Healing & Resolution
November 22, 2013
// On this day, November 22, 2013, we mark the 50th Anniversary of the
murder of our (United States) President John F. Kennedy.
This week we also marked the 150th Anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg, and subsequently the murder of our President Abraham Lincoln. In addition, on November 11 - Veteran's Day - our minds turn to the murder of millions of human beings as a result of war. For those in the United States these wars include: the Civil War, WWI, WW2, Vietnam, Korea, Iraq, Afghanistan, the attack of the World Trade Center in New York City on 9-11-2001, and the war on civil rights and basic human liberties for which people die - as well as countless other violent acts of human against human.
Cultural PTSD
I.e. all of these events are cultural trauma that we are currently unconscious to; as war and murder continue unabated, we are acting from the wound, lashing out in fear and pain, not really knowing why. The United States is a 'baby' nation, still in its childhood. As such these events and others like them are similar to traumatic events in our cultural childhood - repressed and the source of much suffering, often leading to repetition of the trauma. Compared to other nations, such as those in Europe, or most strikingly, India and China (which have been in existence for 5,000), we are about twenty years old. We are babies! When an individual reaches the age of 20, this is the beginning of moving away from childhood. Often if there is repressed trauma; it will emerge in body memories or flashbacks as the energies seek to be released and healed. The pain must be retrieved from the subconscious and brought into the light of conscious awareness. From there, healing is possible. As a nation we are struggling to bring our traumas to consciousness. Our nation was born from violent revolution and blood, as well as the murder of many thousands of indigenous peoples. And it seems our milestones revolve around our shared traumatic events as we are still immersed in the PTSD effects. "Where were you when JFK was shot?" "Where were you when the Towers came down on 9-11?" Since Vietnam in particular, we have developed in our understanding of how to heal PTSD and its root causes in individuals. If we begin to apply that to our nation - our collective psyche - the collective wound would begin to heal. |