Pulling ourselves out of the wreckage of financial instability with new business models is only part of the process of transforming greed into wellbeing. As we build models for new enterprises in socially engaged Buddhist economics, it remains important that we should continue to do both the inner work and the outer work. We cannot effectively do the outer work of changing society for the better so long as we remain individually afflicted by greed, aggression, and delusion. Much hard work of transforming entrenched habits remains to be done as we make the effort to stop treading on the hamster wheel, stop chasing illusions, and at the same time end our suffering that, paradoxically, stems from our desire for what we believe is the good life.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama comments on the paradox of material affluence and spiritual poverty is Western society: “It frequently happens that when I arrive in a new country, at first everything seems very pleasant, very beautiful. Everybody I meet is very friendly. There is nothing to complain about. But then, day by day as I listen, I hear people’s problems, their concerns and worries. Below the surfaces, so many feel uneasy and dissatisfied with their lives. They experience feelings of isolation; then follows depression. The result is the troubled atmosphere which is such a feature of the developed world.”

From the Genuine Progress Indicator data, the money indicator is on the rise, while genuine wellbeing, using these qualitative indicators, is falling, as signaled by family breakdown, crime, toxic environments, and diminishing leisure time. According to psychologist Douglas Bier, what is considered financial “success” comes at a tremendous cost that would be hard to express in monetary terms—exhaustion, stress, and spiritual emptiness. The sacrifices we are making for financial gains, material wealth, and property are depleting our lives of real quality, as people are overwhelmed, stressed out, depressed, and live in fear of job insecurity. This is compounded by economic problems of insecurity and unaffordability. Particularly after the financial crisis of 2008 and the job cuts that followed, businesses that scramble to find ways to cut costs are making their employees work longer hours just in order to keep their jobs. Uncertainty in financial markets creates a general condition of anxiety in society.