Limbic Imprint and The Emergence of Behaviour and Violent Societies

How Society Normalises Dysfunctional Behaviour.
An optimistic view.

Limbic Imprinting at Birth and The Emergence of Dysfunctional Behaviour

”We come into this world wide-open to receiving love. When we do receive it, as our first primal experience, our nervous system is limbically imprinted with an undeniable rightness of being.”  Elena Tonetti-Vladimirova 

Limbic Imprint is the term used to describe the processes of experience 'writing' the neural networks , the connections within our brain, heart and body during our time in the womb, and in particular during birth, and often in the immediate aftermath of birth.*

That is to say that our rapidly growing neural systems record whatever occurs, and that then becomes the base pattern from which we will evolve. In babies this growth is incredibly rapid, in the region of 200,000 connections per minute being created. Being held in our mother’s loving arms, feeding from her breast and other sensations provide us with a natural sense of bliss and security which forms the neural networks that will be the loving base from which we grow into loving adults.

If our first impressions are anything less than loving (for example, painful, frightening or lonely), then those impressions will imprint as our valid experience of love, and of life itself. It will be immediately coded into our nervous system as the norm, our comfort zone, acting as a surrogate for love and nurturing, regardless of how undesirable the experience actually was.

As adults, we unconsciously, automatically recreate the conditions that were imprinted at birth and through early childhood. Research conducted by the pioneers of prenatal psychology, such as doctors Thomas Verny, David Chamberlain and William Emerson, shows that an overwhelming amount of physical conditions and behavioural disorders are in reality symptomatic of unresolved traumatic gestational experiences during pregnancy and complications during delivery.

This is compounded by how the child is related to as he or she grows. If the child’s symptoms of distress are misunderstood, and treated as ‘bad behaviour’ and subject to sanction, this deepens the problem, the child becomes identified as the problem and will in turn internalise that identification.

Fortunately, not ALL children exposed to this dynamic will be overburdened by it, and many do 'escape' the worst affects, either through their own efforts of if they meet what Alice Miller calls an 'enlightened witness'. However enough do not survive intact, and may become as adults less than empathic, and will be absorbed by the Power structure where they will be 'successful'. Others are afflicted with the symptoms of thier distress, and are demonised by the Power structures and used as scapegoats. All of which, is of course avoidable....

Imposed Societal Values and How They Emerge.

The psychology of any given society is revealed in how that society treats their children. The adult world is created in the womb, the cradle and throughout childhood.

If a child, or adult for that matter, for whatever reason, is traumatised, and is unable to resolve that trauma, they remain in the 'coping strategy' stage, that is to say they will shut down awareness of aspects of their experience and feeling. As survival strategy; coping is a useful temporary strategy, but becomes adverse if extended, and it is this extension of the suppression of vital information (what is alive in the person) that leads to a growing loss of self-empathy, which undermines the development of empathy.

This compounds the fear inherent in traumatic experiences, and leads to an unconscious drive to exert adverse control over others (including the environment). Any adverse control imposed on a natural organism will meet resistance, and that resistance becomes the focus of violence, applied to overcome that natural resistance.

When any individual or group in this condition builds a societal structure, those structures will contain expressions of the unresolved fear and the drive to adverse control. This is how Hierarchically Violent Societies have emerged. Such societies codify their psychology over time, and thus behaviours such as war, concentration of wealth, racism etc become normalised and institutionalised. They are therefore more willing to inflict trauma than other more empathic societies, who are vulnerable because they are less likely to engage in whole sale violence to meet their perceived needs. To heal this dynamic is now the single most crucial work ahead of us. 

Fortunately Nature is With Us.

This dynamic does not affect every child in the same way, and therefore many people do recover to some degree. Were it not so, then we would not notice the costs. There would not be people like you, like me, like the many that are outraged with the harms associated with the current status quo. We would all of us be 100% normalised to the abuse. The urge to grow, to live as an empathic, connected, sensing member of our families, communities as a part of our Earthly environment is perhaps the deepest, most naturally embedded drive of all.

There is also ample evidence to suggest that people afflicted with dysfunctional behaviour can be nurtured in ways that enable them to recover. Thus it is also possible for entire societies. If the will is there. It is a question of making a choice.

