Reply To: Daily Dilemmas

#49898
Lal
Keymaster

It is good to contemplate such situations. But think through possible scenarios. In particular, you may have gone through such situations in the past. What happened in those situations?

  • It would be better to discuss such actual experiences. From a philosophical standpoint, we can make up all kinds of situations, but those may not match/describe what happens in real life.

Think about what happened in an actual case where someone started verbally abusing you. There are many possibilities. (i) One could look away, (ii) One could walk away, (iii) One could try to explain to that person you have done nothing wrong, (iv) One could get confrontational, and the situation can escalate. 

It would provide more clarity if you could describe what happened in such cases (even hypothetical cases).

For example, consider the case (i) above.

  • X starts verbally abusing Y. Y looks away, but X keeps it up and becomes even more annoying. Doesn’t Y’s mind likely generate anger? At some point, Y may “blow up” and be likely to respond.
  • But that is likely only in the case of an average human. If Y is an Arahant, no anger will arise, and he can sit there all day and “take that abuse” without generating any anger.
  • If Y is a Sotapanna, anger may arise, and he will think about how to “diffuse the situation.” He may try to explain to X that his accusations do not have a basis. But if X disagrees and continues, Y may walk away from that situation. 

The other situation also has many possible outcomes. 

  • If you can describe a specific situation (how the situation develops), we can discuss that.
  • If someone hits you and even you don’t respond, doesn’t anger arise? How long can you take that abuse (which is worse than verbal abuse)?