MANIME: Manly Lessons from Anime featuring Rising of the Shield Hero Part 3: Rage VS Discipline

“You don’t mess with John Wick’s dog!” This is a truth we all learned from the first John Wick movie. Why was it a truth? Because John took out a whole gang of Russian mobsters because of it. We remember things like this and we love watching movies that have stuff like this happen. A guy goes nuts and in a moment of rage takes everyone out.

The reality is a little different. We often don’t see the negative side of rage. We see the vengeance and all the bad guys getting taken out, but we often don’t see the real cost. Naofumi from “Rising of the Shield Hero” has something called a rage shield. It is a powerful weapon that helps him win a bunch of battles. However, it always takes a toll on him and his team.

This is a reality we need to be conscious of as men. When we lose our temper and go into a “rage” mode, we often get things done but there is a lot of collateral damage.

We are going to look at the truth of rage and how we don’t have to walk in rage to get things done. We can turn the power behind rage into discipline and live a much stronger life. We do that by understanding three key truths about rage and discipline

Truth 1: Rage Can be Effective.

When rage takes us over it can make us effective in some situations. The Vikings used to go into something historians call a “battle frenzy.” They would work themselves up and charge into battle without much armor and go berserk on the enemy. In this state, they could sustain intense injuries and keep fighting. They would mow through the enemy and often take many more men out of the battle than a normal man could.

This appeal of rage often sucks us in. We think to ourselves, “When I lose it, people listen and action happens.” The logical side of this can feel appealing to us. It can also fuel us to keep moving.

Rage Shield Characteristics

• Epic spiky armor

• Powerful attacks

• Goku-level yelling

Many people throughout history have used their anger and rage at others to motivate them to achieve. They set out to “prove everyone wrong,” and will push themselves to success. We read stories of this and it looks like rage and anger are tools that help people succeed.

When dealing with others some men use rage to intimidate. They seek to intimidate others into submission and let rage out as a tool of choice. We have all seen the boss that does this at work. He loses it in front of everyone because he is seeking to push them the way he wants them to go.

These are realities of rage. It can help us to get things done so many of us can choose to use this tool. The problem is all rage comes with a high price.

Truth 2: Rage Has a High Price

We mentioned the Viking “battle frenzy” earlier as an example of rage getting things done. There was one major drawback to this method, they often died! The battle frenzy was a last-ditch effort but often the warrior knew they would not last. It was a way of sacrificing for their cause. This shows the reality of rage. It can help us get things done and make things happen, but it has a high price.

The rage shield Naofumi had was an amazingly powerful weapon. It did help him to destroy some enemies. The reason it worked is because of the reality that rage only has the power to destroy. We don’t see rage motivating a man to paint a beautiful painting or write a touching poem. Rage motivates energy toward one main goal: destruction.

Rage always comes with collateral damage. Naofumi saw this in his team. One of the times he uses the rage shield his team members have to hold him and they fight to bring him back out of the rage focus. When they do this, they sustain damage. He hurt his teammates when he was using rage.

Our rage often hurts those closest to us. A dad, for example, may hate his job and get angry over it. The problem is he will come home and take out his rage from work on his wife and children. They didn’t cause the rage, but they paid the price for it.

We also see Naofumi hurt himself with his rage. Whenever he would go into rage mode, it brought on a greater sense of isolation and self-pity. He would replay past hurts and let those fuel his anger. many people are the same way today. They allow their rage to push them to the outer edges of life and they isolate themselves from other people who might could help them overcome.

Rage doesn’t build, it destroys. It is powerful but the cost of it can devastate our lives and those closest to us. What we want to do is take the energy of rage and focus it in a better way. How do we do that? With discipline.

Truth 3: Discipline Focuses the Energy of Rage

Rage is powerful, but you can take the same energy and power that rage has and use it for something better through discipline. When a man is disciplined, he doesn’t allow the rage to control him, but he controls the rage.

