The Invitation of Memory: Grasping our Power
By Brent M. Baum, STB, SSL, CADC, LISAC, CCH	(September, 1999)
This article is an effort to address the confusion about the healing challenge that we all face. The scope of Holographic Memory Resolution® and the new information about the functioning of the nervous system indicate that we are all alive today precisely because of our “built-in” ability to freeze and store memory: to disassociate from our pain. This function of the autonomic nervous system in conjunction with the endocrine system allows us to survive the most overwhelming moments of our lives, storing our most negative feelings/affect within our holographic perception until we are ready or able to deal with it.

“All of us” are the subject of this article and the focus of our healing work. Most people hear the word “trauma” and immediately respond with: “I don’t really have much ‘trauma’ compared to most people,” or they think only of the extremes of the trauma continuum: sexual abuse, physical abuse, serious accidents/injuries, deaths, etc. My ongoing work with over eight thousand trauma survivors paints quite another picture. Indications are that we all carry numerous encodings of such negative affect and that these stored memories form the foundation of our spiritual, mental, emotional, and physiological blockages (and diseases). Both individually and collectively, we are awakening from our dream-like trance states, many of which we have only glimpsed. The power of our encoded trances is becoming more apparent as we are “triggered” by media and as we witness the escalating manifestation of our societal and personal traumas. We can only “fool ourselves” for so long, treating violence in the media as “entertainment,” before we begin to see the truth that the violence we behold through the sensitivity and acuity of our “quantum perception” is an “internal” act as well. The violence we behold is never merely “out there.” In addition, the violence we observe triggers a resonance with the violence we already hold. And every trauma possesses a violence of its own: a force physical in nature that overwhelms the psyche. We have encoded many such moments. It does not take much to “violate” the boundaries of the innocent human spirit, particularly those of children. These experiences of pain, though long repressed or discounted, are demanding to be addressed within our individual and collective consciousness. The resolution of the many trances we hold bears the promise of a revelation and power that we can only minimally grasp while we remain under the constraints of our past. Our new direction, however, is emerging. Let us commence.

There has been much confusion about the nature of memory. My own work with so many trauma survivors over these last years has provided some interesting insights into the nature of how we store and encode our experiences.

To begin with, I believe that everything that we have ever experienced is encoded within the bodymind. However, these experiences are limited by our depth and quality of perception as well as our emotional context. For instance, a child who is frightened at night may come to interpret some of the mysterious shadows in his/her room as hiding, threatening figures, and some of these images may appear quite convincing in the shadows of night. I found myself observing an art work on display some months ago and became quite certain, at a distance, that the card possessed a particular image. As I approached it, however, the image dissolved into something quite different from what I had been certain was clearly illustrated. When we work with memory, we work with the act of perception.

Quantum physics is teaching us much about the nature and power of human perception. We have come to understand that the act of perception is a creative act. This creative act also elicits certain emotional responses, depending on our interpretation of the imagery that we are creating in our minds. Such images undergo an almost immediate assessment or interpretation within the bodymind upon taking form. These interpretations are colored by our previous experiences and may even lead to a linking with other/similar memories. These experiences can elicit fear when they are completely outside our frame of reference.

I am convinced that one of the key ways that we access memory is through the emotional associations that are encoded during an experience. We experience powerful imprints from beautiful experiences that elicit profound feelings of love and connectedness. We can be overcome with beauty, or overwhelmed by trauma. Either form of memory demonstrates hologram-like or “holonomic” properties. We can access our wonderful memories by simply recalling a fragment of the experience. Such pleasant memories, because they are stored with an associated “positive” charge, offer us no difficulties. “Traumatic” memories, however, possess a different quality.

