Originally written for the Lynn News, Thought for the Day
The internationally acclaimed medical doctor, Gabor Maté, is a bestselling author, teacher and public speaker whose pioneering compassionate work with people suffering from addictions and their causative underlying traumas, has been a very important voice in the development of global humanitarianism and compassion. Gabor was born in Hungary in 1944 of Jewish parents during the time of the domination of Nazism in Europe. Gabor says he was born into a traumatised world and a traumatised people, and as a result experienced early trauma himself.
He emigrated to Canada in 1956, worked as a teacher and then obtained a medical degree and became a physician. In his career, Gabor came to understand that there are a number of issues that need to be addressed in creating a stable, compassionate, healthier and sustainable world. These issues include supporting good nurturing parenting and secure and safe attachments for children in early life; creating better lifestyle and living conditions for people; lowering of stress and anxiety that creates nervous system activation and overwhelm, and teaching people to work with their emotional and psychological scars through a process of compassionate self-inquiry.
Gabor has made the bold assertion that trauma is endemic in human society, negatively impacting upon most of us, and perpetuated by a western materialistic agenda. He considers our current culture and society to be harmful to human good, of which he says:
…Illness in this society, physical or mental, they are not abnormalities. They are normal responses to an abnormal culture. This culture is abnormal when it comes to real human needs. And.. it is in the nature of the system to be abnormal, because if we had a society geared to meet human needs.. would we be destroying the Earth through climate change? Would we be putting extra burden on certain minority people? Would we be selling people a lot of goods that they don’t need, and, in fact, are harmful for them? Would there be mass industries based on manufacturing, designing and mass-marketing toxic food to people?…
As we look upon some of the massive problems facing humanity today, it is easy to lose hope, including the devastating loss of life in Ukraine, Gaza, Myanmar and many other countries; mass third world hunger and destitution; the growing inequality and poverty in western nations created by poor wages; the rising cost of food, energy and housing prices; the ecological crisis threatening our very future on the planet and already eroding our lands and oceans; the growing wealth of a minority at the expense of the majority; the duplicitous and dishonest politics we have seen paraded before us, and many, many more issues. Gabor Mate would point to the need for us to compassionately de-traumatise our world. He would suggest that we treat ourselves and others with compassion, and to firmly, but compassionately, hold accountable those in positions of power and privilege who exploit the world for selfish ends. With compassion we can heal. With compassion we can create narratives about ourselves and others – especially those whom we might judge as being “failures” “losers” “idiots”- and recognise our common humanity. We can appreciate that life is hard for us all and that we cannot know what it is like to walk in the shoes of another person.