Don't Look Up: A Response to Social Trauma

Written by Radhule Weininger

Nominated for four Oscars, Don’t Look Up has touched the collective psyche and become a phenomenon. The movie tells the story of two astronomers attempting to warn humanity about an approaching comet that will destroy human civilization. The impact event is an allegory for climate change, and the film is a satire of government, politics, celebrity, and media indifference to the climate crisis.

What could be responsible for the disconnect between the urgency of a life-threatening problem and the catastrophic lack of response? Could trauma play a role?

When trying to understand the trauma that may have led to such a tragic disconnect, one may be reminded of the long-standing, recurrent, painful patterns (LRPPs) discussed in my book, Heart Medicine: How to Stop Painful Patterns and Find Peace and Freedom–at Last. Trauma-based and persistent constellations, which can haunt humans in self-defeating ways, may not only be buried into individual psyches; they may also be present and triggered in the collective psyche of the world. LRPPs (pronounced "lurps") manifest themselves in individuals’ lives and within communities, societies, and cultures.

Just yesterday, I heard that a 25-year-old medical student from Ukraine jumped off a roof to end his life in despair. At the core of every LRPP is trauma, and earlier traumas get reignited when triggering circumstances occur. Countless stories of recurrent, painful patterns are known in human history. For example, the holocaust was driven by ancient wounds of tribalism, racism, and scapegoating. It is not surprising that the same agonizing issues, whether they are around power, race, or resources, are reoccurring.

On the most profound level, there is an archetypal trauma, which might be called the “delusion of separateness,” the most primal societal LRPP. Suppose each person acts as a separate entity. In that case, disconnected and, in a sense competing against becoming mindful of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors help a person immensely to recognize when one has become triggered, personally and as a group.

Then no one feels safe or secure. When one feels separate from others, one is prone to only protect oneself and close family members. When individuals are unable to recognize the necessity of common interests, climate change can become a matter of life and death!

Perhaps it is possible to apply lessons learned from healing LRPPs in individuals to mend LRPPs in society, especially regarding the “delusion of separateness.” As it is not possible to heal society all at once, each individual must heal their society-related-LRPPs. These may be a dislike of otherness in race, creed, class, caste, or political persuasion.

To find healing for individual LRPPs, 12-steps are proposed that allow freedom from this predicament. The first task is to recognize that one has been “lurped.” Becoming aware of what is happening is crucial on an individual and a societal level. Acknowledging that an LRPP has been triggered opens one up to taking an honest look at oneself. Becoming mindful of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors helps a person recognize when one has become triggered, personally and as a group.

Self-compassion allows a person to have empathy for oneself when discovering one’s own dislikable qualities. For example, self-compassion might help a person see unconscious cultural biases one may have held thus far. Self-kindness may also help a person to regard oneself with kindness and warmth, without self-condemnation when having made mistakes. Instead, one supports oneself in becoming a compassionate and skillful citizen.

This work allows a person to become more understanding, compassionate, and tolerant. Practices involving forgiveness and restorative justice have long been recognized as bringing peace to divided groups of people. Desmond Tutu, Nelson Mandela, and the Dalai Lama have successfully improved the lives of those around them with these practices.

The practice of meditation is invaluable, not just to calm the mind and improve attention but also to open one’s heart and experience the field of interconnected presence. For society to heal and attend to important common interests, one must realize interconnectedness on a bigger level than just the personal.

With the help of particular meditation practices, one can learn to rest in the wider perspective of natural awareness. Then one’s perspective changes from seeing oneself as a separate ego-self to experiencing oneself as part of the interdependent web of life. Compassion grows from that, and others can be experienced as kin.

To heal societal LRPPs, one first needs to heal one’s personal ones, and for that, it helps when the external environment transforms for the better. Like on a Mobius strip, where a paper band's inner and outer sides are seamlessly connected, societal change cannot happen without personal change, and personal development ultimately thrives in a healthy environment. Without evolving the personal and the societal together, relational, educational, medical, environmental, economic, psychological, and spiritual development can’t be brought to a higher plane.

People can’t afford to merely attend to the personal. Life does not work well for the individual if it is not working for the whole. In times of crisis, people can’t be oblivious to larger societal questions.

Service and engagement on behalf of others will be lifesaving for all and build the bridge between the personal and the collective. “Me-care,” “we-care,” “self-care,” and “us-care” must be interwoven. Buddhist scholar and environmental activist Joanna Macy calls an activist every person who acts beyond their self-interest. It takes a lot of energy, especially after COVID, to come out of isolation with the willingness to be engaged.

“Us-care” can have many faces. Some of my students volunteer to teach mindfulness and heartfulness in several Santa Barbara schools. Other young people are tutoring underserved kids who missed chunks of learning during COVID to help them catch up in the new school year.

A 27-year-old psychology graduate student and her friends are volunteering on a suicide hotline for a fourth consecutive year, triaging with social workers and police to keep young people alive.

One must “look up” wisely, skillfully, and with a big heart. To avoid burnout, it helps to practice self-care through meditation, yoga, nature connection, and support groups. Psychotherapy may energize the activist or health care worker when their LRPPs are triggered in the process of supporting others.

Spiritual practices help a person feel held in the great mystery, in God, in the field of awareness, or however, it may be called, so one can be loving and effective in this world. Such experience, leading to inner transformation, is especially important for the outcome of the climate crisis. Howard Zinn reminds us, “Small acts, when multiplied by millions of people, can transform the world.”