Introducing Sociology
Originally published as “Eyes Wide Shut” in Film Quarterly, Vol. 53, no. 3, 41-48. University of California Press. Reprinted in Depth of Fie
Tim Kreider
"I think the major difference between a social justice and a white/colonial lens on trauma is the assumption that trauma recovery is the reclamation of safety—that safety is a resource that is simply ‘out there’ for the taking and all we need to do is work hard enough at therapy
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“I was once at a training seminar in Toronto led by a famous & beloved somatic psychologist. She spoke brilliantly. I asked her how healing from trauma was possible for ppl for whom violence & danger are part of everyday life. She said it was not.
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"Colonial psychology & psychiatry reveal their allegiance to the status quo in their approach to trauma: That resourcing must come from within oneself rather than from the collective. That trauma recovery is feeling safe in society, when in fact society is the source of trauma
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Colonial somatics & psychotherapies teach that the body must relearn to perceive safety. But the bodies of the oppressed are rightly interpreting danger. Our triggers & explosive rage, our dissociation & perfect submission are in fact skills that have kept us alive
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The somatics of social justice cannot (i believe) be a somatics rooted in the colonial frameworks of psychology, psychiatry, or other models linked to the dominance of the nation-state (psychology was not always this way, but has become increasingly so over time)
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The somatics of social justice cannot be aimed at restoring the body to a state of homeostasis/neutrality. We must be careful of popular languaging such as the 'regulation’ of nervous system & emotion, which implies the control and domination of mind over emotion & sensation.
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"Because we are not, in the end, preparing the body to 'return’ to the general safety of society (this would be gaslighting). we are preparing the body, essentially for struggle—training for better survival & the ability to experience joy in the midst of great danger.
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"In the cauldron of social justice healing praxis, we must aim for relationality that has the potential to generate social change, to generate insurrection. we must be prepared to challenge norms. acknowledge danger. embrace struggle. take risks.
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”& above all, we must not overemphasize the importance of individual work (which is important indeed) to the detriment of a somatics that also prepares us, essentially, for war. somatics that allow us to organize together. fight together. live together. love each other."

— Kai Cheng Thom

athousandgateaux:

“The extinction of desire (Buddhism) – or detachment – or amor fati – or desire for the absolute good – these all amount to the same: to empty desire, finality of all content, to desire in the void, to desire without any wishes. To detach our desire from all good things and to wait. Experience proves that this waiting is satisfied. It is then we touch the absolute good… Always, beyond the particular object whatever it may be, we have to fix our will on the void, to will the void. For the good which we can neither picture nor define is a void for us. But this void is fuller than all fullnesses…The good seems to us as a nothingness, since there is no thing that is good. But this nothingness is not unreal. Compared with it everything in existence is unreal”

— Simone Weil, Gravity & Grace, pg. 58

a-spectacular-pigeon:

What about yourself would be absolutely infuriating to a very specific subset of people? I’ll go first: I’ve used the same scissors to cut cardboard AND my hair. They are fabric scissors

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amazinglybeautifulphotography: “Peek-a-Boo Trail, Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah [OC] (4032x3024) - Author: amonson1984 on reddit ”
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museiums: “artist: sacrée frangine ”
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underwelmed: “photographer: ebony talijancich ”
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