I have made a reply to this post below. It is underneath the qoute below. With a little thought it's meaning will become apparent. The difficulty with responding to posts such as the one below is this; We r often a mixture of good and bad. We carry with us both beauty and ugliness and so an explanation of the present state of affairs in our lives must include the complicated chemistry we ourselves have put into motion and continue to do so with our present actions.
I've heard it said that beneath anger, there is always hurt. So, perhaps you have been very loving to yourself this and previous, recent lives Steve.
I've been angry, caused by other who hurt me. I think I'm still healing. It's an ongoing journey, because when I think about the selfishness of others who hurt me, it does anger me, because I don't feel like I deserved it, and yet... the paradox is that the hurt others have caused in me, also teaches me lessons about myself that help me in the future, and through me helps others. It is a paradox.
I more often feel angry about people not living up to what I see as their "full potential", but I have to remind myself, this is a wasteful way to focus my energy... it's better for me to focus on opening up my potential, and let this have a positive effect on those who are open to it. Some people are not ready for change, even for a whole lifetime past a point in time...
Anger directed at the self isn't something I can really relate to. I do accept my mistakes. I want to help and apologize to anyone I've caused any amount of suffering to. Anger at self seems especially unhealthy... Or, at least it is an imbalance I do not really understand...
It is not so much of a paradox when we understand that we have created everything. Even the hurt that others have 'caused us'. Just as u or i cannot remember being in our mothers womb so we have difficulty remembering before being there. Nevertheless we existed before then also and we have difficulty remembering the hurt and harm we have caused others that we may b now experiencing in some form. Say we did remember all the pain we caused others in previous existences... would it help us or would we b very discouraged when we recognized the source of and cause of the original suffering? So u see in this sense we r given a break. We r given a new chance in this chapter.... this episode.
We now have the ability to break the chains of hurt and suffering that we have created and now see it mirrored in others creating their own future hurt. We can dismiss what those who r doing to us and create our own chain of future reactions. There may b a suggestion or a time when we can let others know what they r doing to themselves. But certainly retreat in the face of those who r equally loving us is a poor solution and often that is what we do. Why? Because again we r planting new seeds of difficulties for ourselves. Suddenly at some future time we will find those who retreat from us when they r uncomfortable and yet we r actually loving to them.
So there u have it. It all comes down to us. We create the movie we see before us. So y not create beauty in the face of ugliness? Why not create healing in the face of hurt? Y not create a new world for ourselves and those we meet?
Jitendra