The title of the article on NPR.org was "Court Puts A Hold On Order That Approved Undocumented Teen's Abortion."
The article told the story of a 17 year-old girl who left her home country by herself to enter the United States without immigration papers, and she was in early pregnancy.
Now in a detention center in Brownsville, Texas, according to court records, the minor stated that the U.S. federal government "forced me to obtain counseling from a religiously affiliated crisis pregnancy center where I was forced to look at the sonogram."
And even though a Texas judge had already approved the 17 year-old girl's right to an abortion earlier in the week, the U.S. federal government stepped in with an appeal to stop it.
Hearing this extremely disturbing story left me feeling vulnerable to my own capacity for more cynicism and despair--which I believe are fruitless rabbit holes that help no one--rather than inspired to continue to persevere, and do my part, to push our little green and blue globe in the direction of a spiritual democracy.
This vulnerability of mine has led me to think a lot more about the potentiality of the scientific evidence for something called Posttraumatic Growth, and how it overlaps with ancient spiritual, religious, philosophical, and literary ideas like enlightenment, and maybe democracy too.
Researchers in the Department of Psychology at the University of North Carolina Charlotte define Posttraumatic Growth as a:
Positive change experienced as a result of the struggle with a major life crisis or a traumatic event.
And researchers in this area of study identify 5 areas for potential transformation:
1.) A sense that new opportunities have emerged from the struggle, opening up possibilities that were not present before.
2.) A closer relationships with some specific people, and they can also experience an increased sense of connection to others who suffer.
3.) An increased sense of one’s own strength – “if I lived through that, I can face anything”.
4.) A greater appreciation for life in general.
5.) A deepening of spiritual life, which can also involve a significant change in one’s belief system.
If you or anyone you love have ever had the misfortune to go through a traumatic event, then you know first-hand that the toxicity of the awful event can continue to live inside you long after the event is over and done with; it is like a residue that corrodes your insides.
Yet, almost by a miracle (except that it is far more often and more common than a miracle), for many, this traumatic event is actually converted through the alchemy of Posttraumatic Growth into life opportunities, connection, strength, and appreciation.
So, what does Posttraumatic Growth look like? Who are these people?
In the public sphere, they are the Maya Angelous's. The Nelson Mandela's. The Christopher Reeve's. The Michael J. Fox's. The Malala Yousafzai's. The Gabrielle Gifford's. The Viktor Frankl's. The Robin Robert's.
And in your own life they are the aunt, the friend, the coworker, or the neighbor who you just completely admire and stand in awe of by the way they not only not survived, but actually thrived after a traumatic event.
What's interesting too, is human beings have been doing this for millennia.
Just listen to the words of Sufi mystic Jalal al-Din Rumi's 13th century poem called "Childhood Friends."
...An empty mirror and your worst
destructive habits, when they are held
up to each other,
that's when the real making begins.
That's what art and crafting are.
A tailor needs a torn garment to
practice his expertise. The trunks of
trees must be cut and cut again
so they can be used for fine carpentry.
Your doctor must have a broken leg to
doctor. Your defects are the ways that
glory gets manifested. Whoever sees
clearly what's diseased in himself
begins to gallop on the Way.
There is nothing worse
than thinking you are well enough.
More than anything, self-complacency
blocks the workmanship.
Put your vileness up to a mirror and
weep. Get that self-satisfaction flowing
out of you! Satan thought, "I am better
than Adam," and that *better than* is
still strongly in us.
Your stream-water may look clean,
but there's unstirred matter on the
bottom. Your Sheikh can dig a side
channel that will drain that waste off.
Trust your wound to a Teacher's surgery.
Flies collect on a wound. They cover it,
those flies of your self-protecting
feelings, your love for what you think
is yours.
Let a teacher wave away the flies
and put a plaster on the wound.
Don't turn your head. Keep looking at
the bandaged place. That's where the
light enters you.
And don't believe for a moment
that you're healing yourself.
The timelessness of the wisdom of Posttraumatic Growth is even written on the UNC website where the Posttraumatic Growth Research is being made public:
The idea that human beings can be changed by their encounters with life challenges, sometimes in radically positive ways, is not new. The theme is present in ancient spiritual and religious traditions, literature, and philosophy.
Therefore to me, it is utterly fascinating to investigate all of the age-old spiritual metaphors and language that invoke several of these same 5 areas of transfiguration described by the more modern scientific research.
Take for example these words by Jesus Christ from The Gospel of Thomas:
If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you. If you do not bring forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you.
Ever since I was introduced to these words, probably over 10 years ago now, they have taken on new, deeper meaning and resonance as I have thereafter lived through multiple events that very well could have altered my life in a very detrimental way.
And how about the lotus?
The lotus, or the Nelumbo nucifera, is a type of flower that is an aquatic perennial who's roots are planted in the floor of a pond or river bottom, while the flower floats on the surface of the water.
In Buddhism the lotus is a metaphor for the enlightenment, purity and beauty (the flower) that can be born of suffering and pain in the form of attachment and desire (the mud or the soil), and in both Buddhist and Hindu texts and images, the lotus flower is frequently presented as a symbol of this spiritual promise or opportunity that is available to us all (deities and humans alike).
I don't know about for you, but when I hear god-awful stories like the one in Texas with the Federal Government interfering in the personal healthcare decisions of a 17 year-old girl, I need the scientific ideas like Posttraumatic Growth, and the words like those in The Gospel of Thomas, and the images like those of the lotus in Buddhism to help me remember that this moment in history will not be in vain.
Because as much as Posttraumatic Growth and enlightenment are possible on the micro level of the individual, in a spiritual democracy, they are also possible on the macro level of community, nationhood and the earth itself.
In fact, if we as a people, including our future generations, are to not only survive but to thrive, I would argue, global Posttraumatic growth and enlightenment are actually a necessity.
In that way, we may be able to embody writer, Civil Rights Activist and feminist Audre Lorde's inspiring words:
That visibility which makes us most vulnerable is that which is also the source of our greatest strength.
May it be so.
No comments:
Post a Comment