families, our country. We can fight a war without anger very efficiently, but people would like to fight with anger because they don’t know how else to become intense. They have to create anger; that’s the only way they know how to be intense, and that is the only way they know how to perform intense activity or fruitful activity in some way. That’s the only way they can get themselves to do certain things which they would otherwise be incapable of doing.
So don’t worry about your anger. At least in anger you’re becoming intense. But it’s time to transform this intensity of anger into higher levels of intensity where it’s very beautiful. At least somebody’s able to get angry, I’m happy. I can’t bear with the people who are eating eight meals a day and are just lethargic, and nothing happens with them; they don’t even get angry. If anger is happening, at least some life is cooking within you; life is still kicking, you know?
Plus receive a free eBook by Sadhguru
