Identifying how ignorance, ego, attachment, aversion, and fear-of-death perpetuate trauma cycles and how recognizing them enables healing.
Patanjali identifies five kleshas (afflictions or obstacles): avidya (ignorance), asmita (ego/false self), raga (attachment/craving), dvesha (aversion/rejection), and abhinivesha (fear of death or annihilation). Trauma survivors embody these patterns acutely. Avidya means not knowing one's true nature, leading survivors to believe "I am broken." Asmita creates identification with the trauma identity. Raga manifests as desperate clinging to safety mechanisms that once helped. Dvesha as intense rejection of anything resembling the original trauma. Abhinivesha as existential terror. Understanding these kleshas as universal patterns rather than personal failures is itself therapeutic. A survivor recognizes, "My aversion to crowds is a klesha, not truth about crowds." Patanjali teaches that kleshas diminish through discriminative wisdom (viveka)—seeing clearly what is real versus conditioned. Therapy work combined with this philosophical framework helps survivors gradually dissolve the mental formations that keep trauma active.
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