Dear Climate Therapist: What should I do with my white hot rage?
Why anger isn’t a problem to fix, but a force to follow
Hi friends. If what you’re feeling isn’t grief but white-hot rage, you’re not off course. As the philosopher Eric Hoffer puts it, “Anger is the prelude to courage”. And in this week’s column, Caroline Hickman responds to a reader who’s not ready to grieve what’s still alive because they’re too busy being furious about what’s being lost.
Caroline doesn’t flinch. She treats rage not as a symptom to soothe but as a signal to follow. Just as biodiversity sustains ecosystems, emotional biodiversity sustains us. We need fury, despair, defiance, and fierce love in the face of escalating planetary harm. Caroline guides us toward a deeper trust in our inner responses. A rewilding of the psyche if you will. This one isn’t about feeling better. It’s about feeling fully, so we can keep fighting for everything precious we have left to save.
Dear Climate Therapist,
Everyone keeps talking about climate anxiety and climate grief and all I feel is crazy fear for the next generations of life on earth and utter rage against all those that let this happen then and now. I am not ready to grieve for what is not dead yet. Might you have any thoughts on how we can collectively morph the energy of rage into collective action everywhere?
- Enraged
Dear Enraged,
Your feelings of fear and rage make complete sense to me. The problem with language is it often falls short of giving us the words we reach for to fully describe the awfulness of what we are witnessing and experiencing. I like your anger and defiance—to me it is congruent, by which I mean that it mirrors and ‘fits’ the situation we find ourselves in.
The western medical model tends to label many emotional states as ‘wrong’. We live in a world of ‘should’ and ‘shouldn’t’ and then judge emotions as ‘good’ or ‘bad’. But given that we are living now in an era that humanity has no emotional map for as these are truly unprecedented times, why shouldn’t we be feeling rage and fear. I am, but it is sometimes easier to visit these feelings, let them flow through you, rather than get stuck in them.
Another way to think about this is that in the same way that we understand the importance of ecological biodiversity, we also need emotional biodiversity. You would not struggle to understand the value of oceans and trees and insects in our outer ecology, similarly we need to recognise the value of rage and despair and hope and grief in our inner ecological selves. Just because these feelings may be uncomfortable, that does not mean that they are not playing a vital part in our emotional landscape.
In short, do not disallow any feelings, your own or others. I personally do not care what we call these emotions, we can call them climate anxiety, climate despair, climate rage or climate flamingo. What matters more is that we understand the feelings, do not judge or disallow any of them, then invite them into expression in action.
Some thoughts about what to do with these feelings then: how can we call on them to help us create a map?
Firstly, I used the phrase ‘how can we call on feelings to help us create a map?’ I’d encourage us to ask our emotions what form of expression they need rather than try to always construct plans through our ego selves. Listen to them, we need new maps, and that may also involve us developing new relationships with emotions as well as outer ecology.
Secondly, be careful not to direct them inwards towards yourself. Encourage them towards passionate expression of life. You say you are not ready to grieve what is not dead yet, but grief can also form part of living, fighting to fiercely protect what we love, because we only grieve what we love.
Then, find ways to express your love for the world, repeatedly, and do not become silent. Use whatever medium you can find: writing, journalism, theatre, dance, music, protest to show your care and passion. If you touch people’s hearts by sharing your own passion, then you will find that collective energy can be inspired and grow.
Finally, these times we are living in hold the potential for transformative change for humanity. Not easy, but worth fighting for. Tell people this every chance you get.
-Caroline
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‘Till next time!
-Britt
in our training we were reminded that "4" emotional ranges - anger, fear, sadness, and happiness - give us information about our needs. anger is a response to boundaries, and whether/how these are being observed, held or respected by ourselves or others. fear is about safety needs, sadness about comfort, and happiness about the need to express and celebrate. so anger is a very appropriate response since so many boundaries are being ignored, or being held in a brittle inflexible way. in each of these, there is a range form very little to very big - and, of course, we're being reductive when we divide experience up like this, so there's all sorts of spill-over and so Jon. but, as a shorthand, I've found it useful, and so do many clients.
however, I've realised lately that there seems to be a fifth "family". wonder connects us to an experience of being part of something greater than ourselves. and so I notice that this is perhaps the most captured emotion, in that the system seeks to moderate and curate our access to wonder both for purposes of profit and also control.
may your days be wonder-full, even as you address your anger, sadness, fear and - I hope - joy.
Organize and Fight the Good Fight!
https://christophermeestoerato.substack.com/p/if-democracy-survives-the-future?r=12utpl