Trauma memory, by its very definition, is a moment of overwhelm and powerlessness – valued as “negative” in its affective charge. Routinely, it is a feeling like “I’m going to die.” It is a moment when we become so distressed that the Limbic-Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal Axis within our nervous system activates to contain the painful state of consciousness. To put it simply, when we cannot stop what is happening “outside” of us, we simply take control of the creative act of perception and freeze what is “inside” of us: namely the image that our bodymind is providing of the event/circumstances. This protective act of freezing an overwhelming state of consciousness is an automatic and subconscious function of the bodymind; as such, it has little to do with morality. (This latter point we will discuss in a separate article, since most of our current systems derive from the “moral model” of interaction.) The problem remains with the “negative affective charge” which is stored at the critical moment of encoding. Since memory is “holonomic” and functions in a hologram-like manner, any experience even fragmentarily resembling the original trauma will give access to the original “trance” state. For that is what a “trauma” really is: a “trance” state or spontaneous state of self-hypnosis created to stop an overwhelming experience. The difference between an ordinary “memory” and a “trauma”/trauma memory is in the nature and source of the encoded emotional charge. A trauma simply possesses a “negative” or, more accurately, an “incomplete” emotional charge. A trauma is a critical moment when we encoded (froze) an experience in a state of extreme irresolution. Had we received only love and safety at the critical moment, we would not have needed to halt our space-time perceptions in order to survive the emotional shock. Having done so, however, we created a fragment of self, stored by our powerful quantum perception. Such moments, involving the freezing of “consciousness” itself, resulted in an “ego-state” or a fragmentation of the essential “I.”

More shocking still is the discovery of what types of experiences elicit this “protective” response from the nervous system. So many times have I seen my clients access memories of simply standing in their backyard, feeling the depth of their loneliness when no one was around to comfort or simply play with them. Or perhaps the memory was of hearing mom and dad fighting for the first time and feeling so fearful and helpless … perhaps even responsible for the event or responsible for easing a parent’s pain. Many childhoods ended at such moments. We felt and stored the pain of watching our loved ones being injured/harmed; we internalized the emptiness and void of an emotionally unavailable parent (day after day); we internalized the shame incumbent with the development of our addictions and compulsions; we froze our perceptions when the injury to our body moved from an acute physical discomfort into the realm of emotional overwhelm, as with a car accident; we encoded our pain when we were so sensitive that our “spirit” felt violated by a harsh word or look from an anticipated caregiver or trusted authority.

So many individuals have sought the gift of “inner vision” – desiring to see or feel the pain of others. But were we truly granted what we ask for – a vision of the pain (incomplete charges) carried in the average body’s cells and electromagnetic fields, we would be overwhelmed by the number, degree, and power of the encoded metaphors. I have worked with such “average” clients for prolonged periods of time, only to find that we could process many negatively encoded memories during each session. We are in a “catch-up” mode at this time in our evolution. Our bodyminds are one hundred percent memory – greatly influenced by the energies encoded at moments of overwhelm and crisis; our bodies are exact reflections of our encoded memories.

Given the remarkable sensitivity of the nervous system and the power of our quantum perception, we have encoded much more than we once thought: and at ages much younger than we thought possible. Once we move into the realm of “Transpersonal Psychology,” we begin to discuss that we, as spiritual beings, are more than memory strictly bound to the dictates of the physiology of a body. OBE’s or Out-of-Body Experiences have taught us much about this. There is memory in the womb; there is memory from infancy; there is memory arising as a soul or spiritual being. There is new research emerging to explain this memory-encoding: “Systemic Memory Theory” of Dr. Gary Schwartz and Dr. Linda Russek (University of Arizona) which suggests that we, as memory, are much more than our physiology, and that memory may be carried/transferred in ways that transcend the limits of our perishable physical body.

Routinely, we have all subconsciously encoded overwhelming experiences and stored them in our bodyminds. Through this protective design, we are alive today. We must recognize that each person’s threshold for the activation of the L-H-P-A system is uniquely his/her own, but that we have all reached such moments of activation in life: whether at home, at school, driving, in relationships, etc. Working with so many addicts over these last years, it is remarkable to see how acutely sensitive so many of them were as children. It is no wonder that they had to find mechanisms for easing their pain. To the young child in early stages of “boundary formation,” the capacity for overwhelm is evident. Trauma can be induced so easily.

