Does aggression make someone a bad person? I’ve been thinking about the complex relationship we humans have with aggression. By definition aggression is an attack, often linked to violence. But recently I’ve been reading a book that made me question how we typically view aggression, and it has been challenging my own perceptions about aggression.

Natural Aggression

The book I’m referring to is “The Nature of Personal Reality” by Jane Roberts. Roberts was an author and self-proclaimed psychic who channeled an “energy personality” she called Seth. Yep, this is hard-core woo. Roberts herself didn’t really know what to think about it. She just heard the voice, spoke the words, and her partner dictated.

Regardless of whether this was something from beyond, her own inner wisdom, or a combination of both, there are profound observations about human nature and biology in the book that are thought provoking. And one of the things that provoked thought for myself was her (Seth’s) explanation of aggression.

In the book aggression is described as a creative force, connected to love rather than violence. The outward thrust of aggression is creative love pushed forward into existence.

The book goes on to say that the reason violence can result from aggression is because we block the powerful/forceful emotion that aggression is. The power of it scares us. But that energy needs to be released at some point, in some way, and that powerful outward thrust of energy finally happening can be what we define as violent. In other words, resisting natural aggression can result in something much worse later down the line.

Aggression is creative

So let’s explore aggression as a creative force. We see it in nature all the time. In front of my house, there is a gravel/dirt area for parking. Recently I had some rock delivered to cover up the dirt patches, and hopefully discourage too many weeds from taking over.

Well the weeds have a different idea. You want to talk about aggressive. There is a lot of creative force behind those little weeds. It doesn’t matter if they’re covered in rocks. They just squeeze their way through and make it out into the atmosphere so they can get that sunshine. To me, that’s the epitome of natural aggression being allowed to run its course. It’s inspiring, really.

How often have you hindered your own aggression because you believe it’s a negative emotion that will lead to violent behavior? No doubt, aggression can be violent, in that its forces can be destructive. An aggressive tree root can destroy concrete. It doesn’t make the tree root wrong. Its creative force just ran into a barrier, and it was able to overcome that barrier. Sometimes you’ve got to crack the concrete.

Aggression is everywhere in nature. Labor and birth are aggressive. Hunting for food is an aggressive act, and the wild animals of our planet have to do it every day. Beavers aggressively build dams. Termites aggressively eat wood. Cats aggressively chase mice. All of these require forceful, or powerful energy, which is the base of aggression.

Is it bad?

So why do we view aggression in humans so differently? Well, going back to the concept that we fear the creative forces we are capable of (and are often taught to through self-judgment and doubt), aggressive people might force us to face our own truth about our own fear. And we rationalize it by making a judgment like “why should they get to act like a jerk and get what they want?”

Granted, some of us are naturally more aggressive than others, and it’s normal to associate aggression with men more than women. But if aggression is creative force, then that means we all have aggression in us. But if we have beliefs about aggression that label it as bad, then we’re negatively judging something very innate in us. That will lead to a lot of mental and emotional conflict.

If aggression is a creative force, then it is a tool for you to use. But can aggression go to far? Of course. It can cross over into violent, destructive territory if we don’t know how to observe our aggression, and use it as a tool to be used to forcibly create in our lives.

(As a side note, it’s common for parents to correct the aggressive behaviors in babies and children by shaming them. Imagine the dynamic that sets up for that child’s adult years, when they are left to their own devices to create, but feel shameful about the aggression it takes to create.)

There are so many societal dynamics that go into our concepts around aggression that it’s beyond the scope of this blog post, but remember that aggression is just creative force and that you can, and as a creature on this planet should use aggression to bring into existence the creations you see in your mind. 

It’s OK to get aggressive about that. Aggression does not have to mean violation and attacks against ourselves and others. It can just be a powerful, motivating emotional force you can use to create.

Work with me

Thinking a little differently about aggression now? As a coach, this is what I do. I help you see the definitions, beliefs, and concepts your mind has bought into that could be creating a far too narrow belief system for what you want to create in your life. And I also help you deliberately create new thought to expand your horizon.

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