In a post 9/11 era and the age of the global pandemic, we are waking up to the new reality of collective trauma. It’s not something most of us want to discuss over coffee, in fact, we’d really rather avoid any unpleasant conversation about trauma in general. Yet, here we are, trying to get centered in a time that feels as if “the center cannot hold.” (W.B Yeats) The truth is, we can find a center that holds, that is, if we learn to cultivate it. But first, we need to understand why its so difficult to find. Our feelings give us clues.

Living in a culture of collective trauma often feels like we may have lost access to a loving, hopeful or joyful self, the very center of our being. It seems the evidence around us points only to the tragic loss of safety or sanity. And that is the core issue, that we are trying to gain a sense of peace, sanity and stability from outside of ourselves, trying to construct a center from things that simply cannot hold.

When we find ourselves in the grip of fear and trauma, we begin grasping for solutions. Where we may have once lived in a world that seemed to provide a measure of stability, we find that our usual framework may have lost its ability to sustain us anymore. Though it may seem easier to reach outside of ourselves for solutions, the key to healing the wounds of collective trauma is to go within, but that is easier said than done.

Trauma affects us in many different ways, but one of the main coping mechanisms that can hinder our healing is hypervigilance. It is a state of being constantly on watch, born from the expectation that something horrible is about to happen. In hypervigilance, one constantly feels the need to control and manage one’s environment. Most of us experience it as anxiety, some as anger, but it is also there in addictions to media devices and the constant news feeds of the ongoing tragedies of the world. Our hypervigilance gets confirmed over and over again by our news feeds through the evidence of terrible events unfolding all over the world. Add to that the violence occurring in one’s own life or community and a hypervigilant state then becomes justified. We are caught in an unending loop of needing to monitor and control an environment that seems to be spinning out of control. We can easily become trapped in hypervigilance and this can keep us from taking the healing journey within. Hypervigilance can also keep us in a state of fatigue and exhaustion. Because it’s exhausting to constantly be on watch.

Collective trauma also generates the feeling that the world, events and our lives are moving very fast and it is difficult to slow down. Media seems to play a prominent role in maintaining a hypervigilant state, though it can also provide opportunities for healing when its used wisely.

What we all too often fail to experience in our culture is any true acknowledgment and would be healing from the deep psychological wounds of trauma. But how do we even approach these wounds that seem to overwhelm us at every turn? The pain seems so much greater than the solution. In addition, the places that once seemed to keep peace and order seem to be less available. Churches are closing at an alarming rate, massive expanses of wilderness are being co-opted for natural resource development, the places that once brought peace seem to be bordering on extinction.

When Jesus, the great healer, walked among us, he shared the radical notion that the kingdom of God, the place where the healing happens, is within. Jesus left us a pathway, the Spirit or Holy Spirit, as a guide to this realm within. Whether you think of it as a kingdom or a realm or a dimension, it’s the same thing, he told us that we must go within if we are to discover our authentic soul life awaiting us, that part of us that is eternal, indestructible, connected to God, connected to love. The Christ Spirit is a companion to walk with us on this journey. The Great Healer walks among us still.

If we continue to seek out what is hidden in our hearts, the image of God within us all, we will begin to catch some initial glimpses of the possibility of healing. But we cannot do it alone, we need others to walk with us. Somehow, this inward journey is easier to do in a supportive community.

Stabilizing Community

As we take the risk of an inner journey, we need communities that provide stability for us to experience moving from a trauma driven way of functioning in the world, to a love infused way of being. To risk healing requires nurture from others. There are communities out there that can become places of healing for us if we seek them out. Even now, as we are learning to connect virtually, Zoom meetings are popping up everywhere. Churches are forming virtual small groups, 12 step programs are forming regular Zoom meetings, group therapies are going online now and so much more. You will find that if you ask God for direction, to supply your need to connect to community, you will find connection. Sometimes we just need to take the first step and ask for what we need.

Just as collective trauma is contagious, so is collective healing. Our journey inward to sit with pain, to bring it before the Divine Light and risk loving love into being is a pathway to overcoming fear in our ourselves and in our world. As we learn to cultivate the Center within ourselves, we will naturally help others to find it, too. Healing is contagious!  

We are due for a collective healing and it begins in each of our hearts, each day. Claim some territory in your heart today for healing, slow down, breathe, meditate on the heart. As you do, ask God to be present and feel the wounds of fear letting go. Keep coming back to the prayer of the heart and to the community of prayer, the heart among hearts of love will surely find the way to God., the Center that holds.

Rev. Sherry Cothran
Author/Singer-Songwriter/Pastor

P.S. Here’s a meditative song to help you on your path to finding a prayerful state within. I wrote this song after beginning to practice the first step of a 12 step program: “I am powerless over…..” Fill in the blank. Sometimes this step takes up a long portion of my prayer time! Naming all the things I’m powerless over helps me to enter into God space, where I’m letting go of control. “Surrender” is always a third option, after we’ve exhausted fighting and fleeing, we can just surrender to whatever God is trying to do in our lives and let it unfold.