Kleshas: The Five Afflictions of Political Life

The kleshas—ignorance (avidya), ego-sense (asmita), attachment (raga), aversion (dvesha), and fear of death (abhinivesha)—are Patanjali's diagnosis of human suffering. In political psychology, these afflictions explain endemic dysfunction: ignorance of our common humanity generates dehumanization; ego-fusion creates zero-sum competition; attachment to ideology blinds us to evidence; aversion generates enemy-making; and existential fear fuels authoritarianism and scapegoating. Most political reform addresses symptoms while leaving kleshas untouched, ensuring dysfunction recycles. Patanjali's framework suggests that sustainable political transformation requires addressing these root afflictions directly. This means creating political cultures that reduce ignorance through education, weaken ego-identity through contemplative practice, loosen ideological attachment through exposure to diverse views, decrease aversion through compassion training, and address existential fear through meaning-making and security. Political leaders and institutions practicing yoga psychology become capable of recognizing when these afflictions are driving collective decisions. This doesn't solve politics but creates conditions where solutions are genuinely possible rather than continuously subverted by unconscious pathology.