There are many implications to these observations. For instance, in naming the process that I do, I chose not to refer to it as “Holographic Trauma Resolution,” but, rather, “Holographic Memory Resolution®,” for we deal with much that does not fit the traditional concept of “trauma.”

To state it bluntly, any memory that carries a certain “negative charge” is the by-product of a L-H-P-A system protective act. As such, it fits into our broader understanding about the encoding of trauma. But, viewed, from the traditional perspective, many of these moments of overwhelm would be discounted and minimized because “such little things could hardly be construed as ‘trauma,’ … ‘cause that would mean that we all have lots of trauma.” Indeed it would. This is precisely the point.

Not only have we missed the remarkable and frequent functioning of these protective systems on our behalf, but we have failed to see their connection with our diseases, our aches and pains, our “accidents,” our failed relationship attempts … and many other “negative” experiences. We attract “negative” experiences, because we have not completed certain defining life moments that continue to hold an incomplete “charge” or attraction. And, failing to recognize this, we have continued, like the wounded child, to look outward for release from our “negative” creativity when its origin must be sought within. We attribute pain to our bodies, thereby dissociating ourselves from the power of our creative minds. Convinced that our pain is the product of an intrusive external force, we remain in our self-images of fragility and victimhood. These ways of perceiving self, serve the “child-mind” quite well in its efforts to acquire/justify outside intervention. We use these roles to distract us from our fear of failure and from the confusion about the nature of our personal power. The awakening and mastery of personal power would demand a significant shift in our way of life.

Many of our leading systems have themselves experienced the impact of prolonged exposure to trauma, and have, in reaction, developed a very wounded view of the potential of the human person. Some systems, including our well intentioned religious systems, came to believe the human person so wounded as to be beyond the responsible use of personal power – explaining such woundedness in concepts such as “original sin,” a “primordial ‘fall’,” etc. Believing so little in our capacity to save or heal ourselves without assistance, these systems frequently chose (in sincere conscience) to exercise power on our behalf and to provide “necessary” support mechanisms for our healing/recovery. The absolute difficulty with such an effort resides in the erroneous diagnosis. Our diseases and “accidents” are less the product of our misdirected “willpower” and more the simple result of our inherently protective design. Here there is a radical shift in paradigm and perspective.

From time immemorial man has survived the impact of overwhelming emotional experiences by encoding them automatically and subconsciously. This has been our predominant means of survival. Millenia of encoded traumas have been stored and, quite frequently, passed from generation to generation. In the last (and more recent) five thousand years, the capacity to record or write down our understanding of the deeper, interior struggle of man has led to the articulation of various systems of beliefs, including religions. In their efforts to grasp the phenomenon of “negativity” so evident in human nature, the predominant “moral” model of human action and behavior was utilized. Seeing the “negative” behaviors so evident in human interaction, they rightly concluded a “Fall” from grace. This Fall was actually the product of the alienation of mankind from itself in the cumulative encoding of trauma in the subconscious mind (both individually and collectively). Trauma causes a splitting (Gershen Kaufmann: Michigan State – Dissertation on the Dynamics of Shame Induction) of consciousness: an “alienation of the self from the self.” In the repetitive encoding of trauma, humankind became increasingly alienated from itself. To the primitive mind, the “evidence” of such a fall was obvious. The mistake was in “blaming” the fall on the conscious mind: on an errant misdirection and abuse of god-given “free-will.” From man’s inception, his will-power has been diminished by the cumulative encoding of trauma – with little respite evident in human history. Only now do we find ourselves on the brink of transcending this “moral blaming model” and moving toward a developmental healing model. This model honors the “magnificence of the design” – the beauty of the subconscious mind’s capacity to store our pain until we are capable of dealing with it. We have never been abandoned by our Creative Design(er); latent in the survival of every traumatic experience was the potential to return for resolution. In our subconscious mind, all traumas occurred one millisecond ago. And even the pain of the encoded millisecond promises a gift: an opportunity for enlightenment through mastery of our quantum perceptions of space and time. The shift from viewing our pain as the product of a failure, to an invitation to spiritual growth and enlightenment is upon us. And the study of trauma induction and the functioning of the nervous system is teaching us this. Let me elaborate.