The Current Situation

The current situation, of wealth and power disparity, of widespread institutional violence, of environmental degradation with all the costs to real peoples lives associated, is the result of the interplay of the limbic imprint and imposed societal values.

We know all to well what the dry facts and statistics tell us. To change how our Society behaves and operates, we must understand its roots, and learn again how to live without adverse controls on our natural growth. We must address how we treat our children, part of which is personal, resolving how we ourselves were treated as children, and part of which is societal which is where we must engage in peaceful, determined and well informed direct action, collectively, to confront the current situation. They are all of a piece.

 * a similar process also applies in the aftermath of any serious trauma....

Resources :        

http://www.whatbabieswant.org- a well researched and powerful documentary

http://www.birthpsychology.com-web portal for the research of Thomas Verny, David Chamberlain and William Emerson

http://www.alice-miller.com– pre-eminent researcher and writer on the sociological influences on parenting and child 'rearing' and the processes of recovery

http://www.johntaylorgatto.com– award winning teacher, author of the definitive history of Compulsory State Education

Kindest regards

Corneilius

Do what you love, it's Your Gift to Universe

Common Sense

Ignore the ideologists, the dogmatists, the fear mongering divisive 'theorists' - stick to pure humane common sense.
ABUSE DOES NOT END ABUSE, IT NEVER HAS, IT ISN'T WORKING AND IT WILL NEVER WORK!

Occupy! NO FEAR!

Kindest regards

Corneilius

Do what you love, it's Your Gift to Universe

The roots of violence are clearly two fold :

The roots of violence are clearly two fold :

1. the disruption of the natural, biologically mandated child-mother bonding processes that occur, in utero, at birth and in early infancy.

2. the cultural or societal conditions of life for the people in that society, which are largely determined by Power.

In the former the fullest support for attachment parenting is crucial, in the latter Social Polices that are informed by what we now know to be true about the development of empathy, the disruption of the child-mother bonding process, the long term adverse effects of unresolved Trauma, of which Historical Trauma is possibly the largest affector.

We know that income inequality, war, adverse religious dogma, indoctrination all generate a Societal lack of empathy and must therefore be confronted.

I am working on a book 'Natural Child, Natural Society' which outlines the reasons why these processes exist, which will join the dots, so to speak in such manner as to present an opportunity for all parents to engage with their own children as Natural Children, to also heal any unresolved issues they might have and to equip activists across a wide range of issues with the same skills, because any activist who has been unable to resolve their own attachment issues will merely create other forms of control, which will replicate that which they seek to address.

The psychology of any given society is revealed in how that society treats their children. The adult world is created in the cradle.

If a child, or adult for that matter, for whatever reason, is traumatised, and is unable to resolve that trauma, they remain in the 'coping strategy' stage, and this leads to a loss of self-empathy, which undermines the development of empathy.

This compounds the fear inherent in traumatic experiences, and leads to a desire to exert adverse control over others (including the environment). Any adverse control imposed on a natural organism will meet resistance, and that resistance becomes the focus of violence, applied to overcome that natural resistance.

When any individual or group in this condition builds a societal structure, those structures will contain expressions of the unresolved fear. This is how Hierarchically violent Societies have evolved. Such societies codify their psychology over time, and thus behaviours such as war, concentration of wealth, racism etc become normalised.

To heal this situation is now the single most crucial work ahead of us.

Kindest regards

Corneilius

Do what you love, it's Your Gift to Universe

Open Letter to ALL Irish Presidential Candidates

Open Letter to ALL Irish Presidential Candidates

info@michaeldhiggins.ie

mary@marydavis.ie

info@danaforpresident.ie

together@seangallagher.com

admin@thepeoplespresident.ie – Martin McGuinness

Gay Mitchell, via his website email

Info@davidnorris4president.com

October 2011

A Chara,

One of the most important issues for Irish Society as a whole, a thread that runs through almost every issue, is the welfare and safety of our children.

I write as an interested Irish Citizen and as a Survivor.

The question is this : Is Ireland a safe place for ALL the children, and are their futures being protected and nurtured in ways that will meet all their natural needs as growing people, who will in turn become the adults who craft their society?

