Buddhism is famously involved with dissecting the illusions of “self,” of decomposing our fixed modes of being in this world. But before that, Buddhism had already built a comprehensive model of what a normal functional human might look like, and all that can go wrong. 

While few apart from scholars know much about the Abhidharma, the concept of the Five Elements, shared by even more ancient Vedic science, spread, flourished and remains today. It migrated to ancient Greece and formed the basis of the truncated four “roots” of Empedocles, the four elements of Plato, and the four humors of Hippocrates. 

The temperaments of Galen followed, and today, with a confluence of Jungian, and scores of other four-part typologies and the force of modern psychology, there is now the arising of a true Elemental Psychology. And this rivals any other of the hundreds of models of the human psyche. Potentially it is superior to most for its simplicity, elegance, and unique way of solving some of the seemingly insoluble problems within modern psychological thought. And in this case, it offers a clear explanation to the thorny problem of “why humanity is messed up.”

According to Elemental Psychology, the mind—just like the body, the energy fields, outer phenomena, the cosmos—is built on a five-partite structure. Of course, these Elemental forces, patterns of energy and information, manifest quite differently in a cell, the liver, the mind, or in a Buddhic state of full realization. And so the name changes according to the level we are discussing 

This immediately brings us to the culprit of the madness that haunts the modern mind: the Earth Element. From a psychological perspective, we call this the internal Ruler, our source of grounded sanity. It is the foundation of morality, of seeing objectively, of acceptance of what is in the outer world and within oneself. It is the solid cornerstone of our Essence, our constitution, how we were born, strengths and weaknesses and even our potential, our destiny. If mature, it gives us our strength to hear and follow what our innermost voice dictates. We can “think for ourselves” and feel for oneself too, having found the silent depth that allows for reflection, internal contemplation. It comes forth from a well-developed structure that can withstand the forces of chaos, disruption, stimulus- response reactions, and superficiality that dog our footsteps.

Unfortunately, a key feature of our age is “developmental arrest,” and that lack of maturation directly impacts our grounded Earth. The complication arises because our Essence is clouded early on, from day one actually, by the formation and ascendancy of various roles, social identities, masks, and cultural mandates. 

False or fabricated narratives and identities form, with several of these personas (masks) becoming prominent. This manufactured cultural bridge between people is essential, including the dos and don’ts, rules and behaviors stuffed into our growing mind by family, school, media, and a thousand other influences. It allows for civilized behavior and agreed social contracts on a superficial—and mandatory—basis. But the problem is this soon begins to overshadow our true self, our original essence. And in most people, persona simply usurps the throne of the Ruler. But persona is a poor imposter. We are captivated, overtaken by the needs and requirement of a social self, who it must serve and do what it must to be accepted, to survive. Essence is buried, is asleep, and fails to develop altogether. We are left with a sophisticated mask, but a primitive, undeveloped self.

Here we need to take a slight detour to clarity that we are speaking of the relative self, not the ultimate self. Conflation of these two levels is a rookie Buddhist mistake, yet it can be found in some of the most refined writings and teachings today. Knowing the nature of shunyata, the union of self-object and activity, or any other way of verbally trying to define full realization of the nature of luminous, open, and unbridled consciousness does not magically make the relative world go away. It is, as they say, co-emergent. We still live here in the relative self, and that is the basis of our “mess” and will continue to be so. 

When Essence is eclipsed and overtaken by persona, this disconnect can be called Loss. That puts the Ruler aspect of our being in a precarious situation. The individual is cut off from the true source of stability, security, strength, and meaning. That is an inherently painful situation. 

The real solution is to become re-empowered, to return to one’s essential self, what we authentically are. But, as G. K. Chesterton so famously opined: “The self is more distant than any star.” Unable to climb back into one’s real self, and feeling the intense pain of living a false life, a life made up by others, one seeks a remedy. 

For many, this becomes a desperate need and, like an addict, one will seek relief from anyone who will stop the suffering. Such an individual is now able to be manipulated, moved, controlled by anyone savvy enough to make use of this human failing. If one does not have a psychological center, an internal Ruler, a grounded Earth Element self, then one is subject to any and all persuasive influences. The sad result is that the vast majority of people can be made to do anything. 

The frustration, the anger, the loss, the trauma, all can be cleansed away by becoming that “other” that is powerful, in control, dominant, and above all morally justified. This is the shadow self, readily available on the store-shelf of society. Here then is the ascendancy of the trillion-dollar advertising industry, and the ongoing, wholesale manipulation of the masses by political systems, corporations, and power brokers of every ilk. 

On a small scale, this is seen the ancient Buddhist holiday of Songkran in Thailand, where for three days you are “allowed” to abuse, assault, attack anyone, anywhere with water bombs, high-power water guns, and hoses. In 2026, up to a million “fun-seekers” in Thailand directly resulted in scores of deaths and any number of injuries large and small—and the proliferation of water-born diseases. 

Moving up in scale, Mao Zedong in his Great Leap Forward purged more than 500,000 souls, while Stalin executed over a million suspected opponents. Hitler killed six millions Jews, gypsies, handicapped, and more. But, of course, none of these monsters did this personally. They had armies of minions, henchmen—regular folk who were following a command, an ideology, a morally sanctioned apocalypse with the reward of fleeting shadow power. 

Of course those with particularly malicious or sociopathic tendencies will be the most attracted to such movements and ideologies. But whatever that set of narratives and beliefs this entails, they were a perfect or nearly perfect substitute for the deficits within their internal guidance.

This progression is only one of scale and opportunity, as many researchers have noted. But as opposed to their misinformed conclusions, not “anybody” can be subject to such manipulation. Whether it is through the absurdity of television advertising, the inanity of TikTok, or calls for violence in the street, those with an intact Essence, who live within their real self, are immune. \

For those living in a fabricated identity with little relation to their natural skills, capacities, and powers of thought, feeling, and action, they are vulnerable in every moment. From making a ridiculous purchase based on advertising, to wishing the death of another based on religion, ethnicity, or political positions, they are the mark, the easy target of manipulative forces. 

On the up side, real stability of all of one’s inner Elements, one’s Earth, Water, Fire, Air, and Space, our interior Ruler, Lover, Warrior, Creator, Guru is possible. Ancient sciences of breath, bioenergy work, meditation, visualization, movement, and more can brings us back home to our Essence and the possibility of living a real life, not a socially constructed one. Then one can walk courageously through the “messed up world” of sleeping humanity, and make a difference in small and larger ways. 

But the first step is knowing that there are only two choices.

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Dr. Asa Hershoff
Asa Hershoff

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