In Part 1a of this series, I noted that the stresses that emerged around Donald J. Trump’s election to the presidency did not originate solely with him, but that he was a catalyst for pre-existing, underlying conditions. In this and the next section, I’ll lay out 12 of these social conditions.

1. Public Indifference & Disaffection

Let’s first recognize the fact that only about half of eligible voters voted in the 2016 election and less than half of those voted for this president. But the politics of gerrymandering and complications of the electoral college allowed someone with one fourth of the country on his side to take over the rest of us, despite losing the popular vote.

For many people, the two major parties have become indistinguishable in their structure and investment in power, although espousing vastly different values. Both parties can be said to have betrayed their basic principles to stay in power and to cater to wealthy donors. Third parties have not been successful in escaping challenges of irrational ideologies of their own, charges of personal grand-standing, lack of financial clout, or having their own questionable backers.

Many citizens don’t see their influence in the face of powerful forces that benefit from public apathy.

2. Manipulators of Legislators – a Shadow Government

Lobbyists register and work openly to influence legislators, but there are also shadow organizations that work mostly outside of public view. This movement began some decades ago. One example is the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) – founded in 1973 – whose agenda has been to draft corporate-friendly legislation to be passed into law at the state level and to promote their policies. They write up bills and give them to sympathetic state legislators who, in turn, introduce them into state governing bodies. Also in the 1970s, Exxon-Mobile’s research scientists concluded that their products were contributing to anthropogenic climate change. The company’s response was to initiate a misinformation campaign to discredit others who came to the same conclusion (using some of the same people who tried to discredit research on the dangers of smoking tobacco). Please note: it is not the conservative or liberal nature of such groups that are of concern, but their operation as a kind of manipulator of public (mis)education and government. In addition, we also have various super PACs on all sides claiming to be public welfare organizations, but clearly operating as political agents.

I suspect that the discrepancy between our façade of a citizen-driven democracy and the reality of influence by powerful organizations and donors is a source of stress for those of us with only one vote.

3. Tribalism, Tribal Boundaries, Loyalty and the search for Certainty

Political discussions are too often presented in absolutist, either-or, all-or-nothing, for-or-against terms in ways that undercut communication and the engagement necessary for various factions to work toward viable solutions. That is, there appears to be more investment in boundaries and brand-loyalty than in substance, common values and compassion. We see this regarding climate science, gun issues, women’s healthcare, immigration, gender, race, ethnic equality, economic policy, civil rights, environmental safety, corruption in government and business, to name a few. Furthermore, autocratic leaders are less interested in truth or solutions as they are in loyalty and conformity.

I see anxiety motivating this kind of behavior – an outgrowth of felt threat of a loss of identity, status or power, which brings us to the next point.

4. The Unheard Voice of the Left Behind and Socially “Victimized”

Part of this president’s popularity has come from the fact that there are people who have felt victimized by what most of us would consider social progress, as well as those who have been left out of the economic riches of the country while others prosper. Each time the previous president talked of economic growth, these folks were not seeing it in their world. This discrepancy has been a fertile field for mobilizing opposition to the establishment, with a desire for radical change – no matter the cost.

Among the “victimized” are people who outright distrust most any form of centralized government. They distrust its power over their lives, object to restrictions on their behavior, and want to keep more of their earnings that otherwise go into taxes that sometimes pay for things they don’t believe in.

Some are afraid that raising the status of people who are not like them is a threat to their way of life and even their identity as Americans. Thus, civil rights for others seem, to them, to be a reduction of their rights.

5. News media and social media

We have media – news and social – that appear to be more interested in generating their own wealth than serving us, often operating by an “economics of outrage.” That is, they present news items in provocative ways without proper analysis or fact-checking. Opinions are stated as facts, speculation as reality; and we get recurring false equivalence or grossly slanted presentations. (Slanting might be expected, but distortions are dishonest and misleading.) It has become work to find out the truth behind much of the news, especially when the algorithms of search engines tend to “feed” us with our own biases or what is trending – not with what is reliable.