With this in mind, we can consider the following issues : Institutional Abuse, Historical Trauma, The Environment, State Education, Spirituality, Ethics….

The story of Institutional Abuse is no-where near resolving itself. Out of 26 Dioceses, over a two decades of Survivors witness Testimony and action in the courts and elsewhere, only 4 have ‘reported’ on this, and none of these have been fully comprehensive, nor have we seen a full and frank disclosure by the State or by The Church as to the extent of the abuse culture, the identification of perpetrators nor are there reliable support services in place with a proven track record of healing trauma.

Even still there is resistance to what is needed here, from the Church, from within various State Institutions and from within the community at large, especially those who have allegiances to the Church, and those who in one way or another share some responsibility for the neglect of Survivors.

Historical trauma (HT) is cumulative emotional and psychological wounding, over the lifespan and across generations, emanating from massive group trauma.

Sinead O’Connor alluded to this in her song ‘Famine’. There is clear evidence that suggests the corruption and dysfunction in Irish Society has some of it’s roots in Historical Trauma. This is not to provide and excuse for abuse, though it is a call to evoke an understanding of the dynamics and roots of dysfunctional behaviours so as to heal and to prevent further dysfunction.

The Office of Irish President is a public voice from which this element of the story of the Irish people could be advocated, indeed it ought to be a primary concern, given the massive failures of DeValera, and subsequent Presidents in this regard.

As regards the Environment, that is to say the space within which our children’s children will live, it’s clear that there is much work to be done to bring to an end the massive use of pesticides, herbicides, pollutants, NKP fertilisers, the use of non-renewable ‘resources’ and the re-habilitation of land use and occupation. To the degree that all these affect the welfare of children, such as the presence of DDT in mothers breast milk, the presence of pesticides in the foetus these activities could be described as child abuse.

As regards State Education, we have to look at the homogenisation of childhood experience, the processes of indoctrination, secular or religious, and the fact that whilst many do benefit, so many more do not benefit, because Compulsory State Education is not geared to respond to the natural variation and diversity of children’s behaviour and perception, and that it undermines their natural autonomy by refusing to afford them opportunities to develop that autonomy. The use of Ritalin and other similar ‘medications’ is clearly adverse to children’s welfare.

To tell an adult what to think, with sanctions applied for any reasonable dissent, is rightfully felt or sensed by all adults as abusive. Why then is it the case that this is considered appropriate for children?

And with regard to Spirituality and Ethics, unless empathy lies at the core of both these areas, they become adverse to the health of any community.

The behaviour of the Church reveals this to be the case. There are, of course many other examples of this adversity – fraud, corruption in politics, war as a tool of State policy etc etc…

I write to you to ask that you declare your views on these crucial matters, aware that you will have no statuary power as such, compared to the Dail and the Legislature, yet nonetheless you will have a platform from which to urge change, to inspire a deeper and more relevant discourse, and that this ought to be your primary concern and responsibility in your role as President of The Irish State, as a statesperson representing the hopes and concerns of the Irish people at home and abroad, noting that you will of course, be remunerated by the Irish taxpayer.

Yours sincerely

Corneilius Crowley
3 Sherwood Road,
South Harrow

London HA2 8AW

Can Christians safely counsel and advise Survivors of Clerical Abuse?

This is a crucially important question.

All over the world Christians, both clerical and lay, have been put in place by ill advised State Authorities and by the Church itself,  ostensibly to 'protect' children, to 'advise' and 'counsel' Survivors, in spite of their inherent conflict of interest. 

And in some cases these people have turned out to be abusers themselves. There are many such cases.

There are also a lot of documented cases of Survivors being further traumatised by calls to 'come closer to God', by Christianised advice and counselling that seeks to 'reconcile' the Survivor with the Church, where Survivors who are believers have gone in good faith, and finding no genuine honesty, have in desperation, taken their own lives or descended into long term depression and illness.

Not to mention outright adversarial approaches taken towards those who come forwards with allegations and or proof of abuse.

The Cloyne Report from Ireland exposes this in some detail.

