What Navy Seals and Philosophers Know About Anger
The Seduction of Anger Does Something to Us
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The US Navy’s SEAL Creed is, "The ability to control my emotions and my actions, regardless of circumstance, sets me apart from other men."
If SEALs can’t control their anger, they’re prone to mistakes that will cost them their mission and their lives.
Boxers know this. Muhammad Ali goaded and mocked George Foreman in the Rumble In The Jungle fight, driving Foreman into a swinging frenzy that left him exhausted, and lead to his defeat.
“Anger,” the Stoic Philosopher Seneca said, is “brief insanity…No plague has cost the human race more.”
Anger might feel just and warranted, but you're dumber angry than you are calm, and less able to effectively act against whatever injustice you face (assuming you actually have a worthy reason of being angry, which we often don't — anger is often irrational.)
'In moments of anger,” Seneca said, “remember that losing your temper is no mark of manliness. That there is more strength, virility and natural humanity in a man who remains calm.”
"Anger might feel just and warranted, but you're dumber angry than you are calm"
This is true, perhaps of all emotions. Studies have consistently found that people facing money troubles score lower in IQ tests. This is directly a consequence of the stress created, clouding our mind/judgement.
It's one of the reasons I have advocated for a UBI or NIT in my writings, freeing people up from this stress unlocks their potential.