In Grant Morrison’s ‘The Invisibles’, Jack Frost is a teenager on a warpath. He seeks the absolute and mindless, destruction of authority. After torching his school with Molotov cocktails, he escapes imprisonment and finds himself on the streets of London. It is here that he connects with a ‘father figure’ in an old, homeless shaman. From previous scenes, it is known that Jack Frost’s father was absent his entire life. The relationship between Jack and the homeless man, Tom, reach a pivotal moment when Tom reveals Jack’s deepest psychic wound. Jack, gushed in brutal tears, screams out–
“Don’t go away! Don’t take the bag! Don’t Dad!”.
Finally, through Tom, Jack allows himself to open up the pestilent, repressed memories that have enforced a strict emotional protective mechanism over him. It is only after being wrenched open by a stranger, that Jack allows himself to feel emotion again. The condition of Jack is the condition of most humans. Through varying degrees and categories of trauma, a psychic/physical wound is carved into our bodies. A person is wounded when they are abandoned by a parent, abused by a trusted individual, rejected by a friendship circle or attacked by another being. The wound does not automatically fester and scar but requires specific circumstances to enter into a psychological stasis. Calling to the analogy of a person that must undergo major surgery, each human is likely destined to be psychologically worked upon. Yet, the skill and health of their surgeon, the cleanliness of the tools, the quality of the nurses, and the sanitation of the recovery ward will decide whether the wound heals, scars, or becomes infected. In such the same way, the delivery of trauma, the time held for recovery and the people surrounding the damage will affect the depth, reach and infectious nature of the wound.
The whole body works as one. Trauma is not just the present hurt, but the culmination of the workings of the body and soul. The psychology of a human will attempt to protect the individual from future circumstances that it associates with the context of the initial wounding. A similarity in sensation, images, smells, touch, and sound will trigger repulsion and the array of associated repulsing behaviors. When Jack Frost’s history teacher speaks words of encouragement, Jack’s response is to kick him to the ground and leave him for death to claim. Jack is triggered to protect himself from a father that abandoned him – this teacher who acts as a father is just a reminder of the risk of abandonment. This is a shared condition. No human actively seeks to be reminded of their true suffering.
The development of the human spirit occurs, not as we age, but as we come to understand the psycho-physical barriers we place between our body and the universe. Humans are not merely destined to continuously layer scarred tissues upon our cancerous fears. A person may never move deeper than their protective mechanisms, they may stay swirled in the belief that they can avoid more suffering. They intentionally forget that the pain they avoid is pulsating deep within. Their actions are orchestrated by associations between the core pain and each subsequent connected habit. Put simply, when one believes an action has been successful in protecting them from re-experiencing trauma, a link is strengthened between action and suffering. Energy courses freely from the pain into the nervous system and imagination. Both real and fictional, the wound is encouraged to act as a psychic puppeteer. The puppeteer pulls facial muscles, draws people together, tears them apart and sucks nutrients from food. The imagery painted is grotesque.
Many people are aware that much of their energy is wasted. However, the psychic puppeteer is not insidious but an old friend. Under the request of their owner, they diligently stand guard. In most cases, they fight valiantly until the wound can heal. Jack Frost protected himself from a teacher who represented an institution and not a genuine connection with the knowledge and energy he secretly craved. It was not until he met Tom that he was of the age and experience for those walls to be flattened. A psychic puppeteer will not disarm defense unless all of the terms are met or it is forced.
These terms are usually described by the mind of a child, as the deepest wounds are struck on the most vulnerable. An adult who is revisiting the conditions of their protection may find themselves using the tools of logic against the might of the child’s raw emotion. If one is reaching beyond soothing the symptoms of their suffering and has moved towards healing old wounds, then they must develop complex internal communication skills. They must learn to hear and truly listen to their guardians. Most people fail to listen to another person, let alone to an extremely obscure psychological echo. Thus, individuals seek the language that best suits their needs. Whether they find this in spiritual terminology or from a medical professional – the education of the self is labyrinthine in nature.
Exhausted, an individual may finally disarm the guardian of their trauma. And for what result? The person must now reopen the wound, dig out the pus and give it the conditions to heal completely. Not many would wish this upon their loved ones. Those that suspect the raw pain of recovery tend to prefer the subtle and constant suffering of old infected wounds. If one has space and support to heal their wound, then they are able to recover some of their energy.
