demonizing the other is rooted in trauma
Here's what we need to focus on instead.
If you’re new to Potent Truth, I recommend starting HERE to learn more about it. And hit SUBSCRIBE to receive weekly Potent Truth directly in your inbox.
The grief in our collective is palpable, as is the hatred, anger, rage, and sadness. Yet a new energy is also emerging, one of hope, faith, love, and excitement. The real question is: Can we do our best to hold it all?
Can we hold our trauma and our healing?
Can we hold our suffering and our peace?
Can we hold our hatred, anger, rage, and sadness while holding hope, faith, love, and excitement?
Or are we dismissing one for the other?
And in doing so, are we dismissing each other?
Have we become so engulfed with our emotions that we have forgotten how to practice compassion and empathy for ourselves and others?
This feels like such a delicate yet potent time for humanity, and I know I’m not alone in feeling this.
These past four years have illuminated all of our shadows, triggering our traumas to come to the surface. This process is confronting and deeply uncomfortable, and most people do not have the capacity to be in it, so they check out. Instead of being present with their shadows and traumas, they project their pain into the collective, which triggers pain in others.
I’ve observed the most self-proclaimed conscious leaders behaving in severely unconscious ways, leaving behind a trail of hurt people.
I’ve observed so much hate being projected toward others by those who claim to lead with love and fight against hate in our society.
I’ve observed people dismissing and attacking those with different beliefs while clinging to their titles of “diversity, inclusion, and equity.”
I’ve observed a lack of tolerance by those who petition for more tolerance in our world.
And I’ve observed spiritual leaders engaging in name-calling while positioning themselves as better because they claim to be awake.
THIS IS NOT OK.
Let me assure you, there is nothing awake, spiritual, or conscious about this behavior, yet this is where we find ourselves.
It’s as if this divide has been orchestrated somehow, pinning us against one another and influencing us to believe that the other is the enemy when the real enemy is hidden in plain sight.
Is it truly that difficult to consider that this is what’s happening?
Many don’t recognize this because they have become engulfed by their emotions and overwhelmed by their feelings. As such, they’ve lost their ability to think rationally because they’re operating from a state of survival.
We cannot think rationally or critically when stuck in a fight, flight or freeze response, nor can we remain curious. When the nervous system kicks into a survival state, the mind and body react in primal ways, focusing on protection and survival.
This is precisely what we’re seeing in our collective—people are reacting from a state of survival.
How can we hold compassion when we’re so busy fighting each other?
This is a delicate yet potent time for humanity because it presents an opportunity to create change. That change requires us to face the demons within.
Rather than demonizing the other, we must identify the demons that lie within us—our traumas and our shadows. We must face the very things that we have buried deep to heal ourselves and the trauma in our ancestry.
Every single time you feel triggered, you are presented with an opportunity to identify the trauma within you that’s being triggered. This is not a ‘them’ problem—this is a ‘YOU’ problem that you get to acknowledge and heal.
Are you willing to recognize your own triggers and reactive behavior?
Are you willing to recognize your own shadows, traumas, and demons, and all that you have yet to heal?
There is a true potential for a mass collective healing of trauma—to end the suffering and pave the way for peace. But that begins within you.
You have to be willing to recognize and sit with the hatred, anger, rage, and sadness that resides within you while also being open to the possibility of hope, faith, love, and excitement.
The real reason it’s easy to dismiss others is because you’re dismissing pieces of yourself.
Now is the time to shift the focus from the external to the internal and devote yourself to your healing. This is truly the only way we will bridge our divide.
Healed people don’t hurt people. Hurt people, hurt people.
Let’s utilize this time as a season for healing, rebuilding, and bridging our divide. This is the way.
P.S.
If this message resonates, I think you’ll also appreciate this earlier article: Have We Lost Our Humanity?
Why Subscribe?
This is a trauma-informed space to explore thoughts that many want to prevent us from exploring—thoughts that leaders must explore to serve humanity better.
Stay up-to-date.
You won’t have to worry about missing anything. Every newly written article goes directly to your inbox.
Please consider pledging your support for my writing.
Tap HERE to make your pledge. Thank you so much!