What do I mean by bloodlust?
I mean hateful aggressiveness on social media, violence between race groups and law enforcement, and mobs attacking peaceful protesters. Heck, I even mean road rage. It’s not any particular thing.
What I’m talking about is an outpouring of cruel emotional zealotry or physically violent action over ANYTHING that does not affect your immediate physical safety. Or the wish to unleash these things. Or the enjoyment of seeing them and the giving of tacit permission to others to do them.
That’s not to say you shouldn’t address inequalities in the world or have opinions about stuff. Of course, you should. Silence on the sidelines is permission for atrocities. Which I don’t advocate.
I’m not talking about reason. I’m talking about irrational, emotionally fueled desires and behavior.
So why does this happen? Why do people perpetuate cruelty and violence on others or silently root for it as it goes on?
Drumroll, please…
Because they are motivated by unconscious anger about hurtful and/or humiliating experiences from their past. Sorry, but that’s it. Like it or not. Nobody wants to believe that past experiences, and even childhood experiences, affect them now. But they do.
If you can be rational about your past, and say “It sucked, but it made me who I am today,” you probably think you’ve “gotten over” it, that “the past is the past” and that it’s water under the bridge. Which may be true. But the proof is in your feelings and actions.
If you condone violence and aggressive acting out or perpetuate it yourself, the fact is, you have OLD, unresolved, and/or poorly contained aggression inside you. We all have it. It’s obvious when we explode or enjoy/condone emotional or physical violence.
The question is, do you want to be controlled by it, always searching for worthwhile subjects to vent your fury on and adding to the chaos in the world? Or, do you want to have poise, self-possession, and to go about addressing real obstacles in your own life strategically? Leaving drama in the dust.
The way to do that is to look inside yourself. To find and wash out old feelings of aggression that you hold back. To let go the need for a fight. If you do, you’ll find new energy for life. Little things won’t drive you crazy, and people won’t make you so mad. Life will be more enjoyable in general.
Don’t you want that? Call me. We’ll talk about how you can get it.
p.s. You can also download the introduction to my book Emotional Utopia, where you will learn more about how to stop searching for happiness and how to start living it.