Contrary to the modern myth of the so-called “liberal press,” most news corporations are owned by a few wealthy conservative businessmen.

Finally, our news feeds are constant. Whereas we used to be faced with news at the end of the day, after dealing with our own lives, we now are subjected to it on the web, on our phones and on social media.

Thus, we are constantly faced with a flood of “information” that may or may not be true, is provided in order the sell something, and can come through a variety of channels amenable to manipulation. We have the stress of too many words, too little truth, and even less meaningfulness.

6. Our Abusive Patriarchal Culture, sometimes called a “Rape Culture”

There has been a struggle against “political correctness” that hides a desire to dispense with expectations of respect for others. This is little more than an attempt to institutionalize bullying and the expression of anti-social behavior.

What’s more, under a general category of abuse of power, we see a more insidious practice of powerful men displaying underlying misogyny and opportunism as shown in increasing numbers of accounts of sexual harassment and financial corruption, reflecting in part, the religious dynamics of a patriarchal church built on the values of ancient Rome and Greece with their subjugation of women. We’ve not yet recovered from that conceit of male superiority.

The pervasive nature of this cultural defect is only recently becoming evident, although women have been aware of it for centuries. Church and state have colluded in downgrading the power, influence and wealth of women, including the battle for control over their bodies and medical needs. Women are still treated as if they were property in some factions of our 21^st century society. We should remember that women were not even given the rights of citizens to vote until 1920 – less than 100 years ago.

This gender inequality (to put it mildly) may be one of the most significant failures of our culture, and certainly is a major source of stress for us all.

Furthermore, our high regard for successful business executives turns out to be support of predatory greed, theft of wages, and ownership of anything they can bend to their will. This structure of approved institutionalized predation is a threat to all of us not sitting in the offices of power. Any of us could be fodder for their engines.

7. Climate Change and the Industries of Denial – Hijacking Science

Tremendous efforts have been made to undercut legitimate scientific studies and, as I noted before, since the 1970s Exxon Mobile mounted a campaign to dismiss evidence of global warming that they found in their own research. George W. Bush and this president have both tried to downplay, if not censor, the significance of scientific data regarding climate change (and other critical environmental issues). Propagandists posing as scientists, paid by oil companies and other corporations, are given equal press against legitimate scientific studies and the scientific process. Ideology has taken precedence over reality – a stressor for anyone aware of what is happening to our land and seas.

Likewise, scientific concerns about food quality, pollution, toxic industrial products, sustainable energy sources, and sustainable agriculture have come under fire. Progress toward more sustainable and safe sources of food and energy have been curtailed in favor of dying industries.

Science is, after all, our reality check on the nature of the world around us, our impact on it and its impact on us. One would think a rational person would want as much true science as possible. The profits of the few have been elevated over the well-being of the many.

More to come. . .

I’ll continue my listing of the dozen underlying conditions that supported the rise of such an administration in the next posting, and then begin to address the adverse impact of the resulting stresses, and how to deal with them.

This is the first of a multi-part blog divided into three main sections 1) to identify some of the significant sources of stress over the last year, 2) to restore our own balance in the face of these stresses and not forget who we are, and 3) to move forward on a foundation of our core values (without necessarily becoming like that which we abhor).

Some of what I say here may make us aware of old wounds. More precisely, as we look into the stresses of our time, we may recognize wounds that have been activated by the peculiar nature those stressors. The important thing in this is to accurately connect the old wound with the current stressor to better deal with both.

When I began talking about stress-management 20 to 30 years ago, everyone’s focus was on the mind-body connection and our ability to manipulate our internal state to reduce the influence of events outside and inside of us. It was mostly a self-healing, self-focused activity. Today, however, I do not think we can achieve healing and wholeness for ourselves without some degree of healing the wounded world around us. In that, we must also recognize our relationship with the world. It is because of that relationship that things out there stress us out. It is also because of that relationship that we can influence our world. In all real relationships, influence goes both ways.

