Inside the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory there is an experiment underway that, if it works, will change the trajectory of our planet. On a tour a few years ago, I was shown around a two-story orb which is surrounded by a tangle of metal pipes, blue cables, red wires and yellow caution tape. It looks more like a set from Frankenstein than a cutting edge research center. The goal is an audacious one: heat plasma to 100 million degrees Celsius—hotter than the core of the Sun—to create enough pressure so that colliding nuclei will fuse and form helium. The US government defunded most of the research decades ago after realizing there were no military applications. Nonetheless, scientists have scraped together funding and kept their hopes alive. If it works, the resulting release of energy could fuel the entire world.
I was thinking about fusion energy in the wake of the Buffalo and Uvalde shootings. Guns use pressure and heat to set off a chain reaction for maximum impact. Trauma is like that, too. One person’s pain, under pressure, transforms to rage which, if ignited, can cause unfathomable suffering.
We are in the midst of a social experiment that isn’t going well.
What if, like the physicists working on fusion, we set about on an audacious experiment to use trauma as fuel for global healing?
This is a lofty idea, but it is based in real-world experiments that are small but have had some powerful results.
One such organization is All Kings, which uses sacred theater, rites of passage ceremonies, initiation rituals and somatic therapy to transform trauma among men who are returning from prison. In their words, “Every man involved in our project has come to heal, and so every man is a healer.”
There is a chain reaction when human trauma is released. You can see it for yourself in the stunning film called “The Work” that documents a four-day healing circle from which All Kings draws their inspiration.
In these healing circles, men who have gone through the program take other men emotionally “over the edge” until they release the trauma they have been holding for lifetimes. More than a dozen elders hold a laser focus on one man at a time. They bring emotional heat and pressure and the reaction is explosive — men weep, hug, and fall to the ground sobbing. One reviewer likened it to an exorcism.
These men who were responsible for a great deal of violence and harm from their past actions, become the healers who will hold space for the next circle of men.
It will require audacity and tenacity but it’s possible to bring healing circles into schools, churches and communities. Trauma doesn’t have to result in more trauma. AllKings and the men who are healing other men in prison have shown us otherwise.
FROM THE INSTITUTE OF PLEASURE STUDIES
Joe and I are honored to be a part of REAL-ATIONSHIPS: A FB Live Marathon to Create and Sustain Unshakable Love & E.rotic Awe tomorrow (Tuesday, May 31 at 1:30 PM EST. Join us at Noon EST to check out Kenya Stevens whose Venting Practice I’ve written about in the past and should be required for all humans on this planet. You can join by joining the FB group.
Relationship Tripping starts up again next week. If you and your partner are looking to transform yourselves and your relationship, join us for this six-week online program that will give you the tools you need to heal yourselves and one another. DM me for more info.
If you know anyone returning from prison who could use the support of a community of elders, please send them to AllKings. And please consider supporting them if you are able to do so.