Why have Sikhs, historically, been able to respond so successfully and bravely to every new challenge? How have Sikhs managed to get up, and fight again, and again, after every fresh trauma? We understand a whole lot about Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome these days. We know much more about human psychology than ever before. We know how humans react under oppression and frankly, Sikhs, over the centuries, appear to bounce back quicker than other groups. Completely oppress, kill and torture the Sikhs, and the Sikhs will receive that suffering, cry and shake, yell some, laugh in your face, sing GOD's praises and jump in for another round.

It is true. Sikhs, historically, have done bigger, more unified, ethical acts, than most other peoples. Sikhs have also transcended self-interest in extremely unusual ways. Sikhs have fought for the religious freedom of OTHER people; for religious freedom for Hindus, Muslims (these days there are Sikhs who are defending Christians and other minority religions who are also under attack in India), Sikhs fought for the Jews in WW2 and then Sikhs let the boundary between India and Pakistan go right through Sikh territory so that Hindus and Muslims might stop killing each other. Sikhs have actually shown, repeatedly, that people can CHANGE, become BETTER, reform and transform and make a difference.

How come? Humans are all quite the same, biologically and psychologically. Why do Sikhs seem able to recover from oppression faster than the rest of us? Frankly, in the West it feels like we are just barely pulling ourselves free from the results of the Christian Inquisition and that we haven't even begun to face the implications of WW2 yet. We seem actively in denial about the ever creeping, ever recurring and reactivating, disease called White Supremacy and it appears that we are trying to forget, in a haze of media and materialism, over-consumption and drug abuse, that we have any responsibility to humanity (or the Earth's animals and plants) whatsoever.

As for Sikhs, since 1984, when the Golden Temple was attacked, they have been
in active Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome, but of course. Alcoholism within Sikhi is up as well as cults and Saviors and Sants, and the youth are restless and Sikhs are flocking to Beauty Parlors and Barbers (which is a specific to Sikhi way of attempting to get a vacation from being a Sikh, a way of passing as a Gentile you might say). And I do not JUDGE any of this one whit nor could any other culture (nor GOD, I assert). We already KNOW how humans act in the face of genocide and extreme oppression and no one expects Sikhs to act much different from anyone else, given similar circumstances.

Except for Sikhs that is! Sikhs expect Sikhs to pop out of Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome faster and better than others, and take the fight to the next level. After all Sikhs have done it before.

But how? What is it about Sikhi and Sikh Sangat that, in the past, speeded true recovery and made Sikhs able to rise again and again? And how can Sikhs, authentically heal as quickly now, in these times, because clearly Sikhs need to?

To answer that, we must contemplate some psychological basics. We know, for instance, that the human body, emotions, mind and spirit LOVE to heal. In truth, it takes repeated oppressions, pretty much constant physical and verbal abuse, neglect and isolation and brainwashing (constant lying, constant commercials) to keep humans down and stupid, and even so, humans will STILL tend to heal and come back and fight oppression. It is our nature!

When any mammal receives a wound, physically or emotionally, there is a natural healing process called "discharge" that happens. We cry and shake or moan or laugh wildly. We also need to tell someone what happened to us and we need someone to really HEAR us. If we have love and support through this process of natural, biological release (if we don't repress this process, if we don't try to pretend that the bad thing never really happened to us or try to convince ourselves that it didn't really matter) we will discharge healthily and heal gracefully, both physically and emotionally.

Of course, all of us have many childhood and later traumas and pains and abuses that we didn't discharge well. They are still impacting us. Repressed memories are caught up in our muscles and organs, causing stress and disease, and we experience strange beliefs and over-reactions and weird and unhealthy responses to present situations because of our past repressed hurts.

So all humans react pretty much the same way to extreme abuse and oppression and all humans heal quickly, when given the various kinds of loving support that human's all need. Speed of healing, however, varies a lot with how easy it is to access, accept and receive healing support within your personal and social systems.

