Mindfulness: Martin Stepek on mental poverty

We have some awful statistics about poverty here in Scotland. 17% of individuals are living in absolute poverty, this being defined as a condition where income is below that needed to provide the basics of life: food, clothing, shelter. The percentage for children is even higher, at 22% after housing costs.

People debate the causes of such poverty in the midst of increasing national and global wealth, and having delved into those debates for decades I sadly am no clearer as to how to end poverty than I was at the start. But there is another type of poverty that is rarely debated or even acknowledged. It exists amongst some, but not all of the financially poor, and it pervades every part of our society. I call it mental poverty.

The Buddha summed up what I mean. According to the ancient texts about his teachings he once said to his followers: There are two kinds of illness. Physical illness and mental illness. There seem to be people who enjoy freedom from physical illness even for a year or two, even all their life. But it is rare to find any individual who is free from mental illness, even for one moment.

At first glance, we might think, how bleak that is as an assessment of humanity. However he was viewing it from a very specific perspective. His definition of perfect sanity was that a truly free individual would not be controlled by their knee-jerk reactions, their negative mental habits, and their auto-responses to everyday things that normally irritate, frustrate or infuriate us. This describes a mind that is happy, full of the joy of living, and able to deal with negative reactions without fuss or effort.

If this is a description of true mental wellbeing or mental wealth, how poor are we in comparison? Financial poverty often affects people’s mental wellbeing. Perceptions of being socially excluded, labelled as failures or worse, build up of resentments and bitterness against a society that is evidently unjust, and other mental traits develop in many people who are on the lower rungs of our society’s unhealthy version of a class system.

But I know many successful business people. Quite a few rich people. Many people who have been publicly praised. Many of them are mentally very poor. They feel that their work is shallow. It doesn’t feed the deeper longings many people need in life. Some worry about their wealth. How it might be lost. Who is to get it when they die? How will it be divided? Who gets what? As for fame it becomes addictive to some individuals. Without the acclaim they feel hollow, empty, devoid of a self that is solid and content in its own right.

You may feel these are extreme cases but some of the most prestigious professions in Scotland have high levels of stress, unhappiness and depression. Ironically doctors have one of the highest rates of these symptoms of mental poverty compared to other careers. Lawyers too. The stereotype of the ultra-cool, always confident legal expert in films and television programmes does not reflect a reality where many struggle with tiredness, lack of sense of fulfilment, even suicidal thoughts.

True mental health, as defined by the Buddha more than two millennia ago, is possible. As the old saying goes, we got into this mess, so we can get out of it. But it requires a radical shift in the way we think, communicate and act. And it requires us to let go of some of what our society so prizes in people. All that crap about ambition, success, status, acclaim, fame, praise, mega-wealth. These things are not just junk; they are, if we’re not really careful, stumbling blocks to true fulfilment in life, and slippery slopes towards unhappiness and an unpleasant personality.

Mental poverty is simply the accumulation of myriad unhelpful experiences in your life. Therefore mental sanity and happiness are simply the opposite; the accumulation of myriad helpful and positive experiences in your life. Whether an experience is positive or negative depends to a great degree on how you perceive it, and this can be within your control, though it takes practice to be good at this.

Bad things happen in life. But is the death of someone you love a cause for ongoing lamentation, or a cause for great celebration of their life, and gratitude for all the years you had together? This is a choice we have.

As for fortune and fame, ignore the temptation to grasp at them. Instead learn what will fulfil and satisfy your deeper inner life, and do that, and if by some chance they do bring you fortune or fame, accept it but don’t get attached to it. Treat it for what it is, a side-effect of doing what you really wanted to do.

Some people will argue that it is good to have drive and ambition, and that without it we’ll all sink into mediocrity and apathy. But when we practice mindfulness and live according to its maxim of focussing on the present moment as much as we can, we actually get so much more done in life, without the draining, sapping effect of ambition and greed. You might actually find, as I did, that you end up achieving much more when you drop your goals and self-centred dreams than when you consciously pursued them.

So avoid the paths that lead to mental poverty, and follow deeper, more profound paths that truly sustain and nourish your finest mental riches.