"He who is slow to anger has great understanding, but he who is quick tempered exalts folly"
This is the quintessential fool passage. It says that the one who is wise is the one who can immediately be flexible, see options, not demand his own way, hold off the disappointment and anger of not getting his own way, and look for the best way out of any situation.
Fools, on the other hand, can only see their own ideas and their own particular agenda.
When you are quick-tempered you are easily angered when things do not go your way. This impulsiveness and selfishness of “the world really does revolve around me” attitude is a major problem with the fool. I know what I want and I am not getting it.
We must practice this kind of optional thinking, this meekness, this level of flexibility. When we feel the anger rise, we must say very slowly: “meekness is flexibility.” There are other options. There are always options.
If you are to win against anger, you must fundamentally believe that there is more than one way to accomplish your mission or hopefully God's mission for you. There are a myriad of ways that God might choose and your anger does not help you get to any of them.
Until tomorrow,
Gil Stieglitz