Intense concentration 2

Intense concentration as a technical term for the Tibetan "ting nge 'dzin" or Sanskrit "samadhi" means in Buddhist usage a true grasp of the profound nature of reality acquired through powerful contemplation. (Coleman: A Handbook of Tibetan Culture).
Our understanding of reality emanates from ideas and not from observations. Sometimes observations help refine ideas, but the origin is always the idea.
The car out there is not the result of observations but of a lot of ideas tested and eventually developed into that mechanical miracle of a modern car.
These days we have for the first time the ability to gather extremely amounts of facts, about people and everything else. If we believed in observations we were certainly rich and happy.
But facts are meaningless without an idea.
All ideas are not correct. Observation is a way to sort out good ideas from bad.
One particular external phenomenon can be the manifestation of different ideas. Often it is impossible to see the original idea just by watching the manifestation. But if we know the original idea, we can see it manifested even when it is very vaguely hinted.
The technical means for control of people are better than ever before. It can become a nuisance if those who use this means do not know the limitation of observation and the power of ideas.
Many faulty ideas can be confirmed by observation. And it is sometimes impossible to negate a faulty idea by observation, as it can be claimed that truth will surface later. The most obvious manifestation can be misinterpreted if the idea is absent.

Alternative to anger 2

Non-violence is not very potent when a conflict has occurred. It should start much earlier, and thus the conflict should have been avoided.
This is an idealistic analysis in a world that is loaded with conflict. The focus is on winning rather than avoiding conflict. Sometimes conflict is even good-humored. We try to live with conflict. It is like an incurable, widespread mental disease with occasional eruptions.
Non-violence should be the starting point in everything we do. We start new things every second. We can start non-violence now.
Ideas are always true to their origin. If we start from non-violence, the end result will be non-violence. If we start from violence, the result will be violence, even if we say we seek peace and harmony. It is extremely difficult to change from violence to non-violence in the middle of a process.
A difficulty is that others might interfere. If the others use violence, we might look like a victim if we do not react in the same way. This is a primitive form of cooperation. It can be nasty as long as it lasts, but it is not eternal.
Another difficulty is the extreme attractiveness of non-violence. If a group trained in violence meets non-violence, the natural reaction is just to kill it out of pure raw attraction. The rational reaction is of course to learn non-violence.
When we meet external situations we use ready-made reactional patterns. If anger is such a pattern, we might find many uses for it.
To learn non-violence patterns is hard work. Why should we invest in this kind of work?
We know why when we have made it.