You know the expression “Rightful indignation”? Well that’s a fire which we must not put out. “Rightful anger” is a direct extension of rightful indignation. It is a burning sensation in the chest and heart and it is a fire which we must not put out.
You know how it is. It wells up in us when we are witness to some criminal injustice being perpetrated upon some innocent being, animal or element of nature; or some political hypocrisy. It propels us forward. It elicits a rise in adrenalin, and it is the first step to just about all important actions we take in our lives – to ameliorate our planet and its people from suffering and slavery. Or, it is done in defence of something or someone we feel very close to. Our loved ones, our garden, our small space of sanctuary.
Yes, any one of those can kick it off. It doesn’t matter. What does matter is the follow-through. Failure to follow-through means death to the spirit. Failure to follow-through means denial of the life force.
Failure to follow-through results from the intellectualisation of the profound. The nullifying of the spontaneous.It is the main reason why things go on getting worse instead of better in this crazed world.
Many of those who set out to travel the spiritual path have been told that “it is ‘wrong’ to get angry”. “Do not react negatively”. “Sublimate your anger and offer love..” and so on. But this is a confusion. It mixes a premeditated thinking process with a spontaneous expression of defense of that which was born divine. Our planet, our children, our seas, birds, fields – the innocent providers of nourishment to our daily lives. Do not allow any obfuscation of this reality. We are answering a call to higher justice. That is what it means ‘to be busy being born’. “He who isn’t busy being born is busy dying” (Bob Dylan).
So when we witness a vile act of injustice it is only natural that we desire to restore justice. ‘Desire’ to restore justice! I choose that word ‘desire’ deliberately because it best describes the state of ‘rightful indignation’ which rises up in us – if we are still human. It is a holy impulse and to deny it is to commit a crime against our Creator.
We live today in a criminal society – a society made up of those who don’t react when faced with criminal acts against our planet and peoples. As Albert Einstein said “The World is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing”
Well its well past time that we ceased finding excuses for “doing nothing” of not taking action when all around us blatant pacivity is allowing dictatorial oligarchs to run our planet into the ground and make slaves out of those who still find excuses for why there is “nothing they can do about it.”
So if you still don’t get it, or don’t want to get it – try this clip and let it remind you of why you came to planet earth and what you need to do now you’re here. All this comes with my strong hopes for a future turned around – turned around by we who have the awareness but still lack the courage. Take courage my friends, its free and its beautiful.
Julian Rose