“You demand of me […] that I discuss in writing the means of healing anger; and I applaud you for having particularly feared this passion, the most hideous and the most frantic of all. […] To convince yourself that the man thus dominated no longer has his reason, observe the attitude of his whole person: […] his face becomes all fire; the blood pressed to his heart boils and rises violently; his lips tremble, his teeth clench; her hair stands up and bristles […] He moans, he roars; his broken words become confused; […] his whole being exudes menace: hideous and repulsive spectacle of the man who swells and decomposes his face. One doubts, in view of this, whether such a vice is more odious than deformed. […] If other passions show themselves, anger breaks out.” It is an impressive indictment of Seneca (From will go, around 41 AD), so convincing for the Emperor Claudius that he promulgated an edict in which he undertook not to lose his temper again. Master Yoda elaborates: “Fear is the path to the dark side: fear leads to anger, anger leads to hatred, hatred leads… to suffering.” “Every day for millennia/It always comes back, anger/To believe that there are several of them/To nibble at our hearts”, remarks Gaëtan Roussel in turn when he is not singing with Louise Attaque.
In business, where benevolence is a cardinal virtue, its opposite, anger, is one of the seven deadly sins, as Pope Gregory the Great designated them in the 7th century. “What provokes our anger is less a stimulus than our evaluation of what disrupts our well-being, even our goals and our values,” retorts associate professor and doctor of philosophy Sophie Galabru (The Face of our anger, Flammarion, 2022).
Sophie Galabru follows in her own way in the footsteps of Aristotle and Kant. The first is fascinated by this absolute model of passions, even if he does not dare to admit it (Of soul). The second is quick to contrast anger, an emotion, with hatred, which, according to him, is passion. He even gives a very current lesson in management to the one who receives Seneca’s furious: “Whoever comes to your room in anger to say bad words to you in his anger, politely ask him to sit down; if that succeeds, his insults will already be less violent, because the convenience of sitting is an absence of tension [musculaire] which goes wrong with the threatening gestures and shouting.” (Anthropology, 1798.) However, for Sophie Galabru, “be cool and shut up” is the norm that has invaded offices. In this sanitized universe where anger is non grata, his daughter anger is forbidden. We highlight the virtues, joy, benevolence and well-being, “not as human realities to be maintained for their own sake, but as techniques for domesticating moods and human relationships, promoting productivity and erasing division.”
The philosopher goes to the end of the reasoning: the employer’s purpose is to “divert your anger”. “It’s about diverting it from its targets: incoherent or overly rhythmic injunctions, bonuses not received, raise delicately refused, paid leave not respected. If your anger nevertheless manages to be expressed, it will be explained to you that it is harmful team spirit.” Resilience comes second, then it is the disincorporation of anger. Characters who fail to do so are ostracized.
According to the philosopher, “those who take responsibility for their anger feel in it a resource of vitality against adversity or injustice: anger is the perceived driving force of self-defense.” Refuse, oppose and proclaim it instead of remaining silent and hiding. Exploding for an injustice, for a contract that will not be signed even though a team has put all its involvement into it, isn’t that ultimately a benefit? Latent and unaccounted for anger gives rise to false peace, to disagreements which will resurface. “It is in anger that we show our face. It is in the face of the anger of others that we assume to see them as different. Anger does not threaten us, but it regulates our bonds,” dares Sophie Galabru. Anger, source of unsuspected energy. Move forward: seek training to change jobs, organize a discussion with management. Find meaning and reconcile with yourself. The conclusion goes to psychoanalyst Adam Phillips: “Anger therefore only exists for those who are engaged in life, for those who have projects that are important to them; not for the indifferent, the carefree, the depressed.” (“The Future of Anger”, Anger, Otherwise, 1997.)