For a 2 minute audio version click here
AN EXCEPTION TO THE RULE
In his writings on character traits, the great Jewish philosopher Rambam largely advocated finding the middle ground between two extremes (the ‘golden mean’ rule). Thus one should be neither excessively stingy nor overly generous; neither an extreme pleasure-seeker nor radically ascetic; overly elated or extremely depressed etc.
However the Rambam is quite clear that anger is an exception to this rule. In his ‘Laws of Personal Development’, he states the following:
“Anger is an exceptionally bad quality. It is proper to distance oneself from anger to the furthest extreme and train oneself not to become angry even in response to an incident that rightfully calls for anger.”
THE PERILS OF ANGER
What is it about anger that makes it so poisonous? Because an angry person loses the ability to properly assess any given situation; this lack of judgement leads to mistakes, often very damaging mistakes. Thus even if anger is justified it invariably leads to loss of control and so often to regrettable conduct.
As Will Rogers once said “People who fly into a rage always make a bad landing.”
Though anger is not listed among the Torah’s 365 prohibitions, Rabbi Chaim Vital attested “My master the Arizal was more cautious with anger than with any other sin”
Love builds and anger destroys. A lifetime of work and toil can vanish in one moment of anger.
Stay tuned for my upcoming ‘Happiness Hacks’ where I will share practical tips for controlling anger in our daily lives.
ב"ה
fxbrokersdync wrote...