Tag Archives: healing

Evangelicals and Trump’s Redemption: A Critical Perspective

General and Miscellaneous, Political Applications, ,

While many evangelicals have endorsed Donald Trump for president, their support likely undermines his chances for spiritual redemption. During the waning days of the 2024 presidential election, Trump reveals his true colors – that of a crass and spiteful lost soul. Addicted to power and adulation, this false prophet cloaks himself in the American flag and wields the Christian cross. MAGA followers profess blind allegiance, while foes ridicule and vilify him. In my opinion, his redemption can only come through repentance – and how often have you heard him express remorse?

A Recovery Program

As practiced in 12-step recovery programs, redemption involves a searching and fearless moral inventory, a humble confession of wrongdoings, a willingness to mend one’s ways, and a genuine attempt to make amends to the injured. Absent these steps, Trump cannot find true redemption. He apparently needs to hit rock bottom before even considering this journey. His continuing popularity among the MAGA crowd distracts him from this option. For him to achieve spiritual awakening, his presidential campaign must first fail. Then, his adoring fans, his political apologists and enablers, and his ridiculing critics all need to stand down. Only then might this prodigal son pursue redemption in earnest.

The Slim Prospects for Trump’s Redemption

As a retired psychologist who worked in substance abuse, I have come to respect and admire those who have taken such tortuous journeys. While Charles Colson apparently found redemption in prison for his Watergate involvement, I’m not that hopeful for Trump. We might just witness the proverbial camel squeezing through the eye of a needle before that happens. So, one final question for devout Christian Trump supporters before voting: Are you going to jeopardize his potential salvation by condoning his abusive behavior through voting for him?

Addressing Our Role

Whether or not Trump undertakes such a spiritual quest, the rest of us can begin the healing process. Authoritarian stances such as his do not occur in a vacuum; rather, they develop in relation to others. We can only do our parts not to feed into the toxic interactions that support his wayward wanderings. Here, my articles on vicious cycle patterns in relationships can help us to recognize these unhealthy patterns. And even if our efforts have no effect on Trump, they may help to overcome the polarization that divides us. Then, we might find compassion for one another, despite our differences.

The Persecutor-Victim-Rescuer Cycle

Currently, Trump attains power by championing the cause of his loyal followers, whom he identifies as the victims of an oppressive regime. This mobilizes the classic Rescuer-Victim-Persecutor cycle, identified by Steven Karpman and addressed in my previous posts. This pattern is reinforced by yet another version, in which Trump proclaims his own victimhood at the hands of the Deep State, thus currying sympathy from his supporters. And finally, his promise of retribution for unfair treatment offers another version of the Persecutor role, that of the Vindicator. His alternation among these roles makes him a more elusive target for his critics and bolsters support among his followers. This description provides an admittedly dense summary of the relationship dynamics around Trump. Here, a review of my previous article, Vicious Cycles in Relationships 2.0, may provide a helpful background.

Looking Within to Break the Cycle

To break out of such vicious cycle patterns we must take an honest look at ourselves, rather than focusing on others. After all, we are the only ones over whom we have any direct control. For example, do we assume a judgmental attitude toward others, thus adopting the Critic role, a somewhat tamer version of the Persecutor? Instead, we might express our disapproval of Trump’s speech or actions, yet without attacking his character. We might also seek to understand his Followers, rather than dismissing their viewpoints out-of-hand. This is just one example of how we might modify our approach. While it may not break the cycle, it might just lessen the intensity of the polarization. Although too late to impact the course of the election, it may promote the needed healing in the aftermath.

COPING WITH REALITY THROUGH ENCHANTMENT: THE HEALING POWER OF MYTH

Stories and Fables, Stress, , , ,

by BOB DANIEL, Ph.D.

Long before psychotherapy was invented, healers have been using stories to help their people cope with life’s adversities. More recently, storytellers such as Joseph Campbell, Robert Bly, and Clarissa Pinkola Estes have demonstrated the power of myth for attaining personal transformation. Fannie Flagg dramatized this process in Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe. Here, the elderly Mrs. Threadgoode inspired Evelyn, a dowdy, submissive housewife, by recounting her family tale. Through this encounter, Evelyn was able to discover her own inner strength (Towanda!).