Stress, Chaos and Revelation

This past year – particularly since the 2016 presidential election – has been one of extraordinary stress for many people. It shows up in social media, in real conversations, in counselors’ offices, clergy consultations, and professional publications: our national psyche is beset with waves of stress, anger and anxiety. I present my observations not to add fuel to partisan fires already burning, although that seems unavoidable. Rather, I invite you to beware of your automatic reaction, whether for or against what I’m saying or about the topic. Instead of reacting, I suggest a moment of self-reflection. When you are tempted to respond to something I’ve written, ask yourself the following questions:

 

• Why do I want to respond at this moment?
• What is my emotional investment in this?
• What is missing, or what do I really want here?
• What do my answers to these questions say about my values?

 

Now back to my observations and thoughts.

 

The Unique Qualities of Today’s Stresses

We live in a unique time and are beset with stress waves and one emotional virus after another, both arising from a plethora of sources. In addition, we are becoming aware of the fact that we are all connected by media, by electromagnetic forces and by our very existence in the collective consciousness of humankind. We face choices about how aware we want to be, and how to evaluate the validity of information coming to us. Shall we react in kind, or respond from the heart? Can we respond to a monster without becoming monstrous ourselves?

To begin, let’s identify the threads that have come together to create this situation.

 

The Election and Post-Trumpmatic Stress Disorder

The escalating stress to which I’m referring seems to have begun with the 2016 presidential election. “We” elected a man whose behavior has always been outside the bounds of our expected presidential decorum and decency. His supporters are delighted to see someone speaking his mind and shaking things up, and are disgusted at the intolerance and judgmentalism of his detractors. His critics, on the other hand, are appalled that a man of his character has been put into the highest elected office of this country.

His amorality should be no surprise. He repeatedly created businesses that went bankrupt (meaning he used others’ resources without compensating them) while enriching himself. His sexual exploits and racism are legendary. And his war on “political correctness” was a code to battle against the expectation that we should treat one another with respect.

The distress of the time that now focuses on him, however, is not just from this one man’s day-to-day behaviors or position. Many people who have been subjected to bullying in early life – in the military, in business or industry – find old hurts and resentments reawakened. Many people (mostly women) who have been sexually assaulted, harassed or otherwise abused have found a resurgence of their old wounds – a reactivation of post-traumatic stress arising from earlier experience. Given that the man at the head of this nation glories in his ability to bully others and evade accountability, and who brags about his predatory sexual exploits (and then denies and hides them by bullying his victims), it is only natural that unhealed wounds and unresolved resentments have been triggered.

Some mental health professionals have broken with tradition to openly question the president’s mental state, character and fitness for his office. The first book I became aware of was A Clear and Present Danger: Narcissism in the Era of Donald Trump, and the more recent The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump: 27 Psychiatrists and Mental Health Experts Assess a President. Both books are edited by psychiatrists. Mental health professionals find him an easy diagnostic subject, and his impact on citizens has been noted with a newly-coined term, “Post-Trump-matic Stress Disorder.”

(A webinar can be found called Post-Trump-matic Stress Disorder and Other Psychological Aftermath of the 2016 Presidential Election at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIWTuXeP7O4.)

They may skirt the issue of outright diagnosis because of ethical considerations, but they do not avoid the dangers of having this kind of person in a position of power. It’s the man’s behavior and attitudes (not diagnoses) that put us all in danger.

Coinciding with these mental health perspectives, there are shamans who say that “. . . I must conclude that Trump, the GOP and his supporters are possessed by what we term evil spirits. They are not “deplorable” as Hillary Clinton suggested. Their soul is trapped and they are suffering. Undoubtedly, their actions fit all the markings of traditional evil spirit possession.” (Itzhak Beery, http://realitysandwich.com/321732/trump-is-possessed-a-wakeup-call/) Again, whether or not you accept these conclusions is not as important as recognizing the behaviors on which these judgments are based.