Life pushes back at all of us. People hurt us, tragedy strikes us, and the unexpected happens. These can cause us to lose our temper and go into rage mode, but the better alternative is to direct that aggression through discipline. What is the difference between rage and discipline?

Here is an example for us to consider. Let’s say a man’s wife is nagging him about getting something done. It gets under his skin and pushes him to his limits. Then he finally blows his top and goes into a rage-filled tantrum yelling and losing it in front of her. This may quiet her for a moment, but it won’t fix the problem.

A man of discipline can take those same feelings and go a different route. He can analyze them and try to figure out what is bothering him about the nagging. What is the source of his aggravation and what is the source of her aggravation? Once he sees clearly what is happening in his mind, he can sit down and have a conversation with her to try and fix the overall problem.

This isn’t easy and will take work, but it will lead to a strengthening of the relationship and not the destruction of the relationship.

Disciple is a productive power source.

We are called to walk with power, but uncontrolled power is destructive. Men with discipline have a built-in power source to live with. Naofumi is an example of this. He takes his energy and applies it to starting and building a business. He also defends his friends and fights monsters. All of these things required aggression and confrontation. He used discipline many times and saw a productive end to each situation.

This benefit of Naofumi using consistent discipline comes later in season one. When he and the other heroes face a strong opponent, Naofumi is the only one who can stand with her. His use of discipline taught him skills and abilities that others didn’t have.

When we learn to use discipline effectively, we grow and we also help those around us grow and become better.

How do We Move from Rage to Strength?

Moving from rage to strength is a simple thing to say but a hard thing to accomplish. Many men learn at a young age to use rage as their fallback for hard moments in life. They have been practicing this technique for years and it is an ingrained habit. Overcoming it will take focused work, but the payoff is worth it! Here are a few things you can do to start taking the journey from rage to strength:

Deal with the Roots

Many of us struggle with rage due to situations that happened when we were younger. Like Naofumi we may have been hurt. People might have betrayed us or purposely caused us harm. Growing up we may have only seen an example of rage. Whatever the reason, we need to deal with the roots of our rage.

This will mean getting honest and often it means getting help. Just like athletes have coaches, we may need a person to help us walk through our hurts and deal with them the right way. This isn’t weakness, it is courage. It takes courage to battle through old hurts and learn new ways to deal with life. It takes courage to get help, but it is the best first step to living with discipline instead of rage.

Build a Community

We are not meant to live life alone. The image of the lone wolf man fighting through life is a myth that doesn’t work. We need other men in our lives. We need community. In today’s virtual world, we have to fight for community more than ever.

Start finding ways to build community with men who make you better. Get around a group of guys who will bring you up and not tear you down. This could mean finding new friends, but the reward will be allies in your battle.

The great thing about a community is we can be someone else’s ally in the battle of life. We could be just the person someone else needs to help them walk through some rough parts of life. Naofumi had a community who he helped and they in turn helped him when he needed it.

Do Right Things

When we say, "Do right things," we are talking about doing things that we don’t always feel. You may not feel like treating your coworkers with respect or working through differences with your wife. Well, suck it up! We are men and we do hard things!! You aren’t always going to feel like doing the right thing, but it will bring positive dividends if you don’t quit.

Naofumi often did the right thing even when he didn’t feel it. He would even question himself right in the midst of it, but he kept doing it. This helped him save others and slowly built a positive reputation for him. Doing the right thing won’t get you recognition or glory, but it will strengthen your discipline and make you a better man.

Protect Yourself

Protecting ourselves comes with building boundaries to make sure we are in the right frame of mind. Making sure we are getting proper rest, nutrition, growth time, etc…. are all part of protecting ourselves. Running yourself down and burning yourself out won’t help you have discipline, it will feed your rage side. Tired men give in to their impulses more easily.

Take the time to make sure you are staying in shape spiritually, mentally, emotionally, and physically. This will not only make you a better man, but it will build important aspects of your discipline.

Rage won’t help you live like a hero. It will only bring destruction. Let’s do the work and put the time in to build discipline in our lives each day. This will make us better men, husbands, and fathers which will help us impact the world.