Trauma and Beyond
Trauma and Beyond: The Mystery of Transformation by Ursula Wirtz
Excerpt from Trauma and Beyond: The Mystery of Transformation by Ursula Wirtz
On 'Integrating Shadow': "The concepts of constructive anger and healthy aggression can be understood in terms of the Jungian concept of shadow integration. Integrating the shadow carries the potential for healing, for it brings about an inner reconciliation as a precursor to the outer reconciliation. From the neuropsychologist Rick Hanson, I heard a didactic tale about a Native American elder, a grandmother, who was asked why she was so happy, so wise, so loved and respected. Her response was: "It's because I know there are two wolves in my heart, a wolf of love and a wolf of hate. And I know that everything depends on which one I feed each day. "We must become well acquainted with both wolves and recognize our own aggressive and sadistic impulses. We must become reconciled to the wolf of hate within before we can be reconciled to the wolves of hate in the outer world. Only the acknowledgment of our own feelings of hate can prevent the reenactment of hatred. It is the only way we can avoid projecting the split-off, unacceptable, repressed aspects of ourselves onto others. In therapy, it is often difficult to help the patient become conscious of the binding power of hatred and repression. Hatred clings. It causes us to fixate on the negative; it casts a dark shadow on our perceptions, thoughts, and feelings. Once it is integrated into consciousness, we are freed from old burdens, our dignity is restored, and we are presented with a new beginning for the next stage in life. Reconciliation with the estranged parts of ourselves throws us back upon ourselves; it takes us inward until we reach our own deepest center. From that place, where we are at peace with ourselves, we can start out on the path that leads toward others. In letting go of fixations and negative patterns of thought and behavior, the trauma survivor enters a creative process of confronting his or her self-alienating and self-annihilating complexes...
"In the Buddhist tradition, attachment and greed are counted as the cause of suffering. Free spaces open up when we can see through our attachments and overcome them, when we can let ourselves be and accept the process of becoming through surrender to reality. Trauma survivors often feel the need to surrender to the paradox of the human condition. However, such a surrender can take place only through an act of will. It cannot be forced from the outside, by therapy, religion, or politics, but often life circumstances and nature herself will bring them to their last draw. I regard it as extremely important that victims of violence not be forced into forgiveness, neither to release their abusers from responsibility nor to achieve wholeness themselves. For this reason, I regard it as therapeutic folly to hold up reconciliation and forgiveness as expectations for the patient, as if they were indispensable for healing. The patient must come to them of his or her own accord in his or her own time. Rather than forcing light onto patient's, it is more constructive to help them embrace their own darkness."
Book mentioned:
Trauma and Beyond: The Mystery of Transformation by Ursula Wirtz