Thus solving the 'problem' the Church has - a dead or 'reconciled' Survivor will not speak out against the Church. And a re-traumatised Survivor is less likely to mount a concerted campaign to expose what is happening, and may well give up, and may submit, under undue pressure, to 'confidentiality arrangements' linked to cash settlements.

This pattern is being observed and recorded in America, Canada, Australia, Ireland, across Europe, Asia and Africa.

It has to be exposed in full, for it constitutes yet another level of abuse, of trauma, of politicing with the lives of Survivors.

Kindest regards

Corneilius

Do what you love, it's Your Gift to Universe

David Cameron, the Rioters and the Blame Game : A question of societal dynamics and scapegoating.

If two people with the same fear based hang-up form a relationships that relationship will have that hang-up built into.

If ten people with the same fear based hang-up create a societal structure that societal structure will have that hang-up built into.

If those people have children, then their children will grow up in an environment that writes that psychology into their brains and bodies, through experience.

This dynamic is also linked to traumatic events, be they natural disasters or the effects of war, mass starvation, invasion, colonisation or personal events within an individual life. Furthermore, it is important to understand the long term affects of such traumatic events on communities and whole societies.

"Historical trauma (HT) is cumulative emotional and psychological wounding, over the lifespan and across generations, emanating from massive group trauma experiences. The historical trauma response (HTR) is a constellation of features in reaction to this trauma.

The HTR may include substance abuse as a (normalised) vehicle for attempting to numb the pain associated with trauma. The HTR often includes other types of self-destructive behavior, suicidal thoughts and gestures, depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, anger, and difficulty recognizing and expressing emotions. Associated with HTR is historical unresolved grief that accompanies the trauma.^[1]"


Historical trauma is an similar in nature to intergenerational trauma, which is the phenomenon that where a trauma an individual experiences in an earlier generation can have effects that reach into the lives of future generations

Imagine then what happens when it is not ten, but hundred of thousands and millions of people who build or form part of a hang-up based societal structure. Imagine the adverse affects, for example of the Christian Faiths teaching on masturbation, which is a natural and healthy expression of sexuality, which is then turned into something shameful. Imagine the confusion, fear and shame that arises when that many people are taught that their natural bodily functions are something to be ashamed of.

Thus those people will see that hang-up (or any series of hang-ups or fears) as normal, and will codify their compensatory behaviours related to their insecurity as their Laws and Morals.

This is the also the psychological basis of the consumer culture, a secret very carefully screened from the consumer, a secret that was also the foundation of the work of Edward Bernays, the inventor of the 'art' of Public Relations, the science of creating and selling an image.

He knew that many people are insecure, and that they could be manipulated to seek relief from that insecurity through compensatory behaviours, and that as long as the insecurity remained, they would continue to buy what was being marketed - be it a product or an idea. This is the secret of what is called 'aspirational marketing. And of propaganda.

Such people, or groups of people, will also reject and oppress the natural child that says "NO!" and will demonise those adults within their structure who resist or expose the behaviours or psychology that is imposed by such societal structures or who point out the true nature of the fear or the adverse affects and costs of the societal structures that dominate their society.

Understanding how Post Trauma Behaviour evolves, especially when it is not resolved, is essential to de-coding the societal structures we are attempting to change. This also applies to dealing with our own personal stories.

A Trauma event usually causes pain and fear, and the need to get away, to be safe, to cope often over rides the ability to resolve that trauma. This is the fight or flight mode.

” THE ORDINARY RESPONSE TO ATROCITIES is to banish them from consciousness. Certain violations of the social compact are too terrible to utter aloud: this is the meaning of the word unspeakable.

         Atrocities, however, refuse to be buried. Equally as powerful as the desire to deny atrocities is the conviction that denial does not work. Folk wisdom is filled with ghosts who refuse to rest in their graves until their stories are told. Murder will out. Remembering and telling the truth about terrible events are prerequisites both for the restoration of the social order and for the healing of individual victims.

