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Gabor Maté in The Wisdom of Trauma (2021)

Review by b_velkova

The Wisdom of Trauma

1/10

The next big scale charlatan

Outrageous. Just outrageous. The next big scale charlatan. I was afraid he might disappoint but that's such an understatement of what he's doing.

Extreme narcissist and a cunning manipulator, Gabor Mate becomes a doctor to make himself needed by the ill and now has extended his dependents to virtually everybody because who isn't traumatized? His own definition couldn't be more inclusive: "For trauma to happen you don't need Second World War [...] You just need parents who are so alienated from their own gut feelings that they will let their infant cry without picking them up and that child is desperate for a relationship. That's all it takes."

Actually I agree with that and with a lot of the other stuff too. Yes, people disconnect from their feelings when they become overwhelming and develop all kinds of addictions (could be to drugs, alcohol, or food, but could also be to work, sports, or sex) to sustain the painless world they would prefer to live in. And, yes, authenticity means to stay in their pain instead.

And here comes the trick. Because nobody in their right mind would prefer the pain, a bigger reward must be promised. Salvation is possible, says the holy doctor, outside your trauma the world is actually truly painless, you just have to follow the path I'm showing you, from rebirthing to social revolution... Or otherwise, get cancer.

I deeply feel for the people who are filmed though, for they are so clearly residing at an even higher level of disconnection. Listening to their precious human stories told in pseudoscience terms truly breaks my heart. I almost lost my own story the same way and am still struggling to recover it.

The film is airing till the end of the week, watch it at your own discretion.
  • b_velkova
  • Oct 5, 2021

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