Brian Jones makes one final distinction between anger and rage in Chapter 2 of Getting Rid of the Gorilla. He adds that while it’s natural to get angry when we’ve been hurt, we make the decision whether or not to turn that anger into rage. So why might that option be so tempting?
According to Frederick Buechner in his book Wishful Thinking: A Seeker’s ABC (cited by Brian Jones), the ‘enjoyment’ we get from anger really is quite deceptive: “Of the Seven Deadly Sins, anger is possibly the most fun. To lick your wounds, to smack your lips over grievances long past, to roll over your tongue the prospect of bitter confrontations still to come, to savor to the last toothsome morsel both the pain you are given and the pain you are giving back- in many ways it is a feast fit for a king. The chief drawback is that what you are wolfing down is yourself. The skeleton at the feast is you.”
Consider Psalm 30:5- “Weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.”
