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The Conservatives are holding their conference with the party consistently polling below twenty percent. Labour isn’t much higher. It seems the UK is following the trend in other parts of Europe, when the momentum shifts away from the centre and towards parties that get called ‘populist’, ’far right’ or ‘far left’.

Hearing about the growing polarisation that takes people to increasingly extreme positions, I have the odd sense that I know how this works. I recognise these patterns from Buddhist thought and what Buddhist practice has taught me. The lesson isn’t about politics. It’s about my mind and our minds, individually and collectively.

The politics of grievance – leftwing or rightwing – locates the source of our unhappiness out there, in the government, immigrants or the system. That’s at least comparable to the psychology of blame when we place responsibility on our parents, our neighbours or our boss.

What that leaves out is ourselves. We don’t see that our beliefs are based on what we feel. That’s a central Buddhist insight. We feel insecure or unhappy and rationalise our feelings as an account of the world that says someone else is responsible. An ideology. That may be reassuring, but it conceals the fundamental reality of our lives.

There’s a Buddhist reflection that goes like this: ‘I am of the nature to age. I am of the nature to become ill. I am of the nature to die. I will be separated and parted from all that is dear to me.’ And finally, ‘I am the heir to my actions.’

The first four reflections seem to me a realistic appraisal of the human condition. The last is a call to action. If I am the heir to my actions, then what I experience depends on my past responses; and my future experience will depend on how I respond right now.

That doesn’t mean excusing violence or blaming victims for their troubles. It means we always have a choice, even if we don’t see it. The rigid, reactive beliefs we call ‘ideology’ tell us that the right choice is to drive out our enemies and avenge our wrongs. Buddhism teaches that this sows the seeds of future suffering. Other responses are possible, but to see them we must we free ourselves from ideology and the emotions that produce it. Then we will encounter another question. If we are truly heirs to our actions, what then should we do?

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