The Hungry Ghost Inside Us

Everyone living in a capitalist world is dealing with the hungry ghost. We all feel the pain of disconnection, of having our value determined by our economic output, of knowing that we are all replaceable. The pain is so ever present, we can hardly see it because it is always there.

We feel it in the destroyed ecosystems, in the abused children, in the tortured animals, in the deprivation of the homeless, and in every unloved being. The pain is everywhere. And since we are empathic beings who are hard-wired to feel the pain of another, it hurts.

We are all in pain.

Support the creation of more videos like this: https://www.patreon.com/sustainablehuman

This video was created as a gift to humanity by Chris and Dawn Agnos

Original speech from Dr.Gabor Mate's TED talk:

The Power of Addiction and The Addiction of Power: Gabor Maté at TEDxRio+20
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66cYcSak6nE)

YouTube Credits:

At Pine Ridge, tribe wages battle against alcoholism (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-J7R8JliI8)

Child Abuse PSA (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfTo7uxykjs)

Christ Tempted (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkHeETl6yqY)

Crackheads (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arFHJKOtKuY)

Crystal Meth is Destroying South African Communities (2006) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9OswlOi6Yw)

Dhamma Brothers (English) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-Za3YXpfCY)

Fentanyl The Drug Deadlier than Heroin (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28rJqj-7pEY)

Former banker in San Francisco confronts new reality (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkawn1tLp-8)

Melania Trump Fake Smile And Frown (with sound) - What Did Donald Trump Say At Inauguration? (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=laMrfGUM_d0)

Truth About Drugs Documentary: Crystal-Meth (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuyX1XKxX_s)

[Music]

As a medical doctor, I worked with some
very very addicted people people,

people who use heroin,

cocaine

alcohol

crystal meth

and every drug known to man .

And these people suffer:

they lose their health

they lose their beauty

they lose their teeth

they lose their wealth

they lose human relationship

and in the end they often lose their lives.

And yet nothing can force them
to give up their addiction.

The addictions are powerful

and the question is why.

If you want to understand addiction,

you can't look at what's wrong with the addiction,

you have to look at what's right about it.

In other words, what is the person getting
from the addiction

that otherwise they don't have.

And what addicts get

are relief from pain,
the sense of peace,

a sense of control,
a sense of calmness

very, very temporarily.

And that's why
the real question in addiction is not

why the addiction, but why the pain

If you want to ask the question of
why people are in pain,

you can't look at their genetics,

you have to look at their lives.

And in the case of
my highly addicted patients,

it's very clear why they're in pain,

because they've been abused
all their lives.

They began life as abused children,

physically abused, neglected,
sexually abused,

abandoned over and over again.

And that's why the pain.

The human brain develops
in interaction with the environment.

The kind of environment that a child has

will actually shape the development
of the brain

[Music]

The Buddhists have this idea
of the hungry ghosts.

The hungry ghosts are
creatures with large empty bellies

and small scrawny necks
and tiny little mouths.

So they can never get enough,

they can never fill this emptiness
on the inside.

And the addiction is all about

trying to fill that emptiness
from the outside.

[Music]

From that perspective you can understand
that there's many many addictions

Yes, there's the addiction to drugs

but it is also the addiction
to consumerism,

the addiction to sex,

to the Internet,

to food.

For each person there is a different way
of filling the emptiness

[Music]

but the emptiness always goes back
to what we did the get

when we were very small.

[Music]

Many of my patients were actually
First Nations Indian people

and they are heavily addicted

because their lands were
taken away from them

and because they were killed and abused

from generation to generation
and generation.

If you can understand the suffering
of these native people

and how that suffering makes them
seek relief from pain

in their addictions,

what about the people
who are perpetrating it?

What are they addicted to?

Well, they're addicted to power,

they're addicted to wealth,

they're addicted to acquisition.

They want to make themselves bigger

The addiction to power is always about

the emptiness that you try and fill
from the outside.

[Music]

If you look at the story
about Jesus and Buddha,

both of them were tempted by the devil.

And one of the things that
the devil offers them

is power.

And they both say no

because they have the power
inside of themselves,

they don't need it from the outside.

They don't want to control people,

they want to teach people by example,
not through force-

So they refuse power -

Jesus says the kingdom of God is within,

that the power is not
outside of yourself but inside

And the Buddha says:
"Don't worship me,

"find a lamp inside yourself

"be a lamp unto yourselves,
find the light within"

And so as we look at this difficult world,

let's not look to the people in power
to change things

because the people in power are very often
some of the emptiest people in the world.

We have to find that light
within ourselves.

We have to find the lightness
in humilitiy

and in our own wisdom,

in our own creativity.

if we find that light within,

if we find our own nature,

then we'll be kinder to ourselves

and we also be kinder to nature

[Music]

(We are social beings.)

(When we feel disconnected
or alienated)

(we experience pain.)

(Addiction, depression, anger,
and violence)

(are different ways we react to pain.)

(To heal our society and our world)

(we must heal the emotional wounds
at the roots of our pain.)

(Support the creation
of other stories like this:)

(https://www.patreon.com/sustainablehuman)

(This video was produced
as a gift to humanity)

(by Chris and Dawn Agnos.)