If we look with a macro lens, can humans be seen as one organism? One body of a collection of cells? Each group of cells having different purpose, shape, response, task, the same way one human body does? Some cells get sick. Some thrive. Some take control. Some forget their purpose. All happening at the same time and driven by a mysterious force keeping it all going.
Sometimes, when I am in a more meditative state and less attached to this earth-based life, I can just allow this to be a neutral, benign truth. Seeing it as just the way it is, with acceptance. But most of the time, it is difficult to remain peaceful about it because tremendous injustice exists among us, primarily at the expense of oppressed peoples.
Humans are not like other animals. Generally, we aren’t just wild out here any more, living and dying close to the earth like the deer and the coyotes who are largely unseen by humans in their struggles and survival. We have big brains with intricate skill sets as well as complex psychological wounds and flaws. To be a sensitive human that cares about other humans’ well-being seems to mean that there is always something to fight or oppose or resist, and by something, I mean Greed. In particular the Colonial, white, patriarchal variety.
From this lens of seeing humans as one organism, are activists the immune system- the cells that identify a threat and work tirelessly to contain and eliminate it? Over time, they may or may not succeed at keeping the organism alive but along the way there are fluctuations in the general health of it. Some wins here, some losses there.
The thing that has fueled all things white supremacy, misogyny, classist, ableist, colonialist, and so on, is greed. Insatiable greed, like cancer, doesn’t give up unless it has good reason to. It has the intention (either consciously or unconsciously) of devouring land and indigenous bodies and women... of using black bodies and the working class to make more and more and more money. Never satiated. It is acting from a place of disregard for balance or for those it is devouring/using. It is acting from an automatic response, a belief that it must do what it is doing because “survival at all costs” is the only goal. As if it is engaged in tunnel vision.
This is sometimes what it's like when unresolved trauma is taking the lead in one’s life; it causes us massive stress and overwhelm and we are unable to fully access our resilience and sometimes our compassion too. We see any harm we cause as necessary or collateral damage. In the case of systemic large scale greed, and the resulting ability to treat groups of people and animals and the planet with such profound disrespect and disregard, it is my belief that there must be a complex level of denial and pain in place. A disconnection from humanity’s pain and also joy. This type of behavior is most often rooted in trauma- perpetual, pervasive trauma. And then through the generations it becomes the perpetrator of cultural trauma.
From this lens, is Greed an unresolved trauma response of the colonizer experience? In very simple terms, an unresolved trauma response is when part of our autonomic nervous system is stuck in a fully engaged response to defend/protect/avoid the pain/discomfort/terror of the past because it has not yet realized that the threat has passed. It is on autopilot, often getting stuck with the “pedal to the metal'' and will not stop until safety is reached. But it doesn’t realize that safety may have already been reached. (Of course safety is relative and subjective). When we are stuck in this state, our ability to see, feel, experience, or comprehend empathy is compromised. In turn, this behavior sees all things as threatening and a means to an end. [Please note that this is a very oversimplified explanation and I could go into great detail about the nervous system as it relates to transgenerational trauma but that is not the primary purpose of this post].
How do activists and healers and organizers help create the possibility of collectively coming out of a trauma response? Of reducing harm and facilitating healing? How can we create collective safety and containment for the illness, trauma, fear, and denial of this colonizer mentality and behavior? Do our individual actions and behaviors really make a difference if there is not system change? Is system change even possible at this point? Has the cancer become out of control? Is it possible to just live with the cancer and have it not take over? What would the death of this organism look like?
Sometimes, when I am in a more meditative state and less attached to this earth-based life, I can just allow this to be a neutral, benign truth. Seeing it as just the way it is, with acceptance. But most of the time, it is difficult to remain peaceful about it because tremendous injustice exists among us, primarily at the expense of oppressed peoples.
Humans are not like other animals. Generally, we aren’t just wild out here any more, living and dying close to the earth like the deer and the coyotes who are largely unseen by humans in their struggles and survival. We have big brains with intricate skill sets as well as complex psychological wounds and flaws. To be a sensitive human that cares about other humans’ well-being seems to mean that there is always something to fight or oppose or resist, and by something, I mean Greed. In particular the Colonial, white, patriarchal variety.
From this lens of seeing humans as one organism, are activists the immune system- the cells that identify a threat and work tirelessly to contain and eliminate it? Over time, they may or may not succeed at keeping the organism alive but along the way there are fluctuations in the general health of it. Some wins here, some losses there.
The thing that has fueled all things white supremacy, misogyny, classist, ableist, colonialist, and so on, is greed. Insatiable greed, like cancer, doesn’t give up unless it has good reason to. It has the intention (either consciously or unconsciously) of devouring land and indigenous bodies and women... of using black bodies and the working class to make more and more and more money. Never satiated. It is acting from a place of disregard for balance or for those it is devouring/using. It is acting from an automatic response, a belief that it must do what it is doing because “survival at all costs” is the only goal. As if it is engaged in tunnel vision.
This is sometimes what it's like when unresolved trauma is taking the lead in one’s life; it causes us massive stress and overwhelm and we are unable to fully access our resilience and sometimes our compassion too. We see any harm we cause as necessary or collateral damage. In the case of systemic large scale greed, and the resulting ability to treat groups of people and animals and the planet with such profound disrespect and disregard, it is my belief that there must be a complex level of denial and pain in place. A disconnection from humanity’s pain and also joy. This type of behavior is most often rooted in trauma- perpetual, pervasive trauma. And then through the generations it becomes the perpetrator of cultural trauma.
From this lens, is Greed an unresolved trauma response of the colonizer experience? In very simple terms, an unresolved trauma response is when part of our autonomic nervous system is stuck in a fully engaged response to defend/protect/avoid the pain/discomfort/terror of the past because it has not yet realized that the threat has passed. It is on autopilot, often getting stuck with the “pedal to the metal'' and will not stop until safety is reached. But it doesn’t realize that safety may have already been reached. (Of course safety is relative and subjective). When we are stuck in this state, our ability to see, feel, experience, or comprehend empathy is compromised. In turn, this behavior sees all things as threatening and a means to an end. [Please note that this is a very oversimplified explanation and I could go into great detail about the nervous system as it relates to transgenerational trauma but that is not the primary purpose of this post].
How do activists and healers and organizers help create the possibility of collectively coming out of a trauma response? Of reducing harm and facilitating healing? How can we create collective safety and containment for the illness, trauma, fear, and denial of this colonizer mentality and behavior? Do our individual actions and behaviors really make a difference if there is not system change? Is system change even possible at this point? Has the cancer become out of control? Is it possible to just live with the cancer and have it not take over? What would the death of this organism look like?
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