Arrogance can lead to both greatness and self-destruction. The key lies in mastering it
Our mythology (particularly The Ramayana and The Mahabharata) is brimming with several well-stocked illustrations in respect of characters plagued with hubris, hurtling them down to their nemesis. We are aware of the conceited Ravana and the unbridled ambitions of Duryodhana. An angry and arrogant mind gets blurred and smudges the vision of an individual. Consequently, he behaves in a groundless manner, which has calamitous and baleful consequences for the person and those in his companionship.Is it possible to associate with such individuals who are prone to filibustering and arrogance?
The answer is an emphatic NO since there is no dialogue, only a monologue or a harangue by the self-conceited person. This drains our energy levels, a situation we would like to circumvent to save ourselves and our minds. The human mind assumes unnatural patterns and behaves in a volatile manner. A volcano of anger and arrogance erupts unexpectedly. Such individuals are veritable prisoners of their image, which is conceited and egotist.Mike Tyson, who earned epithets like Iron Mike, the Baddest Man on the Planet and Kid Dynamite outside the Ring, was convicted of rape and consuming marijuana and suffered from bipolar disorder.
He has had several brushes with the law. Tyson strongly felt that he was stigmatised by American society and that US society has not been constructed on the principles of justice, but on rape, grime, slavery, and injustice. He married thrice, besides various dalliances and philandering.He underwent reformation. He was proselytised and sought refuge in 'Allah'. He converted the raw energy of anger and arrogance in the boxing ring where he was extremely successful. The mythological figures mentioned earlier, who were victims of anger and arrogance, bore bruised egos resulting from bruised feelings and emotions, alongside a deep sense of hurt and resentment. Ravana lusted after Sita and felt slighted that his sister Surpanakha was cold-shouldered and disfigured by Lakshmana. All his life Karna bore the cross of being called a shudra, his many talents, and abilities notwithstanding. Duryodhana remained perpetually infantile, given to juvenile behaviour.
Besides, he was under the delusion that the powers that be of Hastinapur would have never agreed to his accession after his father Dhritarashtra abdicated the throne.The feelings of hurt, playing a victim, jealousy, and injury, get metamorphosed in such personalities into deep-seated vexation and anger, leading to false bravado and arrogance.
The anger and arrogance get vitiated into negative thoughts, leading to self-destruction under the strain of self-delusion.However strange it may appear, there is a flip side at the end of the spectrum, where individuals have deployed emotions of anger and arrogance to become achievers."Anybody can become angry-that is easy, but to be angry with the right person and to the right degree and at the right time and for the right purpose and in the right way-that is not within everybody's power and is not easy," wrote Aristotle.
Who does not miss the swagger of Vivian Richards, and the ferocity of the pace of Dennis Lillee and Thomson? Several politicians, industrialists, writers, artists, kings and monarchs could channelise this energy of anger and arrogance to become highly victorious and triumphant."To be a tennis champion, you must be inflexible, you must be stubborn, you must be arrogant, and you must be selfish and self-absorbed. Kind of tunnel vision almost," says Chris Evert. Therefore, arrogance is a double-edged sword. Often it subsumes the personalities to self-destruction as they lack the power of self-discrimination and self-examination, thus becoming victims of guilt and persecution complex.
(The writer is the CEO of Chhattisgarh East Railway Ltd. and Chhattisgarh East West Railway Ltd. He is a faculty of the Art of Living; views are personal)
