“I’m having trouble putting this book down.”

–Mike Zonta, BB editor

Trauma and Recovery: The Aftermath of Violence – From Domestic Abuse to Political Terror

Judith Lewis Herman

When Trauma and Recovery was first published in 1992, it was hailed as a groundbreaking work. In the intervening years, Herman’s volume has changed the way we think about and treat traumatic events and trauma victims.

In a new afterword, Herman chronicles the incredible response the book has elicited and explains how the issues surrounding the topic have shifted within the clinical community and the culture at large. Trauma and Recovery brings a new level of understanding to a set of problems usually considered individually. Herman draws on her own cutting-edge research in domestic violence as well as on the vast literature of combat veterans and victims of political terror, to show the parallels between private terrors such as rape and public traumas such as terrorism. The book puts individual experience in a broader political frame, arguing that psychological trauma can be understood only in a social context.

Meticulously documented and frequently using the victims’ own words as well as those from classic literary works and prison diaries, Trauma and Recovery is a powerful work that will continue to profoundly impact our thinking.

About the author

Judith Lewis Herman

Judith Lewis Herman is an author, psychiatrist, researcher, and teacher whose work has dealt with understanding and treating the effects of traumatic stress and incest.

(Goodreads.com)

MZ: Can there be being without consciousness of it?

ChatGPT: Yes — at least most philosophical traditions would say there can be being without consciousness of it. But the question opens one of the deepest divisions in philosophy.

At the ordinary level, it seems obvious:

• mountains existed before humans,
• stars burned before life evolved,
• your liver functions while you sleep,
• other people continue existing when you stop thinking about them.

So being appears to exceed consciousness.

But some philosophers have challenged that assumption.

For example, George Berkeley argued that existence is inseparable from perception:

esse est percipi — “to be is to be perceived.”

He resolved the problem by saying everything is continuously perceived by God.

Later, phenomenologists like Edmund Husserl asked a subtler question:

We can talk about “being without consciousness,” but can we ever know being except as it appears within consciousness?

That shifts the issue from:

• whether reality exists independently,
  to:
• whether independent reality can ever be accessed outside experience.

Then thinkers like Martin Heidegger distinguished between:

• particular beings (objects),
  and
• Being itself — the mysterious fact that anything exists at all.

For Heidegger, humans are the beings for whom Being becomes a question. Consciousness doesn’t necessarily create being, but it opens a clearing in which being can appear.

There’s also a mystical side to your question.

Some traditions suggest:

• consciousness is not a property inside beings,
• rather, beings arise within consciousness.

Certain forms of:

• Vedanta,
• Buddhism,
• idealism,
• and mysticism
  move in this direction.

Others argue the opposite:

• consciousness is a late evolutionary product emerging from unconscious matter.

So the debate becomes:

Is consciousness inside the universe,
or is the universe inside consciousness?

Your question touches the exact fault line between:

• materialism,
• idealism,
• phenomenology,
• and mysticism.

And there’s another twist:
Even if being exists without consciousness,
can “being” as a concept even arise without some conscious entity asking the question?

That may be why the problem never fully goes away.

