Traditional hindrances to health, wholth and integrity

Symbolic Insignia Indicative of Global Health (Part #10)

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There is recognized resistance to global calls for action, notably implied by the title of a recent report to the Club of Rome (Come On! Capitalism, Short-termism, Population and the Destruction of the Planet, 2018), as discussed separately (Exhortation to We the Peoples from the Club of Rome, 2018). In the quest for greater insight into such resistance, there is some relevance to the 20-fold pattern of Upakleshas of Buddhism, noted above, namely the 20 secondary "hindrances" binding people to illusion. These are:

20 Secondary hindrances according to Buddhism
belligerence resentment concealment spite jealousy	miserliness deceit dissimulation haughtiness harmfulness	non-shame non-embarrassment lethargy excitement non-faith	laziness non-conscientiousness forgetfulness non-introspection distraction
Reproduced from Chinese Buddhist Encyclopedia

These derive from various schools of Buddhist psychology (Abhidharma) as they might be held to correspond to sin in cognitive terms -- and the forms of memetic disease potentially relevant to the above argument. Especially recognized are 5-fold and 10-fold sets of hindrances (Kleshas), namely mental factors that hinder progress in meditation and in daily life. One articulation is:

• 5-fold: ignorance, attachment, aversion, pride, jealousy
• 10-fold: greed, hate, delusion, conceit, wrong views, doubt, torpor, restlessness, shamelessness, recklessness

The table above is reproduced from an exploration of web resources on sets of 20-fold strategies, rules, methods and insights (Requisite 20-fold Articulation of Operative Insights? 2018).

As applied to the 20 hindrances, the following animations offer an indication of possibilities.

Animations of experimental mapping of "hindrances" onto symmetric polyhedral duals
Use of 20 vertices of dodecahedron	Use of 20 faces of icosahedron
Prepared with Stella Polyhedron Navigator

Of particular interest in that respect is the acknowledgement in the Chinese Buddhist Encyclopedia that there are many different systems of Abhidharma -- memeplexes? -- each with its its own articulations of mental factors, many potentially to be interpreted as memetic diseases. As a phenomenon in its own right, such disparate articulations frame the question as to the nature of the memetic disease which reinforces such incompatibilities. That disease would be at the root of the conflictual relation between ideologies, religions and disciplines, as can be variously discussed (Nicholas Rescher, The Strife of Systems: an essay on the grounds and implications of philosophical diversity, 1985).

Symptomatic of that memetic disease has of course been the conventional lack of consideration accorded to traditional articulations of such diseases by the editors of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) or by the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) produced by the WHO. In any quest for a richer understanding health, it might be asked why WHO does not take responsibility for the articulation of an International Classification of Healths (or "Wellnesses") in contrast to which pathologies might be more clearly appreciated. Could an enhanced health certification in a QR code more appropriately reflect any absence of health rather than the presence of any form?

This has been partially addressed by the inclusion of a new diagnostic category in 1994 in DSM-IV -- Religious or Spiritual Problem -- of which David Lukoff is a co-author (DSM-IV Religious and Spiritual Problems). Does such inclusion exhaust the understanding of memetic disease implied by traditional articulations, such as that of the Abhidharma? Issues in relation to DSM and the ICD are discussed by Edo Shonin, et al (Mindfulness and Buddhist-Derived Approaches in Mental Health and Addiction, 2015). The question can be framed more generally in the light of the challenge of cognitive biases and "fake news" -- both symptomatic of memetic disease (Memetic and Information Diseases in a Knowledge Society, 2008; Varieties of Fake News and Misrepresentation: when are deception, pretence and cover-up acceptable? 2019).

There is a case for interpreting each of these hindrances for individuals in terms of their collective implications. The preoccupation of WHO with vaccination could then be usefully contrasted with an understanding of the nature of a healing society as articulated by the World Emergency COVID-19 Ethics (WeCope) Committee (Ethical Values and Principles for Healing Society in the Light of the COVID-19 Crisis, Eubios Journal of Asian and International Bioethics, 31, 2021, 1).

Reconciling a 20-fold and 6-fold pattern: Irrespective of the coincidental clustering by Edward de Bono of 20 "thinking tools", his main focus has been on a 6-fold articulation (Six Frames: For Thinking About Information, 2008). Curiously these make specific use of 6 mnemonic forms which are potentially related to coherent mappings in 3D (circle, triangle, square, diamond, rectangle, and heart). Some of the issues have been discussed in relation to the use of such forms on playing cards (Radical Localization in a Global Systemic Context: distinguishing normality using playing card suits as a pattern language, 2015).

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