With old wounds healed, the physical pathways that were interrupted are now open. The increase in possible connections within our nervous system runs both ways. A person can express more feelings and, in turn, feel more from others. In no way does this necessitate a happier life, it only operates that one can come closer to feeling to their full potential. Let it be clear that the people that strive to achieve the healing of old wounds are not those that seek happiness. Those that seek happiness shall find it more easily abundant from trivialities and humor. The few that persevere down the long pathway are driven by curiosity and fueled by true wealth. Curiosity and abundance are the prerequisites. This runs in parallel with Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Those that reach an abundance of resources are able to step to self-actualisation. Yet, they must be curious enough to expend their abundance for such an esoteric cause.
Curiosity is a double agent. It is neither good nor evil and never aligns itself with morality. It matters not that you butt your head against an inability to connect with a loved one or the completion of your greatest ambitions, curiosity drives you to where you do not naturally step. A person, with curiosity, that finds themselves cut off from something possible to others will be inclined to find their own way of tasting this experience.
A curious person, without knowledge, will seek their absent sensations anywhere they can find it. They will test it through groups of people, drugs, adventures, sport etc. Had traumatised Jack Frost not been so inclined towards violence, he may have sought a father figure in his teacher or, later in life, in a mentor. His lack of abundance, equating to his lack of knowledge, would have reduced him to a leech feeding off the characterisations of another individual. The world would owe Jack Frost a ‘father figure experience’ and he would draw it from someone seeking to help. The individual who knows that their loss will never be replaced by another person’s good intentions has the opportunity avoid this honeypot. This highlights the prerequisite of genuine wealth.
Genuine wealth is not only defined by income. Genuine wealth is marked by Maslow’s pyramid blocks – the fulfillment of these needs: Psychological, safety, belonging, and esteem.
To have these included in human life, the individual must learn hard lessons and engage with their world. It is not as simple as coming from monetary wealth, one must have this and also fight for their place in society. Through securing these abundances, the individual gains knowledge. Knowledge is not the side effect, but the true goal of living. A homeless man like Tom can have no real assurances of these needs, yet he has experienced them at one stage of his life. The sum result is an individual who holds the knowledge of a full existence. Tom’s life experience transforms to fertiliser for Jack Frost, facilitating him to cast aside his deficiencies and bath in the stories of a different life.
The healing journey of Jack Frost is not exponential. After moving through a stage of healing and belonging, he is once again traumatised through killing a soldier in self-defense. Returning to his habitual protective mechanisms, he runs from his group and hides in vagrancy. The journey of healing is not a straight run for the finish line. A person who opens their heart opens it to the full force of reality. With each opening up a person gains the opportunity to smash through to new experiences. An individual who never leaves the comfort of their protective mechanism is closed to the subtle calls of the real world.
The world is full of those crippled by fearful habits. Zombies who walk the street, come home to families and set their day aside for work. A constant thrum of cyclical thoughts swirls in the mind of a zombie. There is a battle between change and assurances of the consequences which no side will concede. This psychosis has them sleepwalk in the daytime. They may be open to help from others, but the older they grow the more protected they become to any iteration of verbal argument. The life of this person can be grand or minimal, they can be a world-famous actor or work at the check-out. Fear controls all those that trust in its protection.
The alternative is not a real alternative, thus ending with a paradox. A person who heals their old wounds does not change the fundamentals of physical reality. They simply become more open to what is within and without. They disarm shields that protect them from hate and love equally. With openness, every tangible sense is heightened. Thrown out of old-wound psychosis, one might smell fresh bread for the first time since childhood and become entranced with the miracle of memory, taste, and expectation. It can be as simple as this. No one is saved from the world but comes closer to consciously living as a part of it.
The fate of our lives in that we must experience trauma, the pace of our world is that it will scar, and the choice of a fulfilled individual is to tear this open to feel the full impact of life. Jack Frost is only one literary case study in deep-seated trauma, where author Grant Morrison directs our imagination to see his awakening to the world. It is Grant Morrison’s wish that his reader too will open their heart, no matter the consequence.
Magogy 