Many such tales have been recorded and preserved as folklore. Countless others, though, are simply passed down orally from generation to generation. Many of these secret treasures risk oblivion in our mass culture, much as medicinal herbs are threatened with extinction from industrial society’s denudation of the tropical rain forests. I wish to share a particular tale from the Daniel family which has proven quite helpful for coping with stress and avoiding the pitfalls of “codependency” in helping others with their problems. So here’s the story of “The Quicksand Beds of Caramba Flats,” as told to me by my Uncle Lester:

The Quicksand Beds of Caramba FlatsSinking in Quicksand

“For generations, since long before the Europeans invaded the New World, people have been drawn to the quicksand beds of Caramba Flats. Not that anyone actually wanted to get stuck there, mind you. For miles around, as far as the eye could see, there is only desert, with little life. But here there is water, with its promise of restoration and renewal. Thus, people have sought out these potholes of clear, cool water that pocket the sandy beds. The Native Americans were well aware of the hazards of the quicksand. Yet through their caution and reverence for nature, they could reliably retrieve the water without being sucked under.

“For the Europeans it was quite another matter. Steeped in generations of civilization, they had lost touch with the ways of nature. They had neither the wariness nor the respect that such natural phenomena warrant. After days on the arid plains, they would catch sight of the shimmering water, and it was no mirage. Then they would dash down the nearby dunes and plunge headlong toward the pools. Before they knew it they were chest-deep in quicksand. More often than not, they would panic. And the more they panicked, the quicker the slurry would suck them under. Often, for just long enough to drown before their limp corpses float back up to the surface. From such instances came the lore of quicksand as the great gobbler of life.

“Now, I include these grizzly details because they convey a tragic irony. Namely, we are lighter than this mixture of sand and water. As such, we naturally float in it. Only by struggling and thrashing about do people dig themselves in deeper. 

“With so many having lost their lives in these beds, authorities posted wardens to rescue the unsuspecting pioneers. While knowledgeable about quicksand, the first wardens had little understanding of rescue techniques. Legend has it that several early wardens had lost their lives, pulled under by the very victims they were trying to save. Tales provide graphic details of  desperate victims clutching at the wardens and climbed up their backs. Thus, they submerged the hapless wardens, drowning them. With no printing presses there at the time, it is now impossible to separate history from myth.

“Whether these tales are actually true, later wardens developed rescue techniques to avoid the desperate clutches of the victims. Rather than venturing into the slurry themselves, they heaved ropes out to the reckless pioneers. Then, they anchored the other end of the rope to a boulder or a stump. This measure allowed the victims to pull themselves out with their own strength.

“Now it would be imprudent to say that the settlers actually tamed Caramba Flats. After all, nothing natural can be truly tamed. Still, they developed a respect for those quicksand beds that allowed them to establish the nearby community of Caramba Flats, right out there in the middle of the arid wasteland.”

The Moral

Now, my Uncle Lester is not the sort who leaves it to your imagination to fill in the moral of a story. So at the end he’d pause and lean over to say, “Now, Bob, I want you to remember this story whenever you feel overwhelmed, up to your neck in muck, so to speak. Just lean back, take a deep breath, and say to yourself, ‘Relax, no reason to worry . It’s only quicksand. I can float in it, and someone will come along to throw me a rope – maybe sooner if I holler.'”

And then he’d cock his finger and add, “Now if you see one of your friends thrashing around in the muck, so to speak, don’t you go jumpin’ in after ’em. Just remember – all you gotta do is throw ’em a rope. They can pull themselves out.”

Tall tales can be true!

Bob Daniel, Ph.D. is a retired clinical psychologist who has been practicing in Virginia Beach for over thirty years. He has worked in private practice with adults with mental health and substance abuse issues. While he has been accused of being an unabashed prevaricator, Dr. Daniel insists that his stories are 100% true, even if not factually accurate. Other such true tales include THE ESKIMO WHO LOST HIS ART AND SOUL and THE MAN WITH A MONKEY ON HIS BACK: A STORY OF THE STRUGGLE WITH SELF-BLAME. Still other tales in the “Stories and Fables” category are elaborations of older folk tales.