We believe that anger validates us – it helps show us as passionate and involved. If we don’t work to solve the world’s problems out of seething anger, it reveals us as complacent. If we do not argue, we submit, and if we don’t fight, then we are indifferent.
This binary worldview emerged from Western traditions. Eastern traditions, in contrast, tell us that the reality is a lot more complex, that anger does not equate to violence. Indeed, violence can exist without anger.
In this episode Devdutt Pattanaik speaks to Jerry Johnson about how eastern mythology teaches us to accept things as they are rather than constantly attempt to mould them to our expectations.