Greed, Hate and Delusion: A Buddhist Theory of Everything

“We are all addicted. We all plan our escapes from the existential angst of modern life. Some of us are just a bit more subtle about it than others. Buddhist psychology is the study of avoidance and addiction. Through the processes commonly known as the three poisons and popularly translated as ‘greed, hate and delusion’ we avoid the reality of suffering and responsibility by choosing our particular poisons, and in so doing we generate further levels of misery for ourselves. With a myriad variations on the old theme, we set ourselves apart psychologically from our troubled times; an action which is devastating to all our futures on a planet overburdened by consumption and conflict as well as to our personal well-being. In this talk I will be offering some basic insights derived from this Buddhist understanding and some pointers which Buddhism offers for unhooking from these pernicious processes, both at the personal and the collective level.”