Love and Aggression

[Psychotheosophy]

Since aggression is a reaction to that which is painful,
Can aggression be loving?

Since anger is a reaction to that which is evil,
Can anger be loving?

 

[davidv]

All of the definitions of aggression I found (dictionary.com, encata dictionary on-line)implicitly or explicitly describe unloving behavior.

Therefore, aggresion cannot be loving

 

[Psychotheosophy]

All of the definitions of aggression I found (dictionary.com, encata dictionary on-line)implicitly or explicitly describe unloving behavior.

Therefore, aggresion cannot be loving

Why?

 

[davidv]

Why?

The law of non-contradiction.
Unloving cannot equal loving.

 

[Advocatus_Fidei]

Yes in fact it is love that creates aggression, aggression can be either good or bad based on what kind of love it stems from, generally bad aggression stems from self love while good aggression stems from love of another or love of that which is good.

A man who loves nothing never gets aggressive or angry.

"Only the person who becomes irate without reason, sins. Whoever becomes irate for a just reason is not guilty. Because, if ire were lacking, the science of God would not progress, judgments would not be sound, and crimes would not be repressed.

Further, the person who does not become irate when he has cause to be, sins. For an unreasonable patience is the hotbed of many vices: it fosters negligence, and stimulates not only the wicked, but above all the good, to do wrong."

St. John Chrysostom
(Homily XI super Matheum, 1c, nt.7)

"Ire may be understood in two ways.

In one way, as a simple movement of the will that inflicts punishment not through passion, but by virtue of a judgment of the reason: and in this case, without a doubt, lack of ire is a sin. This is how Chrysostom understands ire when he says: ‘Ire, when it has a cause, is not ire but judgment. For properly speaking, ire is a movement of passion. And when a man is irate with just cause, his ire does not derive from passion. Rather, it is an act of judgment, not of ire.”

In another way, ire can be understood as a movement of the sensitive appetite agitated by passion with bodily excitation. This movement is a necessary sequel in man to the previous movement of his will, since the lower appetite naturally follows the movement of the higher appetite unless some obstacle prevents it. Hence the movement of ire in the sensitive appetite cannot be lacking altogether, unless the movement of the will is altogether lacking or weak. Consequently, the lack of the passion of ire is also a vice, as it is the lack of movement in the will to punish according to the judgment of reason."

St. Thomas Aquinas (Summa Theologiae, II, II, q. 158, art. 8 )

 

[Psychotheosophy]

Yes in fact it is love that creates aggression, aggression can be either good or bad based on what kind of love it stems from, generally bad aggression stems from self love while good aggression stems from love of another or love of that which is good.

God = Love,
We are lovable,
But are not Love itself.

Goodness = Truth
Evil = False
And
It is self-evident,
Whether Good = evil.

“Hoping is an attitude in keeping with the true belief, and is praiseworthy and virtuous; but despair is an attitude in keeping with a false opinion, and is vicious and sinful (It is no sin to despair of achieving what is truly beyond one’s capacity or due, as doctors despair of cures and other people of making money).”

Summa Theologica: A Concise Translation

A true opinion,
Is that we are not Happiness, nor its source,
And in our fear of being separated from Happiness,
And in our hope of achieving Happiness,…

“Hope precedes charity in time and prepares for it, since hoping for God to reward one inspires one to love him and keep his commandments.”

Summa Theologica: A Concise Translation

.,…hope inspires us to Happiness,…

“But aggressive emotions react to what is arduously and difficultly pleasurable or painful,… hoping (is) attracted to the difficult because of its goodness.”

Summa Theologica: A Concise Translation

…and has aggressive emotions.

“Hope responds to challenging goods that are possible of achievement in the future. So, when the saints attain eternal happiness and have it already present, the virtue of hope disappears just as faith does.”

Summa Theologica: A Concise Translation

A false opinion,
Is that we are Happiness, and its source,
And so there is no fear of being separated from Happiness,
And so there is no hope of achieving Happiness.

“Anger… is provoked by evils already harming us, but hard to repel. Such evils we either yield to sadly (an affective emotion) or are to confront angrily. No emotion impels us to avoid the evil, since what is already present is unavoidable.”

Summa Theologica: A Concise Translation

Despair is opposed to hope,
And despair based on a false opinion,
Leads to unhappiness and anger.

“Sins against theological virtues, such as hatred of God, despair and disbelief, start by turning away from the eternal God (the object of theological virtues) and as a consequence embrace some temporal good.”

Summa Theologica: A Concise Translation

Therefore,

Aggression is a response to desiring Love,
Anger is a response to not desiring Love.

“God is truly the source of men’s salvation and sinners’ forgiveness - I desire not the death of sinners, but that they turn and live (Ezekiel 18:23) - and it is false to think he denies forgiveness to repentant sinners.”

Summa Theologica: A Concise Translation

But anger and unhappiness can always be remedied,
By that which we naturally desire (Truth, Love, Happiness).

 

[Psychotheosophy]

“Hoping is an attitude in keeping with the true belief, and is praiseworthy and virtuous; but despair is an attitude in keeping with a false opinion, and is vicious and sinful (It is no sin to despair of achieving what is truly beyond one’s capacity or due (as in justice), as doctors despair of cures and other people of making money).”

Summa Theologica: A Concise Translation

Since,

A doctor may use aggressive treatment on an illness,
For a patient he loves,
A doctor may become angry if he can not find a cure,
For the patient he loves.

Then,

He becomes angry,
Even though he loves.

“Anger is the only emotion without an opposed emotion. It is provoked by evil is already harming us but hard to repel. Such evils we either yield to sadly (an affective emotion) or impelled to confront angrily. No emotion impels us to avoid the evil, since what is already present is unavoidable: and there is no aggressive emotion tending towards present good, since such good presents no challenge and is simply affectively enjoyed. The only thing opposed to being angry is its absence, calming down.”

Summa Theologica: A Concise Translation

Anger lacks peace.

Since we all naturally desire Happiness (Love, Truth)
We can never have True peace,
And will find anger,
If we seek Happiness,
As a Way without an End.

The Principle of Happiness,
Is both a Way and its End,
We choose Happiness to be happier,
We choose Happiness to be completely happy.