The Alchemy of Anger

In October’s We Conspire series, explore how spiritual leaders Valarie Kaur, Fr. Richard Rohr, the late Rev. Dr. Barbara Holmes, and more invite us to stay present to our anger, letting it guide us toward compassion and courageous action. 

On his hit program Mister Rogers Neighborhood, Fred Rogers once sang a song that comforted children in their natural experience with anger. “What do you do with the mad that you feel?” he opens the song. At the end he empowers children to know that they are in control of their emotions and, even deeper than that, to “know that there’s something deep inside that helps us become what we can.” [1] In other words, anger is not to be avoided: it can be our teacher; it can remind us who is in control; it can help us grow.  

In a recent CAC virtual gathering called “What Do I Do with My Anger?” Fr. Richard Rohr, Valarie Kaur, Carmen Acevedo Butcher, and Brian McLaren held a vibrant conversation about the complex dimensions of anger. In a culture in which anger is often deemed “wrong” or “bad,” approached as something to be avoided at all costs (often in Christian communities), the CAC panel together explored anger’s redeeming power. [2] 

Kaur, a Sikh activist, civil rights leader, and award-winning filmmaker, begins the conversation by situating anger (or, what she more pointedly calls “rage”) as an invitation to transformation. She says that anger is a “part of me who I do not yet know.” She quotes the Black feminist Audre Lorde who suggests that we “dance with our rage.” She talks about “riding rage to completion,” citing a situation where she witnessed her mother boldly naming abuse in a setting in which it would usually be swept under the rug. [3] 

“Divine rage is not vengeance,” Kaur shares. “It is to re-order the world.” Joining the CAC event from Guatemala while on a trip to learn about the 20^th-century genocide of the Mayan Indigenous people, Kaur speaks about what she has learned. She challenges, “Do we retreat into despair, into the smallest parts of our hearts, or do we dare to lift our gaze and reach out through the dark, holding fast to one another, and stand in love?” 

In a closing meditation, she invites listeners to dialogue with their own rage. “You are a part of me I do not yet know,” she says of the rage within each of us. “What do you need me to know? This is your wisdom speaking to you.”    

Similarly, Rohr and McLaren discuss the “alchemy of anger” and how anger can be a necessary ingredient for spiritual transformation. “Hold it, let it go,” Rohr says of anger. “You have to hold it until you understand what it has to teach you, and then you let it go and learn what else it has to teach you.” He continues, “Merciful love is the way out of hurt and resentment, but it has to be experienced.” 

The late Rev. Dr. Barbara Holmes goes so far as to call this contemplating of pain a “theology of anger.” She writes in the CAC’s ONEING journal that “a theology of anger invites us to wake up from the hypnotic influences of unrelenting oppression so that individuals and communities can shake off the shackles of denial, resignation, and nihilism.” [4] She continues, “Finally, the healthy expression of righteous anger can translate communal despair into compassionate action and justice-seeking.” [5] 

One important dimension of anger and rage today is our unprecedented media landscape. Thanks to computers in our pockets, the onslaught of headlines and clickbait can so quickly guide many into a place of despair that is not always helpful. Never in the history of human civilization has news traveled at such speed, strengthened all the more by algorithms that evoke rage or reaction, or, what media calls “engagement.” In the CAC event, staff host Mike Petrow notes, “I’ve heard it said that speed is the new weapon of empire.” 

The subtitle of Rohr’s 2025 New York Times bestseller The Tears of Things speaks to our moment: “Prophetic Wisdom for an Age of Outrage.” Writes Rohr, “If we stay with our rage and resentment too long, we will righteously and unthinkingly pass on the hurt in ever new directions, and we injure our own souls in ways we don’t even recognize. This is killing our postmodern world.” [6] 

The Old Testament prophets Rohr writes about in his new book were bold and outspoken, angry and disturbed by how their communities had lost their way. But their proclamations were rooted in the goodness of God and the opportunity to make things right. In the CAC event, Acevedo Butcher responds with an important challenge for those today who are gripped by anger and fear, “Are you staying in touch with the goodness?” 

References:  
[1] Fred Rogers, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood: The Poetry of Mr. Rogers (Quirk Books, 2019), 30. 

[2] Valarie Kaur, with Richard Rohr and Brian McLaren, “What Do I Do with My Anger?” Center for Action and Contemplation, virtual event, March 14, 2025. Unavailable. 

[3] Kaur, “What Do I Do With My Anger?” 

[4] Barbara A. Holmes, “Contemplating Anger,” ONEING: Anger 6, no. 1 (Center for Action and Contemplation, 2018): 21. 

[5] Holmes, “Contemplating Anger,” ONEING: Anger. 

[6] Richard Rohr, The Tears of Things: Prophetic Wisdom for An Age of Outrage (Convergent Books, 2025), 5. 

Reflect with Us  
Anger can burn, or it can illuminate. When we hold our outrage with tenderness and curiosity, it becomes a teacher — revealing where love is calling us to act. The contemplative path does not silence anger; it helps us listen for the wisdom within it, so that our response may become healing rather than harm. 

What might your anger be trying to teach you about love, justice, or what matters most? 
Share your reflection with us.  

We Conspire is a series from the Center for Action and Contemplation featuring wisdom and stories from the growing Christian contemplative movement. Sign up for the monthly email series and receive a free invitation to practice each month.