I have been mulling for a while now a concept I’ll call ’self-righteous anger’, and I’ll do my best to explain what I mean by it.

There are many forms of anger, and, for the sake of simplicity, let’s just say most of them are bad, especially if they lead to any form violence, be it a mentality that leads to the attack of another, or even to that of self-harm. Anger usually shows a lack of control, and, if you are lucky enough to read sometimes the comments people leave after some tragedy has befallen an individual, you’ll know there is plenty of the wrong kind of anger to go around.

The earthquake in Haiti has invariably led to unfortunate public comments that reveal a true lack of empathy by some in our society to the plight of others. But massive human displacement is an easy idea to sympathize with and understand when you have so many helpless against the seemingly benign force of nature. The width of that situation against the bad apples who use it to politicize their racist eugenics is easy to spot.

Harder to identify, but no less insidious, is the anger of entitlement. The right by one to throw stones against the positive goals of the group without taking any personal responsibility for how they might help impact the whole of society. The Internet is a wonderful tool for entitlement, for anyone can do or say anything without much responsibility at all, including what I’m doing here. Standing on this digital soapbox is mostly free. I say ‘mostly’, because not all of what I say goes unaccounted for. Contribution to the whole requires risk most don’t want to take.

Anger, generally speaking, says “I have a right! You owe me! How dare you?! Who are you to tell me?!” There are a few situations in life where one does earn the right to be downright angry, and it makes sense to let the hurt come up with adrenaline so that those emotions can be put in the proper context. But self-righteous anger is different, and that’s why I have gone to great lengths to present it here. I hope that my thoughts on it reach you in the way I intend.

Now, I’m no expert on the Bible. In fact, I’ve barely read it at all. I consider the Aquarian Gospels of Jesus the Christ a more reliable source, and, if you are curious, check that book out if you have a chance. Anyway, what was I saying? Oh yes, I’m no biblical scholar, but I do have a few stories from it that I truly love. My very favorite is when Jesus goes to the temple and confronts the people selling things outside of it. He knocks over their tables, whips them, and drives them out. He tells them (sorry Jesus, I’m paraphrasing), “This is a Holy place, you have no right here.”

The way I have always interpreted this story is that there is a time where that kind of raw, righteous anger is justified. Now, I’m not talking about violence, because Lord knows I cannot differentiate between good and bad violence. But I have sat on the mountain for awhile to think this over, and I do think I can speak on the right kind of anger versus the wrong kind. So, simply said, I think it is time to get really pissed off.

Let’s say you accept the basic premise that I’m suggesting, that it is a time in the culture of man to get genuinely angry about the world around us. That it is time to get furious at the way things are going. That it is the right moment to go to the temples and holy places we hold dear, and throw out the forces and entities that plague us. Let’s say you are a-ok with the premise that there are things right-fucking-now to get angry about.

Alright, then what? How does this manifest itself into action? What are some proper, holistic steps to take in life that involve self-righteous anger? I promise to outline 5 steps of civil disobedience – a course of action made manifest – that we all can start considering to display our inner Holy tough guy. I’ll outline these 5 ideas one at a time, and suggest why they might make some kind of sense to take against the darkness.