Dredging the truth

Discomfort has a way of dredging up the truth.

What really happened? Why did you run off with that guy? Do you still love me?

Ask such things while dodging bullets, or huddled together under newspapers to keep warm.

The inexplicable

“The greatest and most important problems of life are all fundamentally insoluble. They can never be solved but only outgrown.” ― C.G. Jung

I believe that Jung was on to something here, but I would replace “outgrown” with “acknowledged.” Most every situation in life – good and bad – lingers as an emotional footprint, continuing to impact us in both subtle and dramatic ways. Change does not erase nor reconstruct the past, but rather builds around it, like tree roots stretching over the remains of an old stone wall.

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Invisible forces

The force of gravity “appears” to exist. However, like the wind, we infer that gravity exists by observing visible things and how they interact. We cannot directly observe gravity, just as we cannot see the wind.

Human nature is more of the same. We infer what people are thinking and feeling through their words, behavior, and physical manifestations. However, our naked motivations are invisible to both ourselves and others, limiting us to best guesses as to what is really happening.

Shared trauma

Several people – sometimes an entire nation – may experience ailments connected with the same shared psychological wound. The symptoms will vary from person to person, depending upon their particular relationship with that wound: perpetrator, victim, witness, healer, etc.

Special others

Selfhood is not complete without special “others” who listen, accept, guide, support, or hurt us. If these relationships do not exist, the mind will imagine their existence, attaching them to whomever seems to fit the illusions – good or bad. We create the relations and dramas that confirm our current self-image.