Fear, anger, and conflict...a source of power?

[Raziel]

Originally Posted by The Necromancer

I became strong inside. I found my inner b*tch, indulged in it and it felt wonderful!

I could also confirm this as truth except that I referred to "it" as the demon earlier.

Elsewhere I have said that it is similar to you being a white belt in karate, you will get hit & everything hurts. Once you are comfortable enough or just used to how it feels you become skilled enough to move up a belt ...

I did caveat this with saying that even a black belt can still be attacked, they just have enough experience to deal with what is coming better than a white belt does.

I also described it as you being a scarred wondering ronin (master less warrior), the fact that your still here shows that you have had your metal tested many times. You will be prepared enough thanks to your previous battles but the scars are a reminder that you have also had close calls. Those you have fought or those of a lower belt are no big threat to you now but it is important to know that your not invincible. Someone throwing out white belt moves does become amusing but it is important to still realise that lucky shots can still take you off your feet!

In modern life we tend not to have these type of tests very often but in our own lives we battle on in different ways that can still change our lives for good or ill.

For me the "demon" often lets me pass by unchallenged where by people don't quite know how to take me or what I am made of. I'm a greyman where I'm between black & white but am I a darker shade of grey to them?

I talked to "superiors" at work the same as I spoke to "subordinates" & as long as you seem genuine I give the benefit of the doubt .. for now. It's probably lost me "friends" or more than one promotion but it's how I have to cope in the world. I'm proud that for example I can look anyone in the eye & know that they are not better than me simply because rank or social status says so but I don't waste my time or "energy" if I don't care about the battle.

If you wanna look good at my expense at work that's fine but I will note it in my mind & you don't get a free pass ever unless I see a benefit. The "demon/b*tch" is sleeping with one eye open but I choose when to wake it.

Originally Posted by ocean breeze

The idea of trying to embrace can be done with the intent of trying to escape from the very thing you're afraid of. Doing so in hopes the fear would subside. Understand or no???

A sense of adventure with dangerous experiments can be quite revealing of the byways. Courage rarely goes without fear.

♥

[ocean breeze]

Originally Posted by Lorelyen

A sense of adventure with dangerous experiments can be quite revealing of the byways. Courage rarely goes without fear.

♥

I agree. Though i would say a courage person does with the intent of confronting not escaping. I recall listening to Mike Tyson speak of fear and how he was always afraid before getting in the ring. He accepted fear, he didn't get in the ring with the intent of trying to escape from it. https://youtu.be/0oL5gPCWdv4

[Flexi-Girl]

Originally Posted by knightoflenity

This is why ideologies are quite damaging as they are essentially black & white. For every person that says there is nothing to worry about etc there will have been a person that had a bad reaction or maybe even died of the thing that you find scary.

I found as a teenager that people were less likely to rob me, pick on me if I was prepared to go dark & be mentally prepared to fight & fight hard. I am as soft as it comes but I find that I have to keep the Demon on a chain just incase it is needed.

If I whip that boy out (so far & fingers crossed) he actually saves my *** because of his very nature being dead certain that he will go the whole hog. It would be very easy to just let that "energy" lead me through life but I know that I would make many enemies & keep genuine people at bay.

Also there is always someone worse that might see you as a challenge that they would like to take on (this has happened to me also). I actually had a really nice person step between me & someone when I thought that I was in big trouble & it's probably then that I realised that the "dark energy" is very, very hit & miss.

For me the demon is still on the metaphorical chain - like a guard dog but I would rather be aware of my surroundings & keep away from trouble. As I was saying above - we are a duality there must be a reason for this & I think that every religion & rule out there are anti this energy because it can go wrong very quickly.

I use it & it saves me but it has very nearly gotten me into trouble also. This is why I think that genuine kindness & lenience is the harder path .. other people make it hard to stay lenient. But I will always try as the other way can be awful.

If you think of the yin-yang I am 80% white half but every now & again the black simply has to be let loose otherwise I'd be in big trouble.

I understand where you are coming from but let me see if I can clarify this. As a teenager, you found if you were prepared to go dark people would likely leave you alone.

What this tells me...
1. Your situation caused you to be afraid.
2. You used the energy of that fear and drew on what you consider darker attributes of your personality in order to obtain a particular outcome, notably being left alone.
3. Gaining awareness of this new found ability gave you a sense of confidence in yourself even if there were consequences you needed to be aware of.

In other words you focused your mind in a powerful way to obtain ONE desired outcome. Your experience caused you to level up.

Let me point out however.

You could have very well used that fear to move yourself in any direction. The fear by itself is just raw energy.

[Raziel]

Originally Posted by Flexi-Girl

Let me point out however.

