The Pain and Trauma of Insanity
How can anyone of us be expected to manage the trauma of the most recent rash of violence and racism? There is no simple answer, there is no one way. We can look at this mentally, spiritually or by human standards of behavior, but no matter the direction, there will remain a pang of suffering within our hearts.
My delay in responding to recent events is due to needing to process my own emotions. I needed to feel my anger, confusion, disgust, and helplessly before I could find anything resembling balance. For those who are active teachers, leaders, practitioners, ministers etc. it is hard to guide, and we feel so dismal and confused. This pain that we are all trying to process is felt by the direct victims and by all compassionate caring people. Any individual who observes horrific acts will also feel the pain and the threat but in a different and equally damaging way to one’s psyche. Anyone who survives a violent act will still carry trauma, often this trauma is generated by survival and feeling guilty about surviving.
The questions that flood our minds at times like these are all too familiar. How is this possible? How can one hate that much? How sick is this country? How do we keep allowing individuals to get their firsthand these weapons? Why are our politicians not doing what’s right? Will we ever be able to breath easily and send our children off to school without worry? Can any one of us ever feel safe again? Does evil exist.
My guess is that many of these questions have been circulating in your mind and heart. Hopefully, you allowed your tears to flow. There is another type of person, the kind that after so many occasions have simply shut down and gone numb. Back in 1970 a book was written by Alvin Toffler and Adelaide Farrell called Future Shock. This book proposed that society have become numb to things that are regularly assaulting our well-being, but we have become numb. An example is how often when an alarm goes off somewhere, we might just find ourselves standing and wondering but not treating the alarm as the warning it is meant to be. Or how we do not even notice a plane going over head. We are trained to ignore things that would have terrified ancient humans.
Going numb is by far worse than being horrified, angry and irate. We do not want to go numb. We do not want to accept this insanity. BUT WHAT DO WE DO?
Practice extreme self-care. Go and spend time with friends. Get counselling if you feel traumatized, if you cannot sleep, or eat, or are overeating or over-medicating yourself in an unhealthy way, seek help. If you have a mindfulness practice, now is the time. If you pray, pray now, aloud, often and with a friend. If you have friends who have children or grandchildren of the age of the murdered children go and care for them.
If you have friends of color, keep an eye out for them, be patient with them if they seem distant or angry. They have good reason. Compassion commands that we make room for those suffering to feel the full spectrum of what they are feeling without someone trying to shut their feelings down. If you feel moved to get active write your representatives both in congress and in the senate. Demand change. Demand new policies. Uplevel your kindness practices, educate yourself in emotional health and if necessary, drag your loved ones along for the ride.
And a bit of a warning. As a student stepped in Science of Mind and the ultimate belief that life is good and working on our behalf, before you are tempted to claim that life is always providing lessons so these events must be good, first allow the pain and anger. If you go to quickly to believing that “its all good” you will be practicing spiritual bypass. Let us stay AWAKE, be willing to FEEL, and let those emotions move through you in a healthy fashion.
But please do not lose faith, not faith in, but faith of the power that animates and transforms all available forms. Those who harm, have lost their way, they need our love more than most.
