Fear, greed, anger, and delusion are the roots of great suffering. What is extraordinary is the depth and scale of this statement, because what holds true for the individual holds for civilization and the entirety of Mother Earth. Individual suffering and planetary suffering are made of the same stuff.

Societies share a collective karma and co-generate–through the fear, greed, and anger expressed at a cultural scale–the pain and sorrow that floods nightly news. It is not hard to see fear permeating societies like Syria. We in the United States embrace greed; we impose an economic system in which it is fair and legal to hoard the world’s resources for the benefit of a few. Other civilizations, like Israel and Pakistan, rage in perennial anger against past and present injustices.

These conditions are not morally good or bad. People are not right or wrong to have these perspectives. Good-bad, right-wrong are dualistic thought traps that bind civilizations into sustained patterns of discord. What lies at the root of all pain is the delusion that my happiness is separate from the happiness of others. Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke to this directly when he said in a letter from a Birmingham Jail on April 16, 1963: “We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.” When I delude myself to believe I am separate from others it’s not morality but enlightenment that’s absent.

The good news is mindfulness of the truth of inter-being unlocks harmful patterns in thinking and action that perpetuate suffering.

More specifically, climate change is not simply an economic or technological challenge; it is an ethical and spiritual crisis at a societal level. But, a collective awakening to the delusion of separation that drives our global climate mess will enable us to navigate from of peril. Insight into the truth of mutuality among human and non-human species will shed light on the global policies, investments, and ways of being that perpetuate suffering. Insight into planetary connectedness will reveal the way to untangle the web of harmful conditions so that we can avoid suffering in the future.

Taking good care of any piece of the equation is taking care of the whole. There are a great number of paths available that lead toward healing. Collectively, we must walk them all. So, awaken to inter-being with others and act where you stand. Heal the wounds within your reach as an act of self-defense.