Ernie Nemeth
13th February 2013, 04:50
I’ve noticed of late that people seem not to know how to respond to the increasingly pertinent threads that they are being presented with. As the dots get connected, as some have called it, the underlying agenda of the controllers is being illuminated to the point of near irrefutability. The responses seems to range from something close to terror to disgust and from disbelief expressed as apathy to outright anger verging on rage. Although all these reactions are understandable, none are helpful, neither to the individual or the group in general. This is because these emotions are all divisive.
I’d like to suggest a proper expression for this feeling that until now has not been given a name: righteous indignation.
First, let’s see what the dictionary defines these words as:
Righteous: acting in accord with divine or moral law; free from guilt or sin; a moral right arising from an outraged sense of justice
Indignation: anger aroused by something unjust, unworthy or mean deriving from a sense of indignity...an act that offends against a person’s dignity or self-respect; insult; humiliating treatment; lack or loss of dignity or honor;
Putting the two together we get something like:
A moral right arising from an outraged sense of justice due to a humiliating offense against a person’s dignity, self-respect or honor.
There is great power in righteous indignation. I’m sure all of us have called upon it at some point in our lives. It is that point we reach in a situation where we feel a line has been crossed by another that we may or may not have known we’d even drawn for ourselves beyond which we drop all pretence and, as sovereign individuals, we feel compelled to take action. Unfortunately, this action (notice it is not a reaction) has been, for the most part, programmed out of our normal everyday set of responses. It has become almost taboo in our modern civilization.
I’ll offer this abridged version of an example from my own life. I wronged somebody and I knew it. He responded inappropriately and punched me in the jaw. I told him that I agreed I had that coming and turned to leave. Unsatisfied, I guess, he swung at me again. I caught his fist and told him he only gets one free one. He did not like that and tried to throw another punch. I grabbed him by the throat, picked him off the ground and tossed him onto the hood of his car, pinning him there with one arm. This person was twice my size, by the way. I looked him in the eye and said simply, “Leave now while you still can.” He left without another word. I’ll never forget his look of complete surprise and perhaps a bit of fear as well. My friends later asked me why I did not hit him back. I responded, “Because he was right.” Maybe this is a poor example, but it does illustrate the power of righteous indignation. I’m sure there are much better examples out there. First he was right, then I was right - is how I see it. The violence part of this example is always inappropriate, however.
I’ve searched the threads for any mention of righteous indignation and only came up with two, both in my own posts. I list them here:
1) Ah, righteous indignation. So refreshing. It is vital to our future to revive this attitude. It is imperative to know you are right to be indignant in the face of ignorance. Not because of a superior, or elitist, or special interest (besides truth and justice) position of indignation. The ignorant and the informed are equal, one simply does not know it. Indignity has many faces, and not all are righteous. But righteous indignation is another matter. It cannot be refuted; it is always justified, by definition. When one is righteously indignant the truth is automatically, literally, at one’s side. In such a state one had better be integrated and centered, focused and aware, because the ego loves the special attention and will derail the righteous part real quick otherwise.
http://projectavalon.net/forum4/showthread.php?30405-here-and-now...what-s-happening&p=400670&highlight=righteous+indignation#post400670
2) To be apathetic requires a certain consistent attitude. All slights to the person are abrogated and suppressed, buried under the general blanket of hopelessness and senselessness that numbs the natural response of righteous indignation. To be disrespected is to be a victim of one’s own inaction. Indignity is an offense to the self. You are right to take offense to indignity. You are right to take the offensive in the face of indignity in any form. You are acting naturally when you feel righteous indignation. Yet, somehow we have been convinced that righteous indignation is merely the wailing of the weak to the fact of reality’s harshness. We are embarrassed and scared to stand up for ourselves and others. We have learned to blend in with the herd in silent apathy…
To stand up for ourselves is to be sovereign beings, united by a common bond of love, light and sensible responsibility.
We are the solution, but we are the problem as well.
http://projectavalon.net/forum4/showthread.php?10672-wade-frazier-a-healed-planet&p=280571&highlight=righteous+indignation#post280571
Does any of this make sense? I wonder if this helps at all for anyone. We select lesser modes of behavior and response because we think that is the civilized thing to do - and perhaps that is true but that does not make it right. Then we wonder why we feel angry, enraged, sad, mad, depressed, scared, etc.