         The conflict between the will to deny horrible events and the will to proclaim them aloud is the central dialectic of psychological trauma. People who have survived atrocities often tell their stories in a highly emotional, contradictory, and fragmented manner that undermines their credibility and thereby serves the twin imperatives of truth-telling and secrecy. When the truth is finally recognized, survivors can begin their recovery. But far too often secrecy prevails, and the story of the traumatic event surfaces not as a verbal narrative but as a symptom. “

source : Judith Herman “Trauma and Recovery”

If the trauma is not resolved, then the person or community traumatised must cope with the situation and the feelings, and coping entails suppressing the feelings that might overwhelm, which leads to the need to control those people involved so that no-one brings those feelings up, thus maintain the status quo …..

As such people or communities continue to cope, they re-write their own neurology and behaviour to normalise to that coping strategy.

Justification and rationalisation of the need to control then becomes all the more likely, and in times these justifications and rationalisations become structured into how the affect people live their lives, and over time will become codified as the ‘norm’ for that group.

In order to break the cycle, to resolve the trauma, empathy is essential, a large portion of which is self-empathy. Self empathy is the ability to accurately sense one’s feelings and the meaning of one’s experience. This is crucial to developing empathy for others. As I understand myself, so it becomes easier to understand others. And that understanding must come from within, from an honest and clear self reflection – it cannot be imposed, taught, medicated, analysed externally.

It can be facilitated, as Alice Millers describes it, when dealing with the adverse affects of child abuse, by an ‘enlightened witness’. Someone who truly understands because they themselves “know well of the painful stories of their own childhoods and can respectfully and effectively deal with the suffering of their patients. They will not preach them forgetting and forgiveness out of their own fear; they will know that ALL of their patients suffer from the effects of the denial of having been” traumatised.

Thus as David Cameron and other Authorities blame the  rioters for “a complete lack of responsibility, a lack of proper parenting, a lack of proper upbringing, a lack of proper ethics, a lack of proper morals” and wilfully ignores the prevailing conditions that give rise to so  much pain and trauma in our society that are directly linked to the intentional unequal distribution of resources,  to historical intergenerational abuse, he seeks to scapegoat  the weaker section of community,  the poor, the rioters, the parents, and he seeks to demonise them, thus bringing along all those whose hang-ups align neatly  with his and by this he protects the system of inequality which he represents.

He points one finger, with three pointing right back.

“a complete lack of responsibility," - he refuses to take responsibility for his part in a system that creates extreme wealth at one end and extreme poverty at the other.

"a lack of proper parenting" - he refuses to address the intense stress on parenting that arises from a system that REQUIRES both parents to work to serve the economy as consumers.

"a lack of proper upbringing" - same again

"a lack of proper ethics" - his selling weapons to the Egyptian Military during the uprising and afterwards his silence on the Military repression now underway is but one example of his disregard for ethics of any kind.
.
"a lack of proper morals” - the morality of the Wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Israel, Libya is not in question fro David Cameron, revealing his utter lack of morality.

This is not to say that the rioters behaviour can be justified, rationalised or deemed acceptable – it is to say that to address it requires that it is understood in the context within which it occurred. ALL the elements of this dynamic must be equal before the Law, before the people and that is blatantly not the case. Honesty is the root of all positive change.

As long as leaders and Institutions protect the codified trauma based controls, in effect maintain the denial, the ‘coping strategy’ which is their fear, the conditioning processes that are an articulation of their fear and mistrust of the human being and of life itself, there will be people who accept that control, be it by sublimation of their own autonomy, acquiescence through resignation,  or naked self interest, and there will be people will resist or react in whatever manner they can – and yet the only possibility of liberation for all concerned is honesty. Ruthless self honesty.

To expect such leaders to do otherwise is to misunderstand who they are and what they represent.

Sadly, there are so many examples of this suppressive dynamic operating throughout the Dominant Culture  - Civilisation - that a listing of them would be one of the largest books ever written. These dynamics form the greater part of all Hierarchically Violent Societies.... be they the 'civilised' or the rare 'headhunter' hunter gatherers (who are used to stereotype ALL hunter Gatherers....).

Nonetheless it is vital that this dynamic be understood as a pattern, because then it can be observed and emphatically revealed wherever it occurs, be it on the personal level, within small communities, within Institutions or across entire societies. This means that the utterances of Power, of abusers, can be de-constructed and countered as and when they arise.

