The Reality of a Pervasively Traumatized Humanity
Trauma is Universal
Trauma runs deep in human nature — indeed, one might argue, trauma is a universal reality. Generally speaking, people tend to alienate and isolate those among us with perceived psychological problems. We imagine them to be troubled, in need of help, and, possibly, a threat to one’s personal safety and well-being. This is true, for example, with veterans suffering from wartime PTSD, who often wind up demoralized, addicted to narcotics, shunned, rejected, and even homeless.
The ugly reality about the human condition, however, is that PTSD is universal and runs deep in the human psyche, even though it is invariably kept suppressed and hidden from view. We are a universally traumatized humanity — we just don’t realize it most of the time because of how deep our wounds really go.
Trauma is Hereditary
One of the universal, though often suppressed, realities of the human condition is the fact of ancestral or generational trauma. The psychological wounds of our ancestors — even our most remote forefathers — perhaps reaching back to the beginnings of time and the mythical Adam — continue down to us. They are imprinted in our subconscious psyche and in our bodies’ DNA expression (epigenetics), i.e., the way human physiology interacts with its inherent genetic code. We all inherit our ancestral trauma, whether or not we realize or recognize this fact.
This is not a matter of attributing guilt or blame, but rather a statement of fact. Indeed, the untutored, unenlightened, even “primitive” response to the experience of ancestral trauma might well be to assign blame or feel guilt or shame. But a deep, humane understanding of generational trauma, of its origins and sources, is about freeing us from the guilt of an imagined “original sin” and recognizing our universal basic humanity and pervasively wounded condition. Indeed, this recognition is, perhaps, the first step towards the process of healing from trauma.
Thus, we all inherit the psychological wounds of our ancestors, usually without realizing it. Often, they remain in a deep, suppressed part of our psyche, even for our entire lives, and are passed down as hereditary traits to our own descendants.
None of us is free from this psychological burden — it is a universal reality, if not fully understood or acknowledged. Often, the very people who appear to be the most lighthearted or superficially happy might, in fact, be the ones hiding the deepest psychological wounds beneath their masks of levity. Invariably, we seek to conform to the group, imagining that our own internal trauma somehow renders us damaged or offensive to others. We imagine everyone else in the group to be perfect, as reflected by the “masks” they wear to hide their own internal realities. And, because we really only have access to our own internal selves, we imagine ourselves to be uniquely damaged or traumatized. And so we put on masks of our own to gain acceptance from the group.
What we fail to recognize, in the moment, however, is that we are all individually traumatized and internally wounded or damaged, even if we don’t fully realize it and try to conceal it. And, in fact, the vast majority of our internal suppressed trauma is not even our own — it is inherited from our ancestors, reaching back to the beginnings of time. Furthermore, the very people putting on the bravest, happiest of faces are often the most deeply hurt, the most intensely wounded, their superficial mask of pleasantry possibly belying a deeply wounded inner psyche.
Trauma Compounds Itself
The sad reality of human experience is that traumatized people invariably inflict trauma on others. The saying goes, “Hurt people hurt people.” Trauma has a way of compounding its effect, especially when we don’t realize its pervasiveness and keep it internalized and suppressed. When, for example, we fail to take action to relieve, release, or treat it and, instead, stigmatize it or distance ourselves from it.
Traumatic experiences numb our ability for deep thought, reflection, and understanding, resulting in a mind-numbing, “dumbed-down” condition that we often accept as “normalcy.” By keeping our trauma suppressed and untreated, we often deny ourselves the fruits of our own inherent human genius — the true potential for excellence that we are all born with, and that is innate in our human condition.
Historically, tyrannical political regimes have systematically sought to traumatize their populace into a state of desensitized compliance — psychologically beating them into submission, as it were. The Roman Empire was notorious for ritualistically traumatizing the masses via the gruesome spectacle of the circus, with its displays of mortal combat, bloodsport, and mass human sacrifice, including the spectacle of Christians and other captives being fed alive to predatory wild animals.
Modern mass media inflicts a similar kind of mind-numbing PTSD on viewers by means of graphic displays of gratuitous violence and other frequently obscene spectacles. It has a similar effect: dumbing down the masses and rendering them unquestioning and compliant with the dictates of the power-brokers of our time. This is, of course, quite apart from the PTSD suffered by war veterans, enlisted to participate in imperialistic foreign wars, both in ancient Rome and in modern society.
Trauma Healing
The process of trauma healing should be the most important, most central pursuit in human society — universally and en masse. It should be the top priority in human education and activity, from birth through adulthood, and into old age. Group meditation sessions, individual meditation practices, etc., should be normalized and widely adopted, especially in the urban lifestyle.
Eastern meditative and medicinal practices, including yoga, qigong, contemplative reflection, journaling, “forest bathing” and nature walks, sound healing, breathwork, etc., are powerful means of releasing deep psychological wounds and trauma from the psyche. Support groups and consultation with experts are other avenues to help the process of healthy trauma release.
Christian Practices for Trauma Healing
When Jesus Christ looked upon the human masses, perhaps he saw an abundance of deeply hurt, wounded, traumatized people everywhere — both among the common folk and in positions of power and authority. Perhaps that is why Jesus advocated for compassion and humanity, for “turning the other cheek” and “loving your enemy.” Perhaps Jesus understood how trauma compounds itself and is passed down generationally, affecting people as yet unborn, even several generations in the future, without their even realizing it. Perhaps this is why Jesus prayed for his enemies to be forgiven, even when he was being tortured and nailed to a cross for no fault of his own.
Perhaps this is why so many Christian practices are fundamentally about trauma healing and release — in effect, communion, personal confession, baptism or ritual cleansing, faith and prayer, fellowship, hymns and music, as well as the many heartfelt Biblical teachings of Christ — the Christian message and doctrine.
Healing vs. Condemnation
The reality is that unless we take positive action to release deep human trauma — even ancestral trauma — from the psyche, we ultimately run the danger of turning into the kind of people that will inevitably traumatize others, often without even realizing it, even if we try our utmost to keep our hidden psychological wounds deeply suppressed. We run the risk of losing our humanity and becoming monstrous, perpetuating and compounding our own deep-seated trauma in various ways. Perhaps, we might seek to antagonize our perceived enemies, engage in retributive acts of violence or emotional abuse, or simply become cold, callous, calculating, and heartless.
Ultimately, however, in the Christian spirit, the aim should not be to indict, condemn, or blame individuals or groups (except in cases of justifiable criminal proceedings). Rather, it ought to be to recognize our common humanity — indeed, our universally traumatized state — the baseline reality of our shared psychological condition. The challenge before us is to have compassion for one another and to begin the process of healing within ourselves and each other — to heal our deep ancestral wounds and release our compounded, pent-up generational trauma that has been with us since the very dawn of humanity.
