I have seen a game played by any number of people who consider themselves   
   spiritual. They would do something that would deliberately bring on an angry   
   response. Then they would claim that the person is negative or evil or a   
   neanderthal for getting angry.    
   The person playing this game would then walk away feeling superior to the   
   person whom he has played in this manner. The anger would be the proof of   
   one's superiority and the inferiority of the other person.   
      
   The game is quite similar to a related game that is played by some people who   
   consider themselves rational. These people would make some kind of a poisonous   
   statement; that would bring on an emotional response; then they would walk   
   away saying that the    
   other person is irrational or crazy or neurotic.   
      
   Seeing such abuses, there have been any number of people deciding that there   
   was something wrong with, respectively, spirituality or reason. That is wrong.   
   The problem is that these things get used for wrongdoing. All sorts of things   
   can be used for    
   wrongdoing, including many things that are not at all bad in themselves.   
   Money, intelligence, beauty and all sorts of moral values can be used for   
   wrongdoing; but that does not make any of them bad. However the more they are   
   used in this way, the more    
   they become discredited, and the more credible becomes the case of the people   
   who want to see them as something bad. And of these there are plenty.   
      
   So for example we have any number of people in the baby boom generation going   
   around that the people younger than themselves are negative or neanderthals or   
   evil because any number of them have negative or angry feelings. I am sorry,   
   the conduct of any    
   number of these people deserves angry responses. If you have left the world a   
   worse place than you have found it, then anger at you is legitimate. These   
   problems will not be solved by “positive thinking” or anything of the   
   sort; they will be solved    
   by informed and directed action. For a problem to be solved it has to be seen,   
   and if you think that this is negative then being negative is part of the   
   process. Failing to do so is not enlightenment or anything of the sort. It is   
   lying to yourself and    
   others. Many of these people started out seeking to do the right thing, then   
   they did the wrong thing. So when someone else seeks to do the right thing,   
   these people smugly claim that they have been in the same place and then moved   
   beyond it to better    
   places. They did not move to better places. They moved to a worse place. They   
   started out caring about the world and its future and became short-sighted and   
   careless. That is not an improvement, it is a degradation.   
      
   Of course many of these people have availed themselves of all sorts of   
   spiritual knowledge, and not all of them have been using it for right things.   
   If they are using it to aggravate people in order to make them look bad, or to   
   make it look like    
   legitimate anger at them is something wrong with the person who has it, then   
   that is not rightful use of spiritual knowledge. Neither predatory behavior   
   nor dishonest behavior counts as enlightenment. Misusing this knowledge in   
   such a manner discredits    
   spirituality as such. And that makes things bad even for people who are using   
   spirituality for rightful purposes.   
      
   I have seen all sorts of misuses of just about everything that is there. Just   
   about anything that is good can be made bad. This is the case with both   
   spirituality and reason. Reason is a good thing, but it can be used for all   
   sorts of wrong things.    
   Spirituality is a good thing, and it can also be used for all sorts of wrong   
   things. It is important that people who stand to be hurt by misuses of such   
   things have the knowledge that they need not to fall for predatory conduct.   
   Then they will be able to    
   separate the value from the misuses of the value. They will be less likely to   
   turn against the value itself, and the value will remain free to be used for   
   rightful purposes. This is the case, once again, with spirituality and reason   
   both.   
      
   As for anger, no, it is not always a wrong thing. There very much is such a   
   thing as righteous anger. Once again, being angry at people who've left the   
   world a worse place than they found it is righteous. You can get as positive   
   as you want to get. That    
   will not solve the problem. In such situations it is rightful to get angry or   
   negative. Only by being recognized first will the problem stand a chance of   
   being solved.   
      
   So the misuses of spirituality for wrongful ends have lead many people to   
   conclude that spirituality as such is a bad thing. That is wrong as well. Once   
   again, reason can also be used for all sorts of wrong things, but that does   
   not make reason bad.    
   Anything that is good can be used for wrong ends. Any value can be corrupted.   
   That does not discredit the value; it discredits those who use it for wrong   
   and make good things into bad things.   
      
   So no, being angry or negative is not always unjustifiable. There are many   
   situations in which such responses are correct. When a nuclear reactor blows   
   up you have to tell people what has happened. Failing to do so because doing   
   so would be negative is    
   not enlightenment; it is lying. When people are poisoning the planet and leave   
   it a worse place for their children than they have found it, being angry at   
   such a thing is right. Misusing metaphysical concepts to make it look like it   
   is the other person's    
   problem makes metaphysical concepts that much less credible, and it also makes   
   you look like a jerk to anyone who has any insight into the matter.   
      
   The correct approach is to actually solve all these problems. The people who   
   work on such real solutions deserve all the credit that they can. The people   
   who misuse metaphysics or anything else to hide from or deny these problems   
   are the true villains.    
   It is rightful that they be seen in the negative light. And it is rightful   
   that people go to work solving these problems head on so that the world that   
   they leave behind for their children be a better place than they have found   
   it, however "negative"    
   anyone paints them to be for that reason.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)