{"id":1232,"date":"2010-07-27T02:49:28","date_gmt":"2010-07-27T02:49:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/joeljmiller.com\/?p=1232"},"modified":"2010-07-27T02:49:28","modified_gmt":"2010-07-27T02:49:28","slug":"be-attentive-banish-anger","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/2010\/07\/be-attentive-banish-anger\/","title":{"rendered":"Be attentive, banish anger"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"'The<\/a>
'The Gust' by Willem van de Velde II (Wikimedia Commons)<\/figcaption><\/figure>In the ancient Christian story Barlaam and Ioasaph<\/a><\/em>, the pagan king Abenner has a hot temper, and when he discovers that one of his governors has converted to Christianity and become a monk, he is furious. He orders that the unlikely convert be brought before his judgment seat to explain himself. It takes a while, but the man is finally found living in the desert and is taken to the king. <\/p>\n

The text says that Abenner was filled with \u201cmingled grief and fury\u201d and spoke \u201cin speech blended of these two passions. . . .\u201d The monk listened patiently but before responding made a request. \u201cIf it be thy pleasure, O king, to converse with me, remove thine enemies out of mid court,\u201d he said, \u201cfor while these are here, I cannot speak with thee.\u201d Upon hearing, the king demanded the identity of these enemies, and the monk replied, \u201cAnger and Desire.\u201d<\/p>\n

Abenner and the monk were treading the same choppy waters in which many of us drown every day, flailing through failed conversations, our words and hopes sunk by tempestuous emotions and attitudes like anger, desire, pettiness, fear, arrogance, and disrespect. I don\u2019t know about you, but I am subject to all of these. <\/p>\n

I think the water metaphor is apt. Basil the Great uses it when discussing how emotions affect our communication. In a sermon entitled \u201cBe Attentive to Yourself<\/a>,\u201d Basil suggests that if we were simply souls we could communicate by thoughts, no interruptions or confusions. Nice idea, but of course we have bodies and \u201cwords and names are necessary to make public the things lying in the depth,\u201d as he says. \u201cAccordingly,\u201d and here\u2019s where the maritime metaphor comes back, \u201cour thought takes meaningful voice, as if carried in a ferry by our discourse . . . and if it finds the sea calm and quiet, the discourse comes to anchor in the ears of the students in tranquil harbors untroubled by storms; but if as a kind of rough upsurge the clamor of the hearers blows adversely, it will be dissolved as it is shipwrecked in the air.\u201d <\/p>\n

I really like the image of our sending words through the air like cargo in the ships of our voice. It\u2019s a helpful reminder that \u201cenvironmental conditions\u201d like testy emotions can have a powerful effect on how the words are received in their intended harbors.<\/p>\n

How often do our conversations get shipwrecked by these sorts of storms? It happened to me just the other day in a meeting gone awry. If you\u2019ve ever had such an experience you might know how bewildering and confusing and frustrating and embarrassing it can be. I know a thing or two about communication, and I felt utterly helpless. I was sinking fast. No matter what words were said, the tempest battered and sank all meaning and connection. After the meeting, I pulled aside one of the participants in the discussion, and within minutes we resolved the major issues and got the information I needed. But in the heat of the moment, it was all whitecaps and briny mouthfuls. <\/p>\n

What to do? Basil\u2019s overall message follows Deuteronomy 15:9, \u201cBe attentive to yourself.\u201d He applies the phrase to the total human experience, but, applied here, note your attitudes and emotions. If they are giving ground to sin, you can take note after you\u2019ve burned bridges and hurt feelings. Or you can take note of them and check their advance before any damage is done. Testy emotions, as the monk told Abenner, are the enemies to meaningful conversation.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you were attentive to yourself, you would curb your temper like some disobedient and refractory colt,\u201d says Basil, \u201cstriking it with a blow of reason as if by a lash.\u201d <\/p>\n

Abenner, in case you were wondering, allowed his anger to flare again and wreaked destruction through his lands. Let his folly be our teacher.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the ancient Christian story Barlaam and Ioasaph, the pagan king Abenner has a hot temper, and when he discovers that one of his governors has converted to Christianity and become a monk, he is furious. He orders that the unlikely convert be brought before his judgment seat to explain himself. It takes a while, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1270,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[51,79,208],"class_list":["post-1232","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-theology","tag-anger","tag-basil-the-great","tag-emotions"],"yoast_head":"\nBe attentive, banish anger<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In the ancient Christian story Barlaam and Ioasaph, the pagan king Abenner has a hot temper, and when he discovers that one of his governors has converted\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/2010\/07\/be-attentive-banish-anger\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Be attentive, banish anger\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In the ancient Christian story Barlaam and Ioasaph, the pagan king Abenner has a hot temper, and when he discovers that one of his governors has converted\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/2010\/07\/be-attentive-banish-anger\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Joel J. 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