THE THREE ROOT CAUSES OF ANGER

Whenever we sense irritation, frustration or anger arising in the mind, if we look closely, we will find that we are battling one of the following: another person, the past, or the self.

- B.K. ATAM PRAKASH

We fight the past because anger is usually directed at something that has happened, and looking at it we react emotionally when we want to change it, which is impossible. Something that happened a year, a month, or even a minute ago cannot be changed. We may believe that we can change it, because the belief is rooted in the subconscious mind.

Sometime in the past, we picked up and absorbed the belief that the world and its circumstances should be exactly as we want. When our desire for a certain type of circumstance is not fulfilled, or in other words something happens against our wishes, our immediate reaction is one of the various forms of anger, and we tend to try and change what has happened. We repeatedly replay a modified version of the incident in our mind, the way we would have liked it to happen, and keep trying to nullify the actual incident or remain in denial about it.

This is like fighting against the incident. We do all this in our mind, even though deep within we may recognise the fact that what has happened cannot be changed.