Are we responsible for our feelings, or are we only responsible for how we act them out toward others?
When we grow up we learn how to control our feelings, or how to hide them from others, because showing them can sometimes have negative consequenses. I'm thinking of karma, "what comes around goes around", cause and effect etc. We learn that if we show anger, anger is what we get back.
But when we mature we can also understand the reacton of anger in another person, we know the causes that can trigger this effect. We can empathize with that person by knowing their background, or recognizing versions of ourselves in them. If we still get hurt by that persons anger, knowing and empathizing with what caused it, are we then acting irresponsibly toward ourselves and the other person? Are we by our "immature" reaction creating "bad karma" for the other person, who perhaps hasn't enough selfawareness to realize that anger can hurt another person emotionally to begin with? It's a question of ultimate responsibility for our feelings, not just how we show them. Or is it here that forgiveness comes in? By forgiving ourselves and others can we then stop the effect of the cause, or will it only affect our peace of mind, and not the other persons "karma"?
What is really the best moral way to react to anger, if one wants to cause minimal damage, and contribute to the well-being of others and themselves instead?
Is it inevitable that learning (here the maturing process) has to involve pain and suffering?
When we grow up we learn how to control our feelings, or how to hide them from others, because showing them can sometimes have negative consequenses. I'm thinking of karma, "what comes around goes around", cause and effect etc. We learn that if we show anger, anger is what we get back.
But when we mature we can also understand the reacton of anger in another person, we know the causes that can trigger this effect. We can empathize with that person by knowing their background, or recognizing versions of ourselves in them. If we still get hurt by that persons anger, knowing and empathizing with what caused it, are we then acting irresponsibly toward ourselves and the other person? Are we by our "immature" reaction creating "bad karma" for the other person, who perhaps hasn't enough selfawareness to realize that anger can hurt another person emotionally to begin with? It's a question of ultimate responsibility for our feelings, not just how we show them. Or is it here that forgiveness comes in? By forgiving ourselves and others can we then stop the effect of the cause, or will it only affect our peace of mind, and not the other persons "karma"?
What is really the best moral way to react to anger, if one wants to cause minimal damage, and contribute to the well-being of others and themselves instead?
Is it inevitable that learning (here the maturing process) has to involve pain and suffering?
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