The Energy of Anger

As a manifestation of the primary force of repulsion, necessary for initial self-definition, anger is one of the most powerful motivators and sources of energy for action.

From an energetic standpoint, anger has two forms:

– One that repels all that is alien, all that does not fit the nature of a given system or being (purificatory anger);

– One that removes obstacles on the way to realizing power, sweeping aside impediments and ensuring action pushes through (active anger).

The first form of anger’s energy pertains to the Primordial Fire (Yar, Fohat), while the second is linked to the Inner Fire, the “subterranean.”

The evolutionarily ingrained mechanism for mobilizing energy — the surge of extra effort when ordinary effort is insufficient — lies in anger’s activation: we get angry whenever things go wrong, and it is this anger that is meant to supply the extra energy needed to bring an action to successful completion.

Nevertheless, as we have already discussed, because of the highly elemental nature of the fiery principle of anger, it is often distorted, degenerating into malice or aggression, and instead of ensuring the efficiency of a process it becomes destructive.

For these two reasons — because of anger’s intense energy and because of the ease with which control over it is lost — mastery of this principle has always attracted attention across all paths of mental development.

Note that this is not a call to eliminate anger as such (we have already discussed that any force operates in the binary of benevolent and wrathful manifestations), but rather to transform its destructive manifestations into constructive ones.

Such transformation can be achieved in two ways:

– If the distortion of anger is caused by the expansion of the scope of its action (we are angry at one manifestation, want to remove one obstacle or repel some force, and then, losing control over the anger, begin to smash everything left and right), anger must be harnessed; it must be returned to its original purpose. This approach is usually known as the skill of “controlling one’s anger,” and it is achieved through gradual mental training, developing concentration, determination, and attentiveness.

– If the distortion consists in a goal substitution, and either it is impossible to identify the original trigger — the source of the anger’s arising (we miss the moment the repulsive force arises, we are angry and cannot understand why), or that source cannot be removed (circumstances are stronger than we are) — then such anger must be depersonalized and targetless, and its energy extracted in “pure” form and sublimated, channeled elsewhere. This approach includes various techniques, among them transformation through images of wrathful deities and the “repulsion of repulsion,” enacted in initiatory rituals.

In any case, it is important for the Magus to understand that the energies of the Psychocosmos are analogous to, and fundamentally obey the same laws as, the energies of the macrocosmos, and should therefore be engaged with in a similar manner. For the Magus the Psychocosmos is the same arena of energetic play as the macrocosmos, and thus the Magus is, more, a physicist than a psychologist. By locating the energetic foundations of the mind’s manifestations, sustaining, redirecting, or transforming them, the Magus achieves high efficiency in governing the Psychocosmos necessary for successful advancement along his Way — up the Tree.