A Musing on Self Help in the Age of Resistance

If you have been following the news at all lately, you are probably wondering, when are they going to come and stop this? You may also be hearing the same answer as I have: no one is coming, because the answer is us.

And this is not a cop-out self-help adage. This is true. History proves time and again that the only time real progressive change has occurred, and true justice has been served, is when ordinary people band together and act as one.

The self-help movement was half-right, and sometimes half truths are more dangerous than lies, because they are harder to decipher than outright falsehoods. They "sound true" because there is truth in them, but without the other piece they can actually hurt instead of help.

Its name alone points to the problem: "self" help. Studies show that most trauma comes from ruptures in relationships - which is why the same thing can happen to two different people and one gets through it relatively unscathed, while the other does not. It's the abandonment (or shame or blame) in the face of trauma that actually causes most of the enduring effects of things like cPTSD, chronic depression, and personality disorders. 

And because of this, because relationship was part of the trauma, relationship must also be a part of the healing. And this is why self-help in a vacuum often shows little long-term improvements. 

What self-help got right though, is that healing within is a huge key to freedom - for ourselves and the species as a whole. But connecting with others shouldn't be contingent on our healing first. In many cases it IS the healing. 

The rEVOLution is Here
More and more people are moving
beating the drum of truth
combining together
amplifying each other.
The re-Love-ution
lives inside us all.
And when enough of us join in
the momentum will grow
and swell into a relentless
tidal wave of truth
that floods the system
and shifts the tides.

That's why the movement today is not about self-help, it's about community resilience that doesn't put a price tag on your worth, or ask you sell to yourself on social media to be seen, or tell you that the reason you aren't financially successful is because you aren't "vibing" high enough. 

The movement today recognizes that material abundance and wealth have much more to do with early life conditions that are outside of ones control - and then reinforced by toxic oppressive systems - than it does with one's intelligence, talent, goodness or even work ethic.

The movement today acknowledges that a system that elevates the lone survivor as proof the system is just and fair - that only allows 1 human access to freedom and dignity, while millions of other suffer -  is far from just and fair. 

The movement today tells the truth: that the person who achieves massive material wealth without oppressing others is the exception not the rule, and the higher you go, the more likely wealth was achieved by harming others.

The movement today is about emerging from the spell of a culture that has always been built for a few to thrive while everyone else suffers needlessly. No amount of low self esteem or negative thinking warrants the violence we see today happening to women and children around the world. 

The movement today is about true unity across all walks of life - not about climbing the ladder to the high vibe elite so you too can be part of the ruling class that enslaves others. 

The movement today is less about meditating and more about advocating for those that don't have a voice, and walking our talk with dollars and cents, withdrawing from economic systems that are built on oppression.

The movement today is not about helping ourselves. Or that that was even something that was advisable, given that healing happens in relationship, not in a vacuum; and that the judgement and blame placed upon us for our reactions to trauma was never really ours to begin with. Much of the time it did not even start with our own ancestors, but rather a tiny elite minority that's been using propaganda and control to keep themselves in power.

That's why we, the people, are the antidote to the chaos we see around us. A new declaration is coming. One that includes everyone. One that casts off the shackles of imperialism, and doesn't require people to conform to survive, or to work to prove their worthiness of life, a worthiness that is already their birthright by virtue of being born.

"As soon as you're born, they make you feel small
by giving you no time, instead of it all."

~ John Lennon (Working Class Hero)