As a memory resolution facilitator, I do not view any disease, ache, or pain of my clients in a negative way. Inevitably, our pain is the voice of a part of our psyche asking for our assistance in healing. By tracking my clients’ pain, we find a perfect map of his/her trauma history and the path to follow for its resolution. The pain cues us to the specific moment in time and space when we became “stuck.” It instructs us as to the origins of our fears, shame, anger, and hurt, allowing us to begin healing. The more painful the voice of the bodymind, the more insistent is the voice of the subconscious (superconscious mind) guiding us toward healing and enlightenment. From observing the perfection of this pain-cueing process in so many trauma survivors, I have learned to hold no (moral) judgment about a behavior, crisis, or any other phenomenon that an individual manifests as a means to achieve healing and spiritual enlightenment, for that is what all such lessons are ultimately about. Such “healing crises” actually lead to the enhancement of the quality of our lives. Memories stored with “less than love” in them are simply the occasions for learning our mastery of space and time: an invitation to manifest love transcendently.

It has been stated that “Love is eternal.” Our study of memory suggests that those events of our lives which are complete also possess a positive, white-light charge. They are not bound or restricted as with the encoding of a holographic scene of trauma. In contrast, those events which are stored at a premature moment, for reasons of protection or survival, hold an incomplete charge as indicated by the color-frequencies of the trauma metaphors or memory fragments. Work with trauma survivors indicates that the presence of such “negative” emotions/“incomplete charges” announces the presence of “state-bound” memory. In other words, when we still hold negative feelings about a person, event, etc., we are, in all likelihood, still bound to the scene at a specific moment in space and time. Under such constraints, our efforts at love are, of course, made “conditional.” Subsequent efforts at “unconditional love” are restricted by the subconsciously encoded memories. It may very well be that trauma is the explanation for the struggle we experience in attaining unconditional love. From another perspective, trauma is the vehicle through which we learn and explore our capacity to reach unconditional expression of love. Any memory, evidencing an incomplete emotional charge, offers the opportunity to explore the “conditionality” of humankind into which we are immersed at birth. The invitation is to transcend this conditionality and move into the “eternal present,” unbounded by the fragmentation of consciousness that occurs through the human instinctive survival mechanisms (L-H-P-A Axis). Our emotional pain offers us such opportunity for enlightenment.

The goal or objective is to live in the “eternal present,” the “perfect moment.” Freed of the time-space constraints of our encoded traumas, we are able to simply be. We are closely aligned to our spiritual source within. Once we are no longer distracted by our traumas, we remain in touch with the wisdom and guidance of our spiritual center – freed of the constraints of fear and powerlessness, the by-products of trauma. We possess no fear of the future or past when we are closely aligned to that which resides in the eternal present. Once aligned with our “pure creativity,” we simply manifest that which serves our highest good. Hence, we need not fear our “memories.” Those which offer us love foster our experience of the “perfect moment,” and those which are “negatively charged” (or incomplete) show us precisely when, where, and how our consciousness became ensnared by space and time. Once identified, these experiences offer us opportunities for enlightenment, opportunities to exercise our quantum creativity – liberating ourselves from the illusions of the past and offering the opportunity to merge with the Eternal Present (Presence). This is the invitation of all memory.

Love and Light,

Brent Baum
9/15/99