Human vs Animal Nature
People have both an Animal nature and a Human nature.
Your animal nature is every aspect of your existence that relates to your biology. This includes everything related to the survival and reproduction of your physical being – the drive for food, security, sex. It also includes all the related animal emotions, common when ones physical being, wants or beliefs are being challenge. Anger in both its aggressive and passive aggressive forms – like resignation and cynicism – is your animal nature taking charge.
One’s human nature is everything that has you rise above individual concerns to truly consider others, and society as a whole. This includes love (as distinct from attachment), compassion, a true consideration for the well-being of others and a deep recognition that what harms others in the long run harms me and mine as well.
Every person is born fully into their animal nature, with only the possibility of developing an expression of their human nature – which some succeed in doing more than others. Human vs Animal Nature – which dominates in you?
You will never be free of the influence of your animal nature, but you can act to develop increasing mastery over your animal nature and your animal emotions. For the betterment of your life, seek to use you animal nature – not be used by it. Key to this process is raising the level of Integrity of the context you live as an expression of.
As you read the next sentence, remember that the context I describe is a direction to move toward, in some sense an unattainable ideal.
The degree and frequency of the anger you feel is an indicator of where you are on the spectrum of emotional maturity and development of your human nature. A sufficiently developed human nature reacts with sadness and compassion, rather than anger, to even the most heinous of acts.
Anger is perhaps the most destructive of the seven deadly sins. There is no integrity in subjecting yourself to those who routinely attempt to influence you by triggering your animal emotions. When I was young I was taught to call those people “occasions of sin” to be avoided.