- Holding Onto -

Description by Kim Heise

Some appropriate quotes from Bob Thurman, who writes a book on the subject, regarding the divergent ideas about anger from Aristotle and Seneca: "Quoting Aristotle...is likening anger to a useful weapon for just war or noble fighting. Seneca rejects the usefulness of this weapon; it is a breakable sword or a spear with two points, one pointed toward the wielder. He gives the martial artist's observation that the energy of anger is not steady and reliable, it attacks violently at first, but quickly wearies and cannot sustain the fight, giving the example of a snake that emits all it's venom on the first bite and then is harmless." "Seneca argues like a Buddhist that in all these cases, prosecution, defense, prevention and punishment are all better served without getting angry, that anger always makes it harder to get things right. What is needed in these situations are courage, justice, endurance, and wisdom; such virtues have no need of borrowing their strength from vicious emotions such as anger."