Patanjali's five root afflictions (ego, attachment, aversion, fear, clinging) that generate suffering, applied to understanding colonial trauma, oppression, and intergenerational mental distress.
The kleshas—five fundamental afflictions of ego, attachment, aversion, fear, and clinging to life—form the deep psychological patterns that generate all suffering in Patanjali's analysis. For African communities, these kleshas operate alongside and through historical trauma: colonialism, slavery, ongoing oppression, and systemic marginalization create particular formations of these afflictions. Aversive patterns develop toward one's own Blackness and culture; ego attachment intensifies through survival mechanisms; fear becomes encoded in bodies and families across generations. African healers recognize these patterns and work to transform them through counter-practices: grounding in cultural pride, community belonging, ritual affirmation of identity, and ancestral support. Understanding kleshas through an African lens reveals how psychological work must address both universal mental patterns and specific historical trauma.
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