We are living in a culture of collective trauma. It’s not something most of us want to discuss over coffee, in fact, we’d really rather avoid any unpleasant conversation about trauma in general. Yet, here we are, trying to heal and get centered in a time that feels as if “the center cannot hold.” (W.B Yeats)
What does it feel like to live in a culture of collective trauma? It feels like we may have lost access to a loving, hopeful or joyful self, the very center of our being. It seems the evidence around us points only to the tragic loss of safety or sanity. And that is the core issue, that we are trying to gain a sense of peace, sanity and stability from outside of ourselves, trying to construct a center from things that simply cannot hold.
When fear and trauma become dominant states, we begin grasping for solutions. Where we may have once lived in a world that seemed to provide a measure of stability, we find that our usual framework may have lost its ability to sustain us anymore. Though it may seem easier to reach outside of ourselves for solutions, the key to healing the wounds of collective trauma is to go within, but that is easier said than done.
Trauma affects us in many different ways, but one of the main coping mechanisms that can hinder our healing is hypervigilance. It is a state of being constantly on watch, born from the expectation that something horrible is about to happen. In hypervigilance, one constantly feels the need to control and manage one’s environment. Most of us experience it as anxiety, some as anger, but it is also there in addictions to media devices and the constant news feeds of the ongoing tragedies of the world. Our hypervigilance gets confirmed over and over again by our news feeds through the evidence of terrible events unfolding all over the world. Add to that the violence occurring in one’s own life or community and a hypervigilant state then becomes justified. We are caught in an unending loop of needing to monitor and control an environment that seems to be spinning out of control. We can easily become trapped in hypervigilance and this can keep us from taking the healing journey within. Hypervigilance can also keep us in a state of fatigue and exhaustion. Because it’s exhausting to constantly be on watch.
Collective trauma also generates the feeling that the world, events and our lives are moving very fast and it is difficult to slow down. Media seems to play a prominent role in maintaining a hypervigilant state, though it can also provide opportunities for healing. Media or any medium for collective experience can also become tools for healing the wounds left by trauma.
What we all too often fail to experience in our culture is any true acknowledgment and would be healing from the deep psychological wounds of trauma. But how do we even approach these wounds that seem to overwhelm us at every turn? The pain seems so much greater than the solution. In addition, the places that once seemed to keep peace and order are disappearing due to lack of interest. Churches are closing at an alarming rate, massive expanses of wilderness are being co-opted for natural resource development, the places that once brought peace seem to be bordering on extinction.
When Jesus, the great healer, walked among us, he shared the radical notion that the kingdom of God, the place where the healing happens, is within. Whether you think of it as a kingdom or a realm or a dimension, it’s the same thing, he told us that we must go within if we are to discover our authentic soul life awaiting us, that part of us that is eternal, indestructible, connected to God, connected to love. Some have gone so far as to say that in our time, even the soul is at risk. I suppose Jesus said this, too, in a way when he warned, “do not fear those who can kill the body but cannot kill the soul, rather fear the one who can kill both the body and the soul…” (Matthew 10:28)
Jesus left the Christ (Holy) Spirit on earth as a guide, comforter and intercessor to the God within. If we continue to seek out what is hidden in our hearts, the image of God within us all, we will begin to catch some initial glimpses of the possibility of healing. But we cannot do it alone, we need others to walk with us.
Stabilizing Community
We need communities that provide stability for people to experience moving from a trauma driven way of functioning in the world, to a love infused way of being. The Women Arise Collective seeks to be such a place. We are helping women (and men) to heal by bringing awareness to the deep pain of trauma and violence against women and providing opportunities for women to gather and share stories, resources and warmth. To risk healing requires nurture from others.
Just as collective trauma is contagious, so is collective healing. Our journey inward to sit with pain, to bring it before the Divine Light and risk loving love into being is the pathway to overcoming fear in our ourselves and in our world. We must learn to seek out the trauma in ourselves and allow God to heal us if we are to try and help others or set out to make the world a better place.
We are due for a collective healing and it begins in each of our hearts, each day. Claim some territory in your heart today for healing, slow down, breathe, meditate on the heart. As you do, ask God to be present and feel the wounds of fear letting go. Keep coming back to the prayer of the heart and to the community of prayer, the heart among hearts of love will surely find the way to God.
Rev. Sherry Cothran Author/Singer-Songwriter/Pastor
Come into the circle. Subscribe now to the Women Arise Collective newsletter for opportunities to join community and receive resources for your healing journey.
留言