> **🌱 Planted:** Wed 19 March 2025 --- We don't get to choose the society, culture or family we're born into. It just happens. If we find ourselves traumatised, it is because we [[Parts come together to reveal new wholes beyond what they are alone|emerge]] from a collective system that is itself traumatised. This is because what's going on in the external society reflects the internal worlds of its people. Many, if not all societies exist in a traumatised state. When unresolved trauma exists within many individuals of a society, it manifests outwardly into its systems, institutions and structures which then shapes our collective way of being. In a way, society becomes both the victim and the perpetrator. If those who raise us are traumatised, we too will become traumatised as we experience a grave failure in our early [[Our caregivers don't need to be perfect, they just need to be good enough|holding environment]]. This early trauma is too much for any child to bear, so we [[We're born whole, but we split ourselves to preserve the connection with our caregivers|split off the "bad" Parts of our parents to preserve the emotional connection and attachment to them]]. This creates a [[Relational power dynamics arise from the existential need to establish one's own subjectivity|relational power dynamic]] where the parent's subjectivity completely overshadows the child's. As their truths are subordinated to their parent's unresolved pain, the helpless child is forced to become the receiver and internaliser of this trauma, while the parent unconsciously becomes the transmitter and externaliser. This dynamic establishes a pattern where those who have been traumatised (which is almost everyone, but I mean those who are aware they've been traumatised) are afraid to speak up, creating a sort of trauma loyalty where those doing the traumatising continue to ignore the subjectivity of others while hiding behind masks, roles and denying any accountability. We know that [[The loss of our personal subjectivity is passed on generationally]], and so then the cycle perpetually continues. If they haven't worked to resolve their trauma, the receivers and internalisers sometimes go on to become transmitters and externalisers when they become parents themselves. This pattern doesn't stop at the familial level though—it manifests and spirals outward, and it can be seen at all levels of our society. It's in our education systems that prioritise performance over connection, our economic systems built on competition, achievement and inequality, our legal systems that choose control and punishment over truth and restoration, and our healthcare systems which pathologise and medicate away our suffering instead of healing it. As the pattern continues to expand outward, it can again be seen in our political systems and international relations leading to conflict between nations and a permanent readiness for war. ![[Who am I in a Traumatised Society?.png]][^1] Whatever takes place in the microcosm also takes place in the macrocosm—the same unresolved trauma that is split off and disowned in the microcosm (the family) is then projected as shadow onto the Other in the macrocosm (the society). --- **➡️ Next:** - [[We're not broken, we're not deficient, and there's nothing missing]] - [[Humans are a self-traumatising species]] **⬅️ Back:** [[Our current way of being is hurting us]] --- **🈁 See Also:** - [[The issue of ignorance]]. [^1]: [[Who am I in a Traumatised Society by Franz Ruppert]]. Professor Dr Franz Ruppert [gave a talk on this in London in 2018](https://youtu.be/beojRYnxdDQ?si=7UBoSuDlp6ESr1xD).