The Flipside of Anger or Hate

Epiphany; 
noun: 

"A manifestation of a divine or supernatural being."

"A moment of sudden revelation or insight."

An epiphany (from the ancient Greek ἐπιφάνεια, epiphaneia, "manifestation, striking appearance") is an experience of sudden and striking realization. Generally the term is used to describe scientific breakthrough, religious or philosophical discoveries, but it can apply in any situation in which an enlightening realization allows a problem or situation to be understood from a new and deeper perspective. Epiphanies are studied by psychologists and other scholars, particularly those attempting to study the process of innovation.


Epiphanies are relatively rare occurrences and generally follow a process of significant thought about a problem. Often they are triggered by a new and key piece of information, but importantly, a depth of prior knowledge is required to allow the leap of understanding. Famous epiphanies include Archimedes's discovery of a method to determine the density of an object ("Eureka!") and Isaac Newton's realization that a falling apple and the orbiting moon are both pulled by the same force. From Wiki

"Relatively rare."

I heard an epiphany this morning and thought I'd write about it. A friend was really angry about something.  It was something that has angered a number of people, and to be specific about it is to take it out of the world of "hate" or "anger" and to put it in the world of "cause and effect."

Alcatraz. Prison of the mind.

In other words, any normal person would see this video clip of someone being hurt and would feel a swelling of anger in themselves with regard to the event.  In her own life, she has had a similar event, but not the same event.  Meaning, her reference to the feelings of powerlessness, hurt, humiliation and fear were not the same as the person in the video she was watching, but one could "associate" those feelings with a "fear based memory."

Post traumatic stress disorder is a fear based memory.  Seeing people hurt by people in authority is a fear based memory.  Reading about a sexual abuse case in the news sometimes triggers the memories of fear or abuse, and brings back those feelings of anger. 

But this post is about addressing just the energy of anger and hate.

Anger, hate, fear is a prison.

Because as my friend was reflecting on the feelings of anger and hate regarding that tape, she was also aware that she had awoken in a state of anger, had already cut her finger badly by accident, or lack of focus, and was generally in a state of rage, fear, anger and resentment - not just from watching the video of someone being hurt - but from all of it.

She realized "Everything that's been happening in the world that is being focused on by the media" contributed to her state of mind.  

All of it infuriating in her mind, and more importantly in her energetic field.

And then she had an epiphany.  

She saw that the energy of hate is closely aligned with anger, and stepping into, or living in a state of anger or hate forces an energy shift in us that puts us into that focus.  That it's a self created energy, and that it is just a matter of focus to be in that beam of energy, or to not be in that energy.

Light. Tunnel. End.

As she experienced that thought, she was suddenly overcome with a feeling of compassion for the perpetrator in that video.  




She saw that the person committing the act of violence was also living in that state of fear and anger, and that the action was a direct result of being in that state of anger and hate.

It didn't mitigate her feelings of horror of seeing what happened to the victim, but she saw and understood that the perpetrator was acting as a direct result of living in that state of anger and hate, or fear and disconnection. She had an overwhelming feeling of compassion for the perpetrator.

I'm not posting the video or the description of the violence - because that would be missing the point.  The point is that living in a state of fear, living in a state of anger and hate only causes more violence, anger and hate.

It's a choice to be in the energy of hate and confusion, anger and fear.  

We tend to forget that everything that we think, feel, sense or experience is a result of exterior input.  Meaning the light wave that hits our eye is translated into an electrical signal that enters our memory, or the smell of food is a wave that reaches our nostrils and stimulates that part of our memory bank, the sound wave that moves through the air and reaches our ears  is translated to a signal that goes into our memory and causes a reaction - or that the sensation on our skin is actually an electrical signal that moves through our body to remind us of something... all of it is an electrical impulse.

All of it exists outside of us.  None of it exists inside of us.

It's a matter of reacting to what we're seeing, sensing, hearing or experiencing.  And that's a choice for us of how to react.  We can react the way our parents reacted, our grandparents reacted, the way our friends or community reacts - or we can choose to react the way we believe we should react.  

With or without fear, with or without ignorance, with or without hate or anger.

The  Dalai Lama calls himself a "professional laugher."

As the Dalai Lama has pointed out - "Hate or anger would be a useful emotion if they caused the person we hated to be sick or ill.  But it doesn't.  It only serves to make us sick or ill."  

We can't control what other people do, we can't control how other people behave, we can only control how we react to them.

And when those feelings of hate or anger arise within -- try to unfocus that feeling - or shift it -- to see that it arose out of fear and anger in the perpetrator, that we don't have to experience that anger and hate, and adjust it so that you are not attached to the experience of it.  

From a Flipside perspective,  people under deep hypnosis often say that the very worst things we can imagine happening to people were "agreed upon" prior to coming to the planet.  That's a disconcerting piece of information but it's not my opinion, belief or theory.  It's just what people consistently say about their own journey and path.  Meaning it's next to impossible to understand why an event occurs, unless we ask the people involved.  Unless we literally "step into someone else's shoes" to understand it.

If we understand that people act out of anger and hate because they're living in the shadow of anger and hate, it allows us to not react with our own anger and hate.

It would be easy to say "the answer is to try to live in a state of love and compassion" but we all know how difficult that is.  

Just try to live in a state of understanding.

Turn this...

Or this.

Into this...

Find the thing that shifts your focus from anger and hate to understanding or compassion.  

It's a much healthier way to navigate the planet.  

My epiphany for the day.