The Mental Roots of Poverty, Suffering, and Global Division: Healing Our Minds for Collective Peace and World Happiness

Luis Gallardo with Jaipur Rugs Artisans in India

For centuries, human suffering has been attributed to external conditions—poverty, inequality, and oppression. Today, we witness these same issues on a magnified scale, intertwined with unprecedented global challenges such as climate change, racial injustice, geopolitical divides, and rising levels of discrimination and xenophobia. Yet, underlying all these conditions is a shared, often unaddressed foundation: our collective mental distress and unprocessed anxiety. These internal states, at the level of both individuals and systems, drive our actions and influence our social constructs, making them the primary sources of suffering.

We have long examined how external circumstances drive inner turmoil, but perhaps it is time to acknowledge the reverse: that unresolved mental distress, anxiety, and trauma within the human psyche lay the groundwork for nearly all external suffering. Authors, spiritual leaders, and thinkers from the Buddha and Meher Baba to Gabor Maté and Bessel van der Kolk have pointed to this inner origin of suffering, urging us to prioritize healing the mind. This article explores how these internal conditions fuel external crises and demonstrates how, through a path of mental healing, such as that outlined in my book Unlocking the Hidden Light, we can foster a foundation for true global well-being.

Anxiety, Stress, and the Seeds of Global Division

The climate crisis, rising xenophobia, and economic disparity are among the most visible crises of our time, and all are driven, in part, by deeply rooted mental patterns of fear, insecurity, and disconnection. Anxiety and stress create a survival mindset, where the instinct to protect oneself or one’s group dominates decisions. Climate change, for example, is not simply a result of industrial practices; it reflects a mindset of unsustainable consumption driven by the need for control, security, and excess.

The Buddha, in his teachings on suffering, noted that attachment, craving, and ignorance are the roots of human suffering. These qualities are intensified by anxiety and stress, creating a mindset that leads to unsustainable actions. Meher Baba echoes this concept, teaching that the mind is in a state of self-inflicted bondage until one moves from unconsciousness to consciousness. He outlines the journey through “Ten States of God” as a path to freedom from this bondage. In a world suffering from environmental devastation, perhaps it is the bondage of our own minds—our unprocessed fears, greed, and desire for control—that fuels such self-destructive behaviors.

White Supremacy, Polarization, and Systemic Injustice: Products of Mental Distress

One of the most persistent, painful expressions of mental distress on a global level is the construct of “us versus them” thinking, which fuels white supremacy, racism, and geopolitical divides. When anxiety and fear dominate our minds, we cling to identities that distinguish us from perceived threats, leading to prejudice and systemic discrimination. Scholars like Ta-Nehisi Coates, Ibram X. Kendi, and Kimberlé Crenshaw have explored how racism and systemic oppression are perpetuated not only by historical and social factors but by mental constructs rooted in fear, insecurity, and an inherent need for superiority to mask these vulnerabilities.

Our planet is also polarized along East vs. West and North vs. South divides, a dynamic exacerbated by these mental patterns. At the heart of geopolitical conflicts, economic exploitation, and systemic injustices is a scarcity mindset—a product of anxiety and insecurity. By addressing these internal mental states, as Meher Baba teaches in his insights on the “Divine Path,” we can begin to see ourselves beyond division and move toward collective harmony. Until we release these internal bonds, the mental distress will continue to manifest as division and conflict, preventing us from realizing a unified and harmonious world.

The Mind as the Source of All Suffering: A Call for Collective Mental Healing

It is time to recognize that all of these external crises—the climate emergency, systemic racism, polarized geopolitics, and economic inequality—originate in our minds. As recent studies in psychology reveal, the same mental patterns that drive individual suffering—stress, fear, and insecurity—drive the suffering we witness globally. In The Body Keeps the Score, Bessel van der Kolk explores how trauma and mental distress impact both the individual and society, emphasizing the need for healing systems that address trauma at a collective level. Healing our minds on an individual and systemic level is essential for dismantling the frameworks of inequality and environmental destruction, allowing us to cultivate compassion, unity, and sustainable living.

