Sam Harris Says Rehearsal Keeps Anger Going
Harris argues noticing the link between angry thoughts and the angry feeling offers a choice that distraction does not.
Andrew Huberman · Essentials: Using Meditation to Focus, View Consciousness & Expand Your Mind | Dr. Sam HarrisSam Harris, who teaches meditation and trains in martial arts, frames even justified anger as a question of duration. The issue, in his account, is how long remaining angry stays useful.
Anger and fear work as alarms that point attention toward an emergency or a possible emergency. Once the alarm has sounded, staying calm handles the emergency better.
What keeps anger alive, in Harris's description, is mental rehearsal. A person replays why they “have every right to be angry” and rehearses the coming confrontation, and that stretch of brooding sustains the bodily heat of anger.
The shift he points to is catching that process while it happens, noticing thinking as it unfolds and seeing its link to the angry feeling. That recognition brings relief and a measure of choice over duration, whether to stay angry for one minute, two, or ten.
Without that capacity, a person stays angry as long as brooding and retelling continue, with diversion as the remaining option. Harris mentions tuning out with a familiar show for the third time, noting that stepping away in that way can sometimes be useful.
With even basic mindfulness, the mechanics become visible, with thought, feeling and brooding feeding each other, and stepping off becomes possible at will. The point, in an aside about self-defense, is not to accept mistreatment without resistance.
Questions people ask
Does Harris mean anger is never appropriate?
No. Harris describes anger and fear as appropriate alarms that point attention toward an emergency or possible emergency. The point concerns duration, because calm is the better state for handling the emergency once the signal has registered.
What does Harris mean by catching the rehearsal?
Harris describes it as noticing thinking while it is happening, rather than remaining swept up in the story. That includes seeing the connection between angry thoughts and the anger itself, which he describes as bringing comparative freedom and relief.
Does this approach rule out standing up to someone?
Harris says no. In an aside about training in martial arts and self-defense, he says the aim is not to be a “puddle of goo” who accepts mistreatment.