The Emotions
Anger
The emotional body is reactionary by nature. When someone threatens us, it triggers the fight or flight instinct - anger for fight, fear for flight. While both responses stop the flow of peace, anger is the more potent and violent of the two. Astrologically, Mars and Pluto represent this disruptive, energetic state: meanness erupts, volcano-like, from the ego (Mars) or the id (Pluto). Understanding what triggers our anger can help us transcend it, but this takes courage: we have to take an honest look at our ego. Dealing with id issues takes considerably more work, because they are buried so deep within the psyche.

Anger often troubles people of conscience. Many try to suppress it because they believe it's a bad emotion and shouldn't be expressed. This approach, though, can work against them. Anger is energy, and if you chronically suppress it, it can cause both physical and mental health problems. You could conclude that "getting it out" is a good thing, but there's a catch: habitually expressing all anger can produce a destructive personality. Addiction-wise, anger is almost as insidious as alcohol. In the current social hierarchy, those with power tend to share their displeasure (and unpleasantness) more freely and are generally protected in doing so. The boss can angrily insult you without much fear of reprisal. The employee, on the other, could lose his or her job by acting in the same manner.

Most people believe that they are justified in their anger; although people can pretend that they are angry in order to bluff somebody, real anger is usually self-righteous. It produces a flush of power - an ego rush - that can be exhilarating and enjoyable (at least until the backlash hits). People who classify themselves as "good" normally don't admit to enjoying it, but denial is delusion. It prevents us from discovering the truth about ourselves.

People also can be tempted to feel guilty about their anger, but this only prolongs and confuses the matter. It's best first to accept the condition, apologize for what was said and done, and then move on. Like a thunderstorm, anger passes through now and then, darkening the skies, raining on our parade.

Fear
Fear is an emotional response based on avoidance: avoidance of pain, loss, change, or the unknown. It destroys peace. Oddly, the fear that something will change often creates more suffering than the change itself. If you fear too much, it turns into worry. Too much worry develops into anxiety. Anxiety, unchecked, progresses to neurosis. Neurosis can sink into psychosis. Generally, they all grow from the same seed.

From the place of peace, loss and change are understood as natural elements of the universe. Change results in loss, and it happens to everything. Loss is not the universe picking on you - it is not personal. Yet, in the big picture, nothing is really lost. Much like the First Law of Thermodynamics (you can't create or destroy energy), everything IS and that's a given; it just changes, that's all. The fear of loss is based on the misconception that you can really own something in the first place. At best, ownership is a fleeting, man-made conception, which is founded, ironically, on fear.

Fear and anger, then, are two emotions that prevent us from experiencing peace. As this applies to all humanity, how does this affect the possibility of Peace on Earth?