Kindest regards

Corneilius

Do what you love, it's Your Gift to Universe

Self Empathy and Power.

Having studied parenting for some time, I note that parenting occurs in a context determined by  very powerful Societal Influences which are masked - the Vatican harbours abusers to protect it's status (even though we KNOW that many tens of millions of children over the past 150 years have been abused) : States operate 'secret services' that utilise organised criminal networks, launch wars under false pretexts : Schools and education systems use reward/punishment as a coercive technique : Marketing uses psychological techniques known as 'aspirant' advertising which key in on known psychological insecurities in the target audience : all claim to be 'beneficial' and refuse to address the adverse affects of their behaviour. When confronted they mitigate, spin and scapegoat.

A classic denial situation.

A profound lack of empathy.

I have outlined a process that is simple to comprehend.

Let's start with an infant. Take for example the practice of training a baby to sleep alone, by letting them cry themselves to sleep.

The infants needs are not met, and the infant has to 'cope' by ignoring his or her feelings: this process leads directly to a loss of self empathy, because one cannot shut down ANY feeling without compromising the entire feeling ability, and of course it follows that this leads to a loss of empathy for others. Because children's sensitivity and constitutions are massively variable, some survive with some empathy intact, some recover, some 'adapt' and others go crazy....

It must be said here that letting a child cry themselves to sleep is but one of a myriad of practices Society induces that have the same adverse affect.

Nonetheless, if this process occurs to the majority, then that lack of empathy becomes part of the societal norm.

Furthermore this induced lack of empathy leads to a lack of felt connection, and for an infant that is a disconnection from that which nurtures in the natural sense..... this leads directly to fear and that fear drives the urge to over-control. ANY control imposed on any natural organism will generate resistance, and this is where violence enters into the picture.

When any person or population endures a trauma, they will also have to cope, (by suppressing feelings, emotions and memories) and if they cannot resolve they will remain in the coping mode.

Any societal structure they build will have those elements of fear and control built into them.

This is the modern Institutional World, as it was the ancient 'civilisations'. Most Institutional Religions utilise processes that disrupt the natural mother-child bonding. They KNOW what they are doing.

They have studied this for many thousands of years....

James Prescott, Alice Miller, Bowlby and others have mapped out apsects of this.

What we HAVE to recognise is that there are influences in Society that apply this as a technique to embed their control. This is difficult for most to face up to. Nonetheless, it's absolutely essential that we do.

Kindest regards

Corneilius

Do what you love, it's Your Gift to Universe

My letter published in the Examiner Paper, Ireland 

sent to all UK media and the NY times..

A caring society?

Friday, September 23, 2011

To the Editor,

As a survivor of institutional abuse I would like to clarify something regarding recent press commentary concerning the relationship between the Irish State and The Vatican.

It’s not merely a matter of observing the law, as quoted of Mr Gilmore, but of the inherent duty of care to all our children, which is emergent in each and every human being. Children deserve to be fully nurtured, such that they are recognised as equals, even if smaller in size, and protection from abuse is but one part of that dynamic.

This is less about the relationship between the Irish State and The Vatican than it is about the relationship between the adult world and the children’s world, and in the end, it is about whether or not our society is truly nurturant.

Corneilius Crowley

Read more: http://examiner.ie/opinion/letters/a-caring-society-168440.html#ixzz1ZSRf1vjl

Kindest regards

Corneilius

Do what you love, it's Your Gift to Universe

London Metropolitan Police Force Coercive Threat to Guradian to reveal 'Sources' ....

Letter to UK media....

To the Editor,

Regarding the recent move by the Metropolitan Police Force to coerce the Guardian to reveal it's sources' in the NOTW hacking story, may I suggest a solution:

ALL Whistle Blowers need to be protected by Law, and by Society, that is to say, by the people and by the Institutions that purport to serve the people. With the severest of sanctions imposed on those who threaten whistle blowers in ANY manner..... and for those that blow the whistle falsely.

This meets the requirements of Justice, Public Interest, transparency, honesty and integrity, and cannot impede anyone's human rights.

yours truly

Corneilius Crowley

etc, etc....

Do what you love, it's Your Gift to Universe