You could have very well used that fear to move yourself in any direction. The fear by itself is just raw energy.

Did you see my other posts #6, #8, #9 as well as #11? You really believe that I desired one outcome/ that I could have gone in any direction?

I'm not dismissing the things that you are proposing but I have provided a caveat in the fact that there is a reason that people older & wiser, more worldly or perhaps more educated than we are over the years have warned against "going dark".

When I provide information, thoughts or general pondering on a subject I always consider that there may very well be a teenager reading, growing & trying to make sense of the world reading our words. Here it is important to understand that there is nothing new under the sun & it isn't simply a new concept that darker parts of life are useful.

What doesn't kill us makes us stronger - yadda yadda - it is true for sure but there is a cost. It is why in magic like voodoo for example you "pay" because there is a cost in your actions towards others.

Your idea & what you propose is true (to Quote a great teacher) "from a certain point of view" & consequence is & will always be my point to point out to anyone - especially the young.

[Flexi-Girl]

Originally Posted by knightoflenity

Did you see my other posts #6, #8, #9 as well as #11? You really believe that I desired one outcome/ that I could have gone in any direction?

I'm not dismissing the things that you are proposing but I have provided a caveat in the fact that there is a reason that people older & wiser, more worldly or perhaps more educated than we are over the years have warned against "going dark".

When I provide information, thoughts or general pondering on a subject I always consider that there may very well be a teenager reading, growing & trying to make sense of the world reading our words. Here it is important to understand that there is nothing new under the sun & it isn't simply a new concept that darker parts of life are useful.

What doesn't kill us makes us stronger - yadda yadda - it is true for sure but there is a cost. It is why in magic like voodoo for example you "pay" because there is a cost in your actions towards others.

Your idea & what you propose is true (to Quote a great teacher) "from a certain point of view" & consequence is & will always be my point to point out to anyone - especially the young.

I think there is some kind of misunderstanding here. No point in continuing this conversation right now.

[Jyotir]

Originally Posted by Flexi-Girl

Okay this is possibly going to sound a bit out there because I haven't fully developed this idea. It has crept in and out of my consciousness these past few years, but has not quite held sway over me until recently. So what I am presenting is not a belief but rather an idea.

Imagine for a moment that what you are resisting is the very thing you should be embracing.

Throughout life all of us repeatedly experience fear and conflict one way or another. It's just unavoidable, and often we try to avoid it, but too often what causes us the worst pain and suffering is resisting it. That's kind of an established axiom in the spiritual communities. What I was thinking is slightly more unconventional.

What if fear, anger and conflict are not something we should want to avoid, but rather something we can tap into like a resource? What if we could use fear, anger and conflict as a source of energy from which to drive our greatest desires. I am not talking about the idea that we should be driven by fear and anger in a passive way so that it consumes us. Instead we gain light and clarity from it.

If that were possible, then we wouldn't feel the need to avoid our fears. We wouldn't have to feel defeated or as victims. Instead we would be welcoming of them.

Our enemies would not be our enemies but rather our trainers. Our problems would become our advantages. Why only seek the people who make us feel good. In that context we could draw power from any source.

Of course we would have to learn to use those dark energies, without losing our emotional core, without being driven mad, we could become masters that way?

In fact every unwanted emotion is like trapped energy waiting to be harnessed like a battery. If we weren't so put off by it, and instead saw it's potential, the possibilities would be limitless.

I know it sounds weird. Why expose yourself to people and situations that could hurt you? I totally get it, but isn't the fear and bitterness of such things that is more damaging to us than the thing itself?

If we didn't view such people or situations as bad, but instead a hidden means to our rewards, then we wouldn't feel repelled by them. And also I am not proposing that we should just go out and expose ourselves to more fear and conflict than we can handle. I am just thinking we could use it to our benefit when we encounter it in daily life

Hi FlexiGirl,

I think I get what you are saying, but it is important to be clear about what you are proposing, definitions, etc., especially if that proposal subsequently becomes the basis for some practice, e.g., life-experience, which in this case would be somewhat problematic, AND, what is actually very typical in human behaviour.

To be clear Fear, anger, and conflict...is not a source of power, even if the experience of those things may be powerfully dissatisfying which then becomes the impetus for finding a better way.

Fear, anger and conflict are the result of ignorance and a false perception of reality leading to continued perpetuation of more of the same through action based in those false perceptions. Using this as a progressive construct is not “unconventional” - it’s not possible - since ignorance must be superseded by a higher principle to illumine and transform it.

What you are suggesting is something like deliberately touching a hot stove, getting burnt, and then in anger and pain, vowing to touch the same hot stove again - this time more effectively, because getting burnt is the best way to get burnt again, only better. It’s a closed loop.

