The Ultimate Wound

We all carry wounds and traumas with us. Each of us has that one, deep soul wound that will inform how we live. The story in our head that makes us miserable, depressed and addicted. Therapy is real trendy right now because we are finally recognizing the unseen pain that is embedded into our humanity.

I used to think that my big, scary wound was body image. I spent most of my childhood and young adult life "fighting" the traumas of body image. When I was part of the Christian religion, I would pray and journal and try to study the body dysmorphia away. Then, after leaving the religion, I would go to therapists. I would talk about the various root causes of the body image issues. Eventually, I got to a pretty satisfactory place with it. At that point, I became aware that body image was only one manifestation of a deeper problem. I was diagnosed with "severe dysthymic disorder," or chronic depression.

Ah, finally the deeper wound revealed. But was it really? I've been studying the theories of Charles Eisenstein and some other incredible teachers. And I can confidently say that "depression" is not my deepest wound. So much of my personal experience with my wounds felt isolated and unique, and some of it is unique on individual levels. But the truth is, we all share one common wound. You and I are actually suffering from the same wound. It will manifest very differently in each of us. We've got PTSD, depression, anxiety, addictions of all kinds, callousness, violent aggression, psychopathic dictators, victimhood, and the list goes on and on. We can all look at our own lives and give a detailed report as to why we suffer and not realize that the root cause goes deeper. The one, ultimate wound that drives us all into misery is separation.

If a person's body is being torn in half, the blood cells will say they are suffering because they are being poured out onto the ground, the bones suffering from the breaking, the muscles suffering in their own way, each body system failing on individual levels. Humanity is one collective being, along with nature. In this moment in history, it is being revealed to us that we are one and the separation that we've been experiencing for thousands of years can no longer sustain us. It is a pivotal moment in which we choose between continuing with violence and force, as we have for almost all of our existence, or start over new in a harmonious effort.

The sexual assault survivor can dig down further and further until they finally realize that they feel severed from their community, alone in their experience. The abusive alcoholic can go even deeper than their childhood traumas to see that humans are part of nature and being separated from it is so painful that even his ancestors engaged in violence as a response to the severance. Even gigantic systems of oppression and violence are a response to not being in harmony with all of the earth and other humans. It's a journey we've chosen to embark on collectively, I suppose. But now is the time to collectively wake up. We, humans and the Earth, are at a point in which the wound is now life threatening. We will bleed out and die if we don't recognize the detachment that is going on. If we can diagnose the collective wound, then we have a chance of healing.

All of this is not to say that personal traumas are not painful and life altering. Each of our own, individual wounds are significant. But as I typically mention, the micro mirrors that macro and vise versa. As we begin to heal ourselves, we can see clearly the connection the lies within all the Universe. We begin to see outside of our own, small worlds to notice the interbeing. And like an astronaut looking down at the whole of planet Earth, the collective wound becomes apparent. Each of us severed from one another, from community, from the soil and trees, from our food sources, and so on. Our understanding of the world's great problems becomes holistic.

For me, this understanding in itself has allowed healing on an individual level, as I can actually participate on a collective level.

Your pain is mine and mine is yours. The loneliness of this human experience is merely and sign that we are meant to live in such connection that wounds are bound to heal.