Question: What is anger?
Speaker: Something happens and you get angry. We are looking at that event very, very closely. Something happens and you get angry. Let us give the whole thing a shape, a name, a face. Let us say that a stranger comes to you and says that you are stupid. And he says this in front of many people. On the other hand, a friend on whom you rely, a friend whom you trust, he comes to you in front of twenty people and says you are stupid. And you have great trust on that friend, great belief in that friend. When would you be angry? When are you likely to be angry? When are you likely to feel hurt? When the friend says this or when the stranger? The stranger is a nobody. You do not know him; just somebody. He has just come, said a few comments and gone. When are you likely to feel hurt?
Listeners (everyone): When a friend says this.
Speaker: When a friend says this. Right? Remember, both have uttered the same words. Both of them have said that you are stupid, and both of them have said this in the same situation, in front of twenty people. But when do you feel hurt? When your friend says that. Right? Now let’s go into it. Why do you feel hurt and therefore angry when your friend says this? Why do you feel hurt when your friend says this and why not when the stranger says this?
Listener 1: Because you have expectations from them.