Finally, clergy and Bible scholars are questioning how a supposedly “Christian nation” can take such actions as the immigration ban, withdrawing support for the poor, and enacting economic policies that give immediate benefit to the wealthy and powerful, while leaving the poor and vulnerable subject to “the market.” Biblical passages calling for welcoming the exiles, feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, etc. appear irrelevant to whatever faith these people profess. This is not the Christianity with which most of us grew up. What’s more, for Earth-centered faiths, exploitation of the Earth and her natural resources, and the introduction of toxins into soil, water and air are surely a violation of the sacred (not to mention that our personal health depends on the health of the environment around us).

 

Regardless of which side we take in all these issues, we are all subject to the consequences of the president’s actions and character, and the stresses they provoke in our society. Those who consider him a savior to a set of problems nevertheless face a backlash from most of the rest of our citizens (and the world). Those who consider him an affront to American decency are faced with the reality that he has garnered the support of the Republican party (for its own ends, of course) and certain religious groups in his efforts to dismantle and re-shape government and remove protections of vulnerable populations.

Our attention may be repeatedly focused on the president, but he is not the source of these issues. And, as much as he might like us to think otherwise, Donald J. Trump did not come to his position on his own, nor is he the only source of what faces us today.

 

In the next two postings, I’ll note 12 of the pre-existing social conditions for which Donald J. Trump has been a catalyst. Without addressing these underlying conditions, we leave open the door for the entry of the next demagogue, regardless of what happens to this one.

 

My recent absence from my Facebook community has made me consider my relationship to such things. My world does not seem amenable to postings or, perhaps, I don’t know how or grasp why. It’s not that I don’t have a life, with eating, drinking, people I love and people I don’t, joys and pains, death and renewal, holiday celebrations, reactions to news and the political stage. Nor am I indifferent to people’s troubles. Something, though, seems out of rhythm; and short reactive postings don’t have the luminosity I seek. After all, it took the writing of three books to get through my ideas and experiences with reincarnation, past-life therapy and karma.

I’m attracted to the novel, but less in entertainment and consumption than in ideas that take me into deeper thoughts, and experiences that take me into explorations of sound and rhythm through poetry and music (or yet another musical instrument). For me, a few good conversations make for a good month. Media outlets are unfaithful seductresses, luring me in with mostly-empty promises of escape, enlightenment or communion. As enjoyable as media at times might be, my yearning is for intimate conversation, the heart’s shelter, words of truth and the flow of inspiration that comes from an invisible world beyond anything the captains of industry can comprehend.

The spirit of this time is provocative, though transitory, full of manufactured emotional reactions, passing (though enjoyable) fashions. Although not devoid of its beauty and inspiration, there is another spirit that would call some of us into the deep end of humanity’s divine and animal natures – deep enough that these – that seem so far apart – meet as one, and call us into the invisible world of ancestors and spirits, and into the things of this world that are simply overlooked by virtue of the speed of living or garish clamor thrown at us by those who want our attention and thereby profit from our distraction.

There are also events that happen inside: thoughts we didn’t know we could think, ideas we didn’t know we had, concepts that come to us from another place, images that come from another world or another time, and the voices of poets, wild women and men, and the uncanny silence of the listening forest. Don’t get me wrong: I love the sensory world – landscape, curving form, music and laughter, well-spiced food, a voice speaking from the heart of truth, winds, rivers and trees, and a hearty beer. They all have their value and beauty in their own right, but they can fragment me or make me whole, drain me or enrich me, depending on whether I take the time to honor the god that brings them or the god that’s in them – and that requires investment in the non-sensual and, at times, the nonsensical.

All that said, I’ll still post on Facebook, but more of my effort will be put into this blog. In a couple of days, I’ll start posting a seven-part series on the extraordinary stress of the last year or so, and what to do about them without becoming like the miscreants to which we object.

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