Maybe we should revive the feeling of righteous indignation as the appropriate response in certain situations so that these lesser feelings do not come back to bite us in the butt.
Any comments?
I’d like to suggest a proper expression for this feeling that until now has not been given a name: righteous indignation.
First, let’s see what the dictionary defines these words as:
Righteous: acting in accord with divine or moral law; free from guilt or sin; a moral right arising from an outraged sense of justice
Indignation: anger aroused by something unjust, unworthy or mean deriving from a sense of indignity...an act that offends against a person’s dignity or self-respect; insult; humiliating treatment; lack or loss of dignity or honor;
Putting the two together we get something like:
A moral right arising from an outraged sense of justice due to a humiliating offense against a person’s dignity, self-respect or honor.
There is great power in righteous indignation. I’m sure all of us have called upon it at some point in our lives. It is that point we reach in a situation where we feel a line has been crossed by another that we may or may not have known we’d even drawn for ourselves beyond which we drop all pretence and, as sovereign individuals, we feel compelled to take action. Unfortunately, this action (notice it is not a reaction) has been, for the most part, programmed out of our normal everyday set of responses. It has become almost taboo in our modern civilization.
I’ll offer this abridged version of an example from my own life. I wronged somebody and I knew it. He responded inappropriately and punched me in the jaw. I told him that I agreed I had that coming and turned to leave. Unsatisfied, I guess, he swung at me again. I caught his fist and told him he only gets one free one. He did not like that and tried to throw another punch. I grabbed him by the throat, picked him off the ground and tossed him onto the hood of his car, pinning him there with one arm. This person was twice my size, by the way. I looked him in the eye and said simply, “Leave now while you still can.” He left without another word. I’ll never forget his look of complete surprise and perhaps a bit of fear as well. My friends later asked me why I did not hit him back. I responded, “Because he was right.” Maybe this is a poor example, but it does illustrate the power of righteous indignation. I’m sure there are much better examples out there. First he was right, then I was right - is how I see it. The violence part of this example is always inappropriate, however.
I’ve searched the threads for any mention of righteous indignation and only came up with two, both in my own posts. I list them here:
1) Ah, righteous indignation. So refreshing. It is vital to our future to revive this attitude. It is imperative to know you are right to be indignant in the face of ignorance. Not because of a superior, or elitist, or special interest (besides truth and justice) position of indignation. The ignorant and the informed are equal, one simply does not know it. Indignity has many faces, and not all are righteous. But righteous indignation is another matter. It cannot be refuted; it is always justified, by definition. When one is righteously indignant the truth is automatically, literally, at one’s side. In such a state one had better be integrated and centered, focused and aware, because the ego loves the special attention and will derail the righteous part real quick otherwise.
http://projectavalon.net/forum4/showthread.php?30405-here-and-now...what-s-happening&p=400670&highlight=righteous+indignation#post400670
2) To be apathetic requires a certain consistent attitude. All slights to the person are abrogated and suppressed, buried under the general blanket of hopelessness and senselessness that numbs the natural response of righteous indignation. To be disrespected is to be a victim of one’s own inaction. Indignity is an offense to the self. You are right to take offense to indignity. You are right to take the offensive in the face of indignity in any form. You are acting naturally when you feel righteous indignation. Yet, somehow we have been convinced that righteous indignation is merely the wailing of the weak to the fact of reality’s harshness. We are embarrassed and scared to stand up for ourselves and others. We have learned to blend in with the herd in silent apathy…
To stand up for ourselves is to be sovereign beings, united by a common bond of love, light and sensible responsibility.
We are the solution, but we are the problem as well.
http://projectavalon.net/forum4/showthread.php?10672-wade-frazier-a-healed-planet&p=280571&highlight=righteous+indignation#post280571
Does any of this make sense? I wonder if this helps at all for anyone. We select lesser modes of behavior and response because we think that is the civilized thing to do - and perhaps that is true but that does not make it right. Then we wonder why we feel angry, enraged, sad, mad, depressed, scared, etc.
Maybe we should revive the feeling of righteous indignation as the appropriate response in certain situations so that these lesser feelings do not come back to bite us in the butt.
Any comments?