Anger is the departure from the natural state of the soul. which is peace.

By: Peter Clark 
Source: The Daily Guardian https://epaper.thedailyguardian.com/2026/06/12/e-paper-today-delhi-13-june-2026/ 
Dated: June 13th, 2026

Anger can really damage our lives. While some think it is a tool to get what they want, they little realise that in fact the anger is ruling them. Anger does not make anyone feel great, but it can become addictive. Mike George, in his book “Don’t get mad, get wise” says that “anger is a self-created disturbance of your inner peace.”  Most people think that it is the things that are happening and the people who are interacting with me that are causing my anger. If I do this, then I am giving the control of myself to those outside situations and people. Then I am powerless and just end up waiting for it all to disappear, change, or finish.

However, if I accept that it is self-created, then I am in the driving seat, I can change it. I have the right to change it. I am not changing the situation or person, I am changing my attitude, feelings, and emotions. I am changing my thoughts. If I understand and accept that my original pure state of being is complete peace, then agitation, irritation, frustration (all aspects of anger) are all disturbing that inner peace. Every time I feel a little disturbed about anything, it is in fact a seed of anger. That awareness is a small step towards returning to real peace.

It is very good for spiritual progress to be able to recognise anger in any of its forms, because then we can make some effort to change it. We can look for the triggers and analyse our reactions. The anger cycle begins with thoughts that create actions or words that are angry. This feeds into the memory bank, and then when the same triggers arise we will easily slip into the angry reaction every time it is triggered. We remember how we dealt with the situation previously and feel we have the right to speak to people in that way because they were wrong. It may be true that what they did was wrong, but by creating these patterns of behaviour, I will become addicted to such behaviour and will continue to react in this way unless I address them. If my anger causes people to cower, I can come under the illusion that I have certain power. If I develop the habit of getting enraged and remain oblivious to the hurt I am distributing, I, and they, begin to believe that I have power. They may simply become afraid, or they may become addicted to anger themselves and rebel against me – and then that is war. This is a huge illusion.

Don’t suppress, repress, or express, but learn to transform. The key to this is self-awareness. The original state of the soul is peace — it is the natural state of the self. Anger is a departure from that. Suppressing, by force, for example counting to ten, does hold it back, but not for long. Anger damages the body and the mind and leads to depression. Repressing is like hiding it away and not acknowledging the fact that it is there.

To transform, we need to acknowledge it.  We learn to observe our thoughts and feelings and take absolute responsibility, because I do have control over how I think and feel. When we believe that we have lost something, which was never ours in the first place of course, when any desire is unfulfilled, when we believe we have been hurt by someone, we must remember again that eternal peace within. We have always had that but have put it out of touch by believing we are physical beings. Every time we become enraged and influence people and feel the power – we become lost in it – the eternal, internal peace, is harder to reach.

It is through meditation that I connect with the peace within. I am the soul, not this body or the roles that I play. My natural quality is peace; stillness, inner silence. I take control of my feelings and bring out the truth of peace within and dissolve the feelings that are disturbing that peace. I become a detached observer as the soul. I am at peace. I am calm. I am peace. We can practise this and train ourselves to hold the peace within.

Peter Clark is a singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He is the coordinator for Brahma Kumaris activities in Queensland, Australia.