My book, Unlocking the Hidden Light, delves into this inner healing journey, highlighting how accessing and transforming our subconscious patterns of fear, anxiety, and self-sabotage can create significant shifts within and around us. Through hypnotherapy, we can confront deeply ingrained mental patterns and anxieties that fuel not only personal challenges but also broader social issues. By focusing on healing our minds, we set the foundation for systemic healing—a core principle outlined in Stanford Social Innovation Review’s “Healing Trauma Systems,” which argues that transforming collective mental health is essential to ending the cycles of trauma and inequality embedded within systems of governance, education, and economy.

Bridging Inner Peace and World Happiness

If we are to achieve world happiness, we must recognize that the journey begins within. As the Buddha teaches in The Dhammapada, “All that we are is the result of what we have thought: it is founded on our thoughts, it is made up of our thoughts.” Our thoughts are the blueprint of our reality, and healing these thoughts, these patterns of anxiety and fear, is essential to creating a compassionate, peaceful world.

Gabor Maté’s insights in When the Body Says No reveal that societal issues like economic inequality and social injustice are manifestations of collective trauma and mental distress. He calls for an understanding of the social determinants of mental health, reminding us that healing society means addressing the mental patterns that drive us. Through compassionate inquiry and healing, we can begin to dismantle the mental barriers that keep us separate from one another and from nature, opening doors to profound shifts in collective consciousness.

Footnotes and References

  1. Van der Kolk, B. (2015). The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma. Penguin Books.
  2. Maté, G. (2003). When the Body Says No: The Cost of Hidden Stress. Vintage Canada.
  3. Brown, B. (2015). Rising Strong: How the Ability to Reset Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead. Random House.
  4. Thich Nhat Hanh. (1998). The Heart of the Buddha’s Teaching: Transforming Suffering into Peace, Joy, and Liberation. Parallax Press.
  5. Meher Baba. (1982). God Speaks: The Theme of Creation and Its Purpose. Sufism Reoriented.
  6. Senge, P. (2006). The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization. Doubleday.
  7. Crenshaw, K. (1991). “Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence Against Women of Color.” Stanford Law Review.
  8. Kendi, I. X. (2019). How to Be an Antiracist. One World.
  9. Coates, T.-N. (2015). Between the World and Me. Spiegel & Grau.
  10. Buddha. The Dhammapada.
  11. Nhat Hanh, T. (2017). The Art of Living: Peace and Freedom in the Here and Now. HarperOne.
  12. Karris, A. (2018). Synchronicity: Unlocking the Divine Destiny of Your Life. Divine Destiny Publishing.
  13. Tolle, E. (1997). The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment. Namaste Publishing.
  14. Harari, Y. N. (2015). Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind. Harper.
  15. Tatum, B. D. (1997). Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?: And Other Conversations about Race. Basic Books.
  16. Barnett, E. A. (2009). “From Psychotherapy to Positivity: Healing the Mind to Heal Society.” Journal of Social Psychology.
  17. Mate, G. (2020). The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness, and Healing in a Toxic Culture. Avery.
  18. Institute for Interpersonal Hypnotherapy (2023). Hypnotherapy Training and Insights. I.I.H. Publishing.
  19. Gallardo, L. M. (2024). Unlocking the Hidden Light: A Path to Individual and Collective Healing. World Happiness Press.
  20. “Healing Trauma Systems.” (2024). Stanford Social Innovation Review.
  21. Shiro, Edith. (2023). The Unexpected Gift of Trauma. HarperCollins Publishers.

Conclusion: Realizing a World of Freedom, Consciousness, and Happiness

Through the journey of mental healing, we can begin to unravel the mental constructs and anxieties that bind us, replacing them with compassion, understanding, and unity. By acknowledging that our fundamental challenges stem from our inner world, we set a foundation for a reality in which external conditions such as poverty, suffering, and division are no longer inevitable. As individuals, we must each unlock our own inner light, and as a collective, we must strive to create healing systems that support this journey. Together, we can build a world of freedom, consciousness, and happiness for all.

Unlocking the Hidden Light book: https://a.co/d/gaYuQJ6

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