Practical and empowering insights from the records of corruption, cruelty, and abuse: five brief yet hard-won truths to anchor our process.
This is not meant to bypass the grief, anger, or other necessary steps of processing, but to offer a few steadying truths to hold alongside them.
Dear friends and colleagues,
At first glance, the image above seems unrelated to the subject of corruption and cruelty that has been revealed in the Epstein Library. Yet I chose it for its ability to represent the opposite of corruption and cruelty: a humble gathering of community, taking in beauty and abundance, exchanging goods and services and stories, and savoring simple joys.
I’m encouraged to see so many people around the world researching areas within the files that matter to them. I’m not personally spending time on it beyond a few targeted searches, as I’ve already spent years studying many of the suppressed and horrendous subjects referenced there.
For those just beginning to confront this extremely difficult reality, I offer a few light-at-the-end-the-tunnel perspectives. These considerations are not meant to bypass the grief, anger, or other necessary steps of processing, but to offer a few steadying truths to hold alongside them.
Things are not worse because you’ve become aware of them. Reality hasn’t changed simply because you can now see it; it’s the same reality that existed before you knew. Also true is the fact that recognizing what is true is the first step toward transforming it — awareness is a necessary step for change. So learning about these things does not mean the world has gotten so much worse. It was already this way. But awareness makes healing and love now possible. Justice and meaningful change become possible — likely, even — when truth is acknowledged and light is finally allowed to reach what was once kept in the dark.
Knowing you’ve been lied to is far better than ignorance. Once you recognize deception, you are no longer a “useful idiot.” You can begin discerning what is actually true and how to spot lies in the future. That is power.
Processing trauma in community is far better than facing it alone. Awakening to corruption, cruelty, organized crime and abuse is a profound shock and significant trauma — and healing is a process. Yet this moment offers something people before now did not have the benefit of: widespread communal awareness. To know you aren’t alone in this knowledge is a tremendous gift. I’m glad that people are aware that their shock, anger, and grief are being experienced by many and that they themselves won’t have their sanity questioned for feeling this way.
There are understandable reasons people have been “asleep”. Lack of awareness of suppressed truths has often been referred to as being asleep. It’s an apt metaphor. There’s no shame in sleeping; it’s a natural state. I must admit that I’ve judged those who haven’t faced these realities sooner, but I’ve worked to release that judgment and have mostly succeeded. Recently, I heard a wise survivor of organized abuse speak with empathy and compassion about the powerful social conditioning that keeps people from seeing what is in front of them. The grace she extended toward people who have dismissed or doubted her and other truth-tellers moved me. She’s right. The conditioning has been strong. But it has been dealt a great blow, and for that, I am beyond pleased.
We can create positive things without needing permission, and even amidst lies and resistance. Having been asleep is understandable, but I do not accept hostile attacks on the awakened. Some people not only remained asleep but were openly dismissive of truth-tellers and actively defended systems they had never critically examined. Some even directed hostility toward those speaking from lived experience. I have a strong “mama bear” energy and find such behavior toward innocent people — many of whom endured unimaginable traumas before becoming whistleblowers — almost unforgiveable. It’s a tough thing to feel and I imagine others will feel it, too. Yet I recognize forgiveness is necessary for my own peace, so I’ve worked for as long as it takes to release judgment and anger toward the hostile people who ignorantly defended systems of cruelty. Most of my frustration was arising 2019 through 2021 when I was fully immersed in tracking the corruption and cruelty. I realize now that means it’s been 7 long years that I’ve known the dark truths, worked to make them known, and also withdrew my energy from the aspects that deplete life force to focus on that which enhances it: truth-telling, positive creation, and supporting healing processes. Presumably division will persist, but we can persevere in healing and creation anyway.
On a personal note, here’s part of my own still-incomplete process… Now that truths once denied have come to light, I find myself wondering whether those who attacked truth-tellers will take accountability. Part of me is tempted to call out a few individuals who — like many who display this pattern — carried themselves with an air of superiority while their ignorance was, to me, plain as day. One such person, in partnership with a couple of others, went out of his way to create a new platform specifically to attack the awakened within a circle I move in. I reached out privately, respectfully acknowledging his past work that I genuinely appreciated, and kindly providing curated evidence he had clearly not considered. His response was immediate, dismissive, and condescending. The certainty of his stance, in spite of the evidence before him, was striking, appalling, and deeply unsettling. It took me quite some time to process, and I can’t help but wonder what he thinks now.
Sincerely,
Shelly Thorn
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