I actually think that White European Culture is so trained up in being the World Empire Builders, so stuck in the Mind/Body Split (ala Western religion and Descartes etc.) that we had to create a whole new compartment of life called "Psychology" and "Therapy" to assist us in getting back in touch with our normal, natural FEELINGS, to help us UN-NUMB and come out of denial, to help us "discharge" old and new hurts. Of course, everything I am saying about Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome is common knowledge these days, because of research and discoveries in this area of specialization called Psychology. So I am very grateful to all the wonderful research and discoveries in the field of Psychology....

....yet I believe that part of what makes Sikhs tend to bounce back faster than other people, faster than Westerners for instance, is that Sikhi is NOT divided into compartments and specializations. Lots of things that don't mix together in Western culture are all mixed together in Sikh culture and the Sikh system seems to work better (or at least it has worked better in the past).

A typical Westerner, facing trauma, will have to go many different places to receive holistic support. In the West, the place to go and pray and seek spiritual communion is NOT the same place to go and express outrage and tell your story. And when it is most healing to simply sit with friends and share food and comfort, a Westerner will need to go to a different setting yet, where cozy socializing is happening. If you need a counselor (and all humans need counseling and deserve it) then that will be another appointment to make.

And eventually, we all heal enough from the pain of past oppression and abuse to want to create something good. We will want to write or paint about our experiences, or do social service, fight back, or create a lasting memorial honoring the people who didn't survive the oppression like we did, and, for Westerners, any of these activities usually implies joining yet another, different, support group.

But within Sikhi all these different sorts of healings and support, counseling and activism, can and should be happening all in one place; that is, in our Gurdwaras, within Sat Sangat. It is no news to Sikhs that the Company of the Faithful provides advanced, full-service, holistic human healings. The Sikh Gurus talk about this very thing all the time. In the Sat Sangat we find the medicine of the Naam. In the Sangat we sing and meditate together, which naturally and safely our hearts, brings our painful wounds to light and gives both men and women a safe, socially acceptable, place to cry and shake and be comforted. In the Sat Sangat we can also stand up and speak. We can tell our stories, speak our truths, and be heard.

And sharing food is a deeply healing activity. Sikh Sangat is a place to relax and eat together, a place to be simple and loving. And the Sat Sangat is a community in which to find deeper friends who can counsel us, and a place to be better counselors for our friends. To become better counselors only requires that we practice becoming very good LISTENERS.

In due course Sat Sangat is a healing place for appropriate activism to emerge as the natural response to oppression, within and without.

Sikh's understand that Sat Sangat is a Universal truth, not just a Sikh practice. Sat Sangat is not a mystery, not for Sikhs at least, because the Sikh Gurus were great Psychologists and they define and praise the healing power of Sat Sangat over and over again for us. Thus, I feel that one of the great lessons that Sikhs have to teach the rest of us is how to create and practice Sat Sangat. Because I think Sikhs may heal faster from trauma than other people because Sikhi is specifically designed to provide immediate, full-range healing support to humans, and it really works.

And, more wonderful yet, Sat Sangat even works if you are not a Sikh.

Guru Arjan from Sukhmani-

In the company of the faithful, the enemy becomes our friend,
In the company of the faithful, we are cleansed of all filth,
In the company of the faithful, we are freed of enmity,
In the company of the faithful, we do not go astray,
In the company of the faithful, no fellow being seems bad,
In the company of the faithful, we know supreme bliss,
In the company of the faithful, we are freed of all suffering,
In the company of the faithful, we are rid of our ego,
You Yourself know the greatness of the faithful,
Says Nanak, the faithful and the Divine unite as friends.

Kamalla Rose Kaur is USA born, of Irish descent, and embraced Sikhism in 1972, at age 18. She tried everything for over twenty years, including frantic practice of Yoga, until she learned "why Sikhs are so adament about having the Sri Guru Granth Sahib as their only Guru."

Kamalla Rose is a professional writer, theater director, workshop and seminar leader,
publicist, events planner and singer. Her column appears every Saturday.

The author welcomes comments and feedback: Love&Light