Eknath Easwaran's Commentary
Blaming ourselves when we get angry is not going to be of much help in the long run. What is helpful is to gain a clearer understanding of how anger comes about. Getting angry is like having a malfunctioning engine. The mind is like the engine of the body, which can be compared to the chassis of the car we drive. But the sad fact is that most of us know a lot more about our car engine than we do about our own minds.
We don’t even have the slightest idea of where the ignition switch of the mind is located. As a result, the engine goes on cranking out thoughts of every description throughout the day and throughout the long night in dreams. Worry and resentment and anger use up enormous quantities of vitality. It’s like leaving our car idling in the garage all night long; in the morning when we need to get to work, we have to push it down the road.
What we need to do is learn how to slow down the mind, and eventually to park it at the side of the road when travel isn’t necessary. Then we will have all the vitality, all the fuel, we need when we want to reach a worthwhile destination.