Pierre de Maere Apr 15, 2026 Ecouter le titre : https://PierreDeMaere.lnk.to/jepensea… En concert à l’AB (Bruxelles) et à L’Olympia (Paris) : https://pierredemaere.lnk.to/Bruxelle… En tournée : https://pierredemaere.lnk.to/tour Réalisatrice : Edie Blanchard Concept et direction artistique : Jack Rexhausen Production : HK Corp Productrice : Nora Mimoun Producteurs exécutifs : Baptiste Farinazzo Producteur Octopods Belgique : Benjamin Honoré Directrice de production : Astrid Issaverdens Régisseur général : Florent Mola Régisseurs : Corrado Matta Mascia, Gael Marion 1ère assistante réalisation : Louise Blachère 2e assistant réalisation : Gaspard Magain Directeur de la photographie : Gwendal Peron 1er assistant caméra : Romain Roobaert 2e assistant caméra : Thomas Schohier Chef machiniste : Jim Goosens Machiniste : Arnaud Berghmans Steadicam : Charly Vandedrinck Chef électricien : Theo Fernandez Électriciens : Syméon Verbeke, Axel Meernout Stagiaires électricité : Maxime Husson, Lou Lange Lagadec, Tadéo Knockaert Cheffe décoratrice : Vanessa Van De Werve Assistant décor : Baptiste Rinaldi Stylisme figurants & rôles : Sarah Josis Styliste : Jonathan Hayden Habilleur : Pol Fasy Chef coiffeur : Christian Degeynst Chef maquilleuse : Maeli Daubioul Hair & Make-up (Pierre de Maere) : Fabien Giambona Chorégraphe : Chiara Corbetta Chef monteur : Jérémie Brivet Etalonnage : Inès Henry-Manceau Casting / Interprétation : Justine Cascaro Alexia Lobo Thibaut Woitrin Arsène Woitrin Gwendal Schroeder Prunelle Irène NHGB Zhu Wenjen Dimitri Carême Isabella Ciaccia Angélique Sangermano Ivan De Saedeleer Marie-Anne Eloy Jean-Claude Van Houten Corinne Olix Jacqueline Planche Emilie Debroux Francesco Capacci Noah Flabat-Chantrain Wendy Derwidué Théa De Boeck Musiciens : Batterie : Olympia Boyle Guitare : Gaston Falisse Clavier : Maximilien Vizzini Basse : Thibaut Woitrin Remerciements : Bvlgari Fursac, Paul Smith, Prada Je pense à vous Composition : Pierre de Maere, Xavier de Maere, Jean Castel Texte : Pierre de Maere, Elodie Charmensat Guitare : Benjamin Porraz Basse : Vincent Degosse Claviers : Alexis Croisé Enregistré par Xavier de Maere Mixé par Xavier de Maere Produit par Pierre de Maere, Xavier de Maere, Jean Castel Mastering: Remy Lebbos (P) & (C) Wagram Music – Cinq7. Editions : Wagram Publishing.

TranslationEnglish

I’m thinking of you

I come and go, it’s building up
And I’m thinking of you
All guys and girls my age
Look at me like I’m raging
I’ll play with or without you
Oh, I don’t care
I envision all your pretty faces
It puts me in a strange state
I don’t need anything at all
It’s between me and me
I come and go, it’s building up
And I’m thinking of you
I don’t need anything
But my six-shooter
I come and go, it’s building up
And I’m thinking of you
Life, fire, blood
I control it all
I’m the idol and the fanboy
There’s no role I just can’t play
I have a knack for disguises
Deep down
I have a hand in details
I choose the rhythm and movements
All guys and girls my age
Look at me like I’m raging
People say I’m crazy
And that it’ll pass
I’ve got a fever all over
It burns in my fingertips
I don’t need anything at all
It’s between me and me
I come and go, it’s building up
And I’m thinking of you
I don’t need anything
But my six-shooter
I come and go, it’s building up
And I’m thinking of you
Life, fire, blood
I control it all
There’s a kind of poetry in my actions
There’s a hint of vendetta in my actions
There’s a kind of poetry in my actions
There is, there is, there is, there is
I come and go, it’s building up
And I’m thinking of you
I don’t need anything
But my six-shooter
I come and go, it’s building up
And I’m thinking of you
Life, fire, blood
I control it all
I come and go, it’s building up
And I’m thinking of you
I don’t need anything
But my six-shooter
I come and go, it’s building up
And I’m thinking of you
Life, fire, blood
I control it all

“The happiness or unhappiness of a man does not depend upon the amount of property or gold he owns. Happiness or misery is in one’s soul. A wise man feels at home in every country. The whole universe is the home of a noble soul.” Democritus (c.460 – c.370 BCE) Greek Philosopher

AN OPPORTUNITY FOR DAILY REFLECTION BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE SCHOOL OF PRACTICAL PHILOSOPHY

(Contributed by Steve Hines)

RogiDream Feb 10, 2016 This is a combination of 2 poems made by Charles Bukowski music: The last samurai OST #4 Writer: Charles Bukowski

(Contributed by Gwyllm Llwydd)

\San Francisco Symphony Mar 19, 2020 The Fifth Symphony of Dmitri Shostakovich is the story of a fall from grace and redemption. Shostakovich was the golden boy composer until, virtually overnight, his patriotism was questioned and condemned in the most public way possible. Written in 1937 in Stalinist Russia, the Fifth Symphony marked his triumphant return. But the question remains: what did the composer mean to say with this enigmatic music? In scenes filmed in St. Petersburg and Moscow, Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony offer clues to unlocking Shostakovich’s musical secrets and make the case for how this symphony may have saved his life.

