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If being in the middle of a traumatic experience (peritrauma) involves a distortion of the perception of time, then perhaps most people alive on the planet today are in the midst of some traumatic experience or another because it seems to be true at least within our own culture that we suffer from a nearly complete dissociation regarding the passing of time as it is connected to the consequences of our actions.

When we live as if we believe the only concern we have to think about is our own personal well-being (and perhaps that of our family, and/or our local community and perhaps of our nation) we are living as if what we can SEE is all that matters.  We can’t SEE those who are long dead before us.  We can’t SEE those generations ahead of us in the future that have yet to be born.  Therefore, “out of sight, out of mind.”

If we truly believed that all that matters to us is exactly what we can SEE, then our perception of what is real in the world would be so limited we couldn’t function much better than a one-year-old could.  Can we, do WE KNOW BETTER?

So how is it that we can destroy the environment of our planet because we feel free to consume as many resources as we can lay our hands on while leaving as little as we can for the generations yet to come?  It wouldn’t take much effort or thought on current generations’ part to imagine what kind of a world is being prepared for those who will come after our own bodies are dirt or ashes.  Do we intend to be so selfish?  Do we intend to be so greedy?  Do we intend to be so stupid?  Are our intentions truly as malevolent as they will probably appear to those 100 years from now who look back on the actions of those living on this grand planet right now?

Or do most people suffer from some kind of ongoing in-the-moment lack of ability to conceive of the passage of time as being connected to the consequences of human actions?  Is everyone stuck in some version of outright dissociation in the midst of peritrauma so that they can learn nothing, think about nothing, change nothing, feel nothing?

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Dissociation involves a break in the continuous thread of awareness of experience and a break in the ability to respond competently and effectively to challenges happening within the current environment during the ongoing moments of time.  Dissociation involves one moment or a long chain of moments where all that happens is a great big, “OOPS!”

The problem is that when people are in the midst of a peritraumatic OOPS! experience they are SO IN THE PRESENT SPLIT SECOND of time that they cannot possibly be objective.  Objectivity happens once trauma has stopped and life is back on track ‘as normal-ordinary’.  That is what trauma is, an experience of harm and threat of harm that is EXTRAORDINARY or outside the range of ordinary.   It would be the task and responsibility for people NOT in the midst of trauma to be able to SEE and understand the bigger picture.

So, it seems to me if nearly everyone is in some kind of peritraumatic state that means that the ‘normal-ordinary’ passage of time has been altered, who is left to be objectively concerned about what the living H — is going on?

Well, maybe this dissociated state where awareness of the passage of time along with awareness of future consequences of actions in connection to the past IS normal and ordinary for our species.  Maybe the only responsible party in the whole bunch is our actual DNA itself along with its machinery that tells our DNA what to do (and remembers).  Maybe it is only within the molecular operation of our bodies that true awareness and intelligent action exists.  Maybe ongoing life has always known that humans will just be humans:  A bunch of oblivious one-year-olds.

That we like to call ourselves “The Wise Ones” has nothing to do with the truth.  It just means that even one-year-olds must be able to have delusions of grandeur.  Well, maybe we have advanced to being two-year-olds now.  At least we have the power to speak.

And I personally feel much better now that I’ve put the big picture into better perspective!

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