The confusion is in not accepting the getting burnt - rejecting as ‘negative emotion’ (and suppressing the message). Of course it’s a powerful emotion - that‘s the point. But the source of the message is a higher truth warning strongly not to touch the hot stove, to change, to find another way. Not to glorify pain and suffering as an end, or even as a means. It’s neither.

It’s like the woman whose husband viciously beats her.
All of her friends say, “Why don’t you leave him?”
“Because he loves me.”

We don’t have to ‘re-create’ the ignorance extant in the Universe - it’s a given condition of incarnation. It’s already unavoidable.

The question is: What do we do about it?
Acceptance is a good first step. But then what? Go look for more suffering? Deliberately?

The best way to employ what you are talking about is to simply recognize the warning signs of these strong emotions which are indicators - not the source - and seek the true Source for the purpose of transformation - not confuse the message as the source; the messenger as the King.


~ J

[Flexi-Girl]

Originally Posted by Jyotir

Hi FlexiGirl,

I think I get what you are saying, but it is important to be clear about what you are proposing, definitions, etc., especially if that proposal subsequently becomes the basis for some practice, e.g., life-experience, which in this case would be somewhat problematic, AND, what is actually very typical in human behaviour.

To be clear Fear, anger, and conflict...is not a source of power, even if the experience of those things may be powerfully dissatisfying which then becomes the impetus for finding a better way.

Fear, anger and conflict are the result of ignorance and a false perception of reality leading to continued perpetuation of more of the same through action based in those false perceptions. Using this as a progressive construct is not “unconventional” - it’s not possible - since ignorance must be superseded by a higher principle to illumine and transform it.

What you are suggesting is something like deliberately touching a hot stove, getting burnt, and then in anger and pain, vowing to touch the same hot stove again - this time more effectively, because getting burnt is the best way to get burnt again, only better. It’s a closed loop.

The confusion is in not accepting the getting burnt - rejecting as ‘negative emotion’ (and suppressing the message). Of course it’s a powerful emotion - that‘s the point. But the source of the message is a higher truth warning strongly not to touch the hot stove, to change, to find another way. Not to glorify pain and suffering as an end, or even as a means. It’s neither.

It’s like the woman whose husband viciously beats her.
All of her friends say, “Why don’t you leave him?”
“Because he loves me.”

We don’t have to ‘re-create’ the ignorance extant in the Universe - it’s a given condition of incarnation. It’s already unavoidable.

The question is: What do we do about it?
Acceptance is a good first step. But then what? Go look for more suffering? Deliberately?

The best way to employ what you are talking about is to simply recognize the warning signs of these strong emotions which are indicators - not the source - and seek the true Source for the purpose of transformation - not confuse the message as the source; the messenger as the King.


~ J

I don't think I am explaining myself clearly so I'll borrow your hot stove analogy.

You may have deliberately or accidentally put your hand on the flame. You can use the flame and continue to burn yourself or instead, cook yourself a delicious meal should you choose.

And when it comes to deliberate suffering, that's subjective experience isn't it? Why do you think people enjoy watching horror movies, or riding roller coasters, or working in high risk situations?

I agree though, that one doesn't have to go out and seek pain. There are plenty of negative experiences that happen in life already, but what you call bad can allow you to reach the heights of joy if you can change your perspective.

It doesn't end there.

You can use bad or good emotions to inspire you in any direction.
I am talking about fear, pain that we all experience at times. You can use the negative energy that comes from fear to create more suffering or you can redirect it in more creative ways to alter your life in a positive direction.

Our emotions are powerful and have so much untapped potential. Why be so afraid of the negative ones? No we don't have to purposely create more pain and suffering, but we need not run from it either.

[Raziel]

Originally Posted by Flexi-Girl

I think there is some kind of misunderstanding here. No point in continuing this conversation right now. what you call bad can allow you to reach the heights of joy if you can change your perspective.

Without being rude I don't think that you are prepared to listen to the input of others. You have proposed that fear anger & conflict are a source of power have you not? I and others have agreed to a point but I specifically have also warned that they are not without cost to you if you use them.

Where exactly is the misunderstanding?

This notion is not a new one & it is why people dabble in black magic or Ouija boards or even illicit drugs because "they" know best.

[Flexi-Girl]

Originally Posted by knightoflenity

Without being rude I don't think that you are prepared to listen to the input of others. You have proposed that fear anger & conflict are a source of power have you not? I and others have agreed to a point but I specifically have also warned that they are not without cost to you if you use them.

Where exactly is the misunderstanding?

This notion is not a new one & it is why people dabble in black magic or Ouija boards or even illicit drugs because "they" know best.

Well Knight. You said there is nothing new under sun so it sounds like your mind is already made up.