Frequency: The Secret of Everything May 11, 2026 A film about who we are, what we’re made of, and how we can harness frequency to transform the world. Screenings and updates at TheFrequencyMovie.com Filmmakers Kaia Roman and Zappy Zapolin investigate emerging frequency technologies alongside leading voices, including Dr. Joe Dispenza, Bruce H. Lipton, Gregg Braden, Lynne McTaggart, Veda Austin, Michael Beckwith, and many more. The film opens a conversation at the intersection of science, consciousness, and human potential. © Copyright The Frequency Lab, 2026

(Contributed by Steve Hines)

Forgotten Eras / Heavensvoicetoday Apr 24, 2026 The word Jesus used when he said “Our Father” was not “Father.” It was Abwoon — an Aramaic word that has no direct English translation and was never meant to describe a man on a throne. This video goes line by line through the Lord’s Prayer in the original Aramaic — the language Jesus actually spoke — and shows how every single line means something fundamentally different from what you were taught. “Hallowed be thy name” is not praise. It is an instruction to become a clear vessel. “Thy kingdom come” is not a future hope. It is a present recognition. “Forgive us our trespasses” is not a request for pardon. It is a request to untie the knots. Three translations — Aramaic to Greek, Greek to Latin, Latin to English — each made by institutions with specific interests — turned a consciousness map into a prayer of submission. This video does not tell you what to believe. It shows you what was there before the translations. What you do with it is yours. ???? The forgotten teachings, original Aramaic prayers, and sacred scrolls that never survived translation → [LINK] ???? Subscribe to Forgotten Eras for weekly recoveries of what was buried. ???? Tell me in the comments: which line hit you hardest?
Forgotten Eras recovers teachings, prayers, and sacred texts that were buried, mistranslated, or deliberately removed from the tradition most people inherited. No agenda. No denomination. Just the original words restored as closely as the surviving sources allow.

(Contributed by Steve Hines)

Translation is a 5-step process of “straight thinking in the abstract” comparing and contrasting what seems to be truth with what you can syllogistically, axiomatically and mathematically (using word equations) prove is the truth. It is not an effort to change, alter or heal anything other than our consciousness.

The claims in a Translation should be outrageous and mind-blowing, but they are always (or should always be) based on self-evident syllogistic reasoning. Here is one Translation from this week. 

1)    Truth is that which is so.  That which is not truth is not so.  Therefore Truth is all that is.  Truth being all is therefore totality, therefore everything, therefore everyone, therefore everywhere, therefore everywhen.  I think therefore I am.  Since I am and since Truth is all that is, therefore I, being, am Truth.  Since I, being, am Truth, therefore I, being, have all the attributes of Truth.  Therefore I, being, am totality, everything, everyone, everywhere, everywhen.  Since there is no being without consciousness of it, therefore Truth is Consciousness. 

2)    My body may reject artificial lens.

Word-tracking:
body:  to be awake, to observe (ancient etymology), matter generally
matter:  mother, source, universal substance
substance:  essence
essence:  existence
reject:  refuse to accept, throw back
artificial:  to make, to do, fake, not real
eyes:  insight, sudden understanding

3)    Truth being all that is and Truth being Consciousness, therefore Truth is all-knowing.  Truth being all-knowing, there is no sudden insight, therefore Truth has known all along.  Truth being all that is, therefore reality is all that is, so that which is not real (i.e., artificial) is not so.  Therefore there is nothing artificial in Truth.  Truth being all that is, nothing can be rejected from Truth, thereby making it less than all.  Therefore Truth accepts everything.  Truth being all that is is therefore the only essence and essence being substance, therefore Truth is the only substance, the only matter.

4)     Truth is all-knowing. 
        Truth has known all along.
        There is nothing artificial in Truth.  
        Truth accepts everything. 
        Truth is the only substance, the only matter.

5)    Consciousness is all that matters.

For information about Translation or other Prosperos classes go to: https://www.theprosperos.org/teaching.

Or, if you have taken Translation class, join us each Saturday for Translation Saturday Meeting at 11 a.m. Pacific time for current, up-to-the-minute Translations on the issues of the day.  Email zonta1111@aol.com for the Zoom link.