HEALING COLLECTIVE TRAUMA

This seminal book, subtitled 'a process for integrating our intergenerational and cultural wounds,' contains a powerful call to heal ourselves and the global shadow.

"We've been born into a traumatised world which is 'normal' for us. Thinking we are separate shows we are traumatised." Hübl became aware of trauma through his Austrian grandfather's experience as a German conscript in the Second World War. As a child Hübl "felt .. the stygian gloom of the past, which was ever present in the room."

I attended Hübl's 2019 Collective Trauma Summit after a friend recommended his work. I lost my father to suicide aged 16, and had a breakdown in 2000 through overwork as an IT/management consultant. The 58,000 attendees heard 32 speakers over nine days. (108,000 attended the 2020 Conference). Several of the speakers; William Ury, Ken Wilber, Scilla Elworthy, Gabor Maté, Stephen Porges, and Bessel van der Kolk contributed to this book. The nine chapters are aimed at the general reader. This book and Hübl's conference showed me how our ancestors live on in us.

How is the shadow created? In the first chapter, Hübl describes how the Zen Buddhist Principle of Ensõ creates the body after conception.

"Each loop (of the sacred self-replicating code) creates a new part of the infant. As energy flows along the individuation loop. … vibratory light becomes solid," manifesting as the physical body. However, if an experience prevents the loop from completing, the blockage at that precise point in the matrix inhibits future growth. The trapped energy becomes part of the unconscious shadow.

Richard Schwartz spoke at the 2019 conference. I healed part of my shadow using Schwartz's Internal Family Systems method. I asked my ego to take a back seat so my traumatised parts felt safe enough to speak. More than once, I befriended a part that revealed an event I had no conscious memory of at all. I felt a 'lift' as I healed it and the frozen energy flowed free.

But what is trauma? In chapter two Hübl quotes Bessel van der Kolk: "any event or on-going experience with a significant impact on the survival, or animal part of the brain."

However, the word 'trauma' carries a weight that can scare people and prevent introspection. The Three Principles [3Ps] of divine Mind, Consciousness, and Thought offer a useful perspective on distress; "stress is a by-product of thinking, as any situation is not inherently stressful," George Pransky. "Trauma is the result of a lack of understanding of thought. A negative thought is not harmful and has no inherent lasting effect. Our belief in the reality of a thought determines how we relate to it, and the effect it has on us. Believing trauma is real and serious gives it energy it does not initially possess. Understanding this protects people from the shadow and dysfunction of negative thought," Aaron Turner.

Sydney Banks rediscovered the 3Ps after a spontaneous awakening in 1973. "If the only thing that people learned was not to be afraid of their experience, that alone would change the world," Sydney Banks. The Principles are taught in schools, businesses, and prisons in over 16 countries.A negative thought initially protected us but becomes unhelpful when it recurs again and again. Recurring negative thoughts distort our perception of reality and are simply messages to adjust our investment in our thinking.

"Trauma is not the story of what happened a long time ago, it is the residue that's living in you right now," Bessel van der Kolk. "Collective trauma is the elephant in the room. We don't see it because trauma is unconscious. Because of a long history, I may not be aware of how much I'm not aware of that dimension …," Thomas Hübl. The hidden dimension shows why we can't 'get over' or 'forget' trauma: the shadow exists in the unconscious spiritual realm. A spiritual cause needs a spiritual solution: a divine Thought (conscious or unconscious) shows the thought was misguided, and frees the blocked energy. "The witch doctor succeeds for the same reason all the rest of us [doctors] succeed…. We are at our best when we give the doctor who resides within each patient the chance to go to work," Albert Schweitzer.

In chapter five Hübl states: "Trauma is an intelligent response…, that reduces the mental strain of traumatic events." How might this occur? "Children survive by closing down the right hemisphere functioning (of emotions and embodiment) to rely on their left hemisphere to make sense of experience in a way that helps them control the memory and feelings," Julia Vaughan Smith. The left hemisphere "has forgotten its dependence on the right hemisphere and makes claims for truth that are not supported by a more balanced, inclusive understanding," Iain McGilchrist. The 3Ps reconnect the right hemisphere to divine Thought.

In chapter eight Hübl urges you to "stay present with whatever you feel... The tendency to despair or run away is a symptom of unresolved trauma." Stephen Porges' Polyvagal Theory shows we cannot think rationally when traumatised, so fail to see that; a "trauma culture is designed to prevent us awakening; media "amplifies absencing"; medicine is under "for-profit corporate control"; in commerce "conflict is a commodity, death a service, disease … enhance(s) market share"; and "trauma creates (environmental) apathy". However, when we wake up, "suddenly we sense and see the toxins, poisons, nuclear and other wastes that flow out across the entire food chain, reaching into communities, homes and our bodies: pesticides, microplastics, or heavy metals."

Chapter nine outlines his Vision of an Integrated World and issues a moving invitation to align with spirit and heal the collective shadow. This compelling book contains a proven healing method, a global plan to roll it out, and invites us to act. Yet, the world needs 'new thinking'. I believe a combination of Hübl's work, a 3P understanding, reconnecting to the Divine Feminine, accelerating personal enlightenment, and the Maharishi Effect will tip the world into spontaneous global enlightenment.

"We are the ones we've been waiting for."