Does Philosophy Help You When You Lose Your Balance Of Mind?

@silentlistener,

It depends on what caused that hostility to begin with and why you don't like him. You have no control over his behavior but you have control over how such hostility will affect your day of his visit and other days following that day thinking about his hostility. If he had hurt your feelings, forgive him inside your heart but never communicate that to him. However, continue to be nice to him and that would work on his conscience. If the reasons for his hostility is much more that mere hurt feelings and you need to establish righteousness, then, you need to do what is right in the interest of everyone.

Two examples from Epics:

1) Knowing the person Sri Rama was fighting with, was someone who has captured His own wife, when the enemy lost all his weapons, Sri Rama told him to go and come back again the next day even though He had a chance to kill him. That is righteousness at its best.

2) When Arjuna was ready to drop his weapons refusing to fight against his own relatives stating that obtaining the property that way will not give him a great sense of fulfillment, Lord Krishna advised him to fight for the righteousness for the common good of deprived people and to give them a good Chakravarthi in future.

In one occasion, the Lord Himself was patient-personified to give another chance for His enemy to recollect his energy so that it would be a fair battle and on another occasion, the Lord advised his disciple to fight the enemies through devious means in order to save the suffering people.

That is why the words "rightly applied" become relevant.

Viswa

 

Philosophy doesn't work like an Allopathic medicine, it rather works like a Homoeopathic drug that works slowly but surely building long-lasting resistance. It seasons the most resistant minds to accept with grace what cannot be changed and move on without losing either the positivity, enthusiasm or the energy to carry on one's duty. Especially when major setbacks strike, after going through the initial process of grieving, it is the philosophy that strengthens one's mind to continue with life productively, rather become their improved version. You can call it philosophy, experience or wisdom; it is all the same.

 

Okay, skip the philosophy. Think logically. If he is hostile, you show your pain on his hostility, will it not intensify his hostility knowing that it has the desired result? On the contrary, if you ignore his hostility and continue to show how happy you are irrespective of his hostility, how confusing it would be to him? Moreover, it is not his hostility that affects you but your reaction internally to such hostility that bothers you. He is not suffering the pain and you are the one who suffers the pain even if you react. More you think about it, the negative energy is going to be intense in your mind. You are handing over the victory to him. If you overcome it, his hostility will never affect you. At least that is my experience in the corporate world.