written 8 October 2023
published 15 October 2023
Last week, excessive heat forced cancelation of a marathon in Twin Cities, Minnesota. Salt water intrusion up the slow drought slowed Mississippi river now threatens the Louisiana citrus industry. Amazon rainforest and South American monsoons show signs of imminent collapse. New wildfire on Spain's Tenerife island forced 3,000 to evacuate. New York City flooded as a month of rain fell in a few hours. Taiwan recorded a 213mph gust during typhoon Koinu. Heavy rain caused a glacial lake overflow flood, impacting 22,000 in India. Annual Antarctic sea ice peak is the lowest on record.
The experience of being born can be traumatic. Everything changes in a few moments. The newborn is assaulted with the programming of their parents and culture, defining "who they are". The physical experience is so diverse, and attractive, that the soul forgets where they came from, and becomes defined by the exterior world.
Dr. Gabor Mate, trauma therapist, thinks as many as 90% of us have been traumatized, which locks us into rigid stories we create to help explain our experience. This rigidity prevents us from experiencing our authentic emotions, removing us from reality. Although the original traumatizing experience fades, the stories persist, until we consciously deal with them.
The news cycle is dominated by Donald Trump. His personal history is now well documented, including the book by Mary Trump, his niece. Donald was traumatized by his home life. His father, emotionally cold, taught life was about killers and losers, that winning was the goal, keeping score with money. Donald was given massive funds early on, divorcing him from taking responsibility for his actions, accelerating the cultivation of his own identity cult. His goal has always been to improve his personal brand worth, as defined by external power and wealth, without regard to the impact on anyone else. However, his empire worth has already been judged overstated, and built on fraud. Such a traumatic expression is described as a malignant narcissist.
Trump is a metaphor for the old order of society, which celebrates the "individualist". Sociopathic and psychopathic individuals, typified by almost complete lack of compassion or empathy, a relatively small part of the population, are disproportionately found in the ranks of business and political leaders. We exalt the fact that three people own half the wealth of the country. But this kind of distortion, played out all across the economy and society, is bringing us to the brink of collapse, economically and ecologically. There are signs of change showing in the cracks.
Some people believe we are born, live once, and die, residing forever after in heaven, hell, or oblivion, depending: one and done. Other people believe our being, or soul, transcends time, and lives thousands of life times, learning something from each incarnation, bringing forward some knowledge or unresolved lesson to learn. People researching past lives find that young children often remember previous life events, before this incarnation eventually overwrites everything. But perhaps that division between lives is becoming more permeable.
Max Alexander was born in Los Angeles in 2016. At the age of four he told his parents that he had previously been fashion designer Guccio Gucci, and intended to be a dress maker. He was so passionate that his mother taught him how to use a sewing machine, and sent him to sewing classes when he surpassed her knowledge. Max has now made hundreds of designs, held his own fashion shows, sold internationally, has a celebrity following, and a studio which helps produce his designs. His goal is to "make women feel beautiful". He is currently in third grade.
Max seems to have accessed aesthetics, designs, and skills way beyond a happy go lucky little boy. Inspiration is our individual connection to the larger world of previous knowledge.
As a creative person, I trust the process of inspiration. Occasionally, ideas come that I have never experienced before, and this process can be cultivated. Several times I have easily taken up a new craft, and felt like I have done it before, yet not in this lifetime. Our culture doesn't encourage considering reincarnation, so we are likely to dismiss these thoughts, rather than consciously working to open that inspirational channel further.
Consider what the world would be like if we were all able to access multiple life times of knowledge into shaping the world today, and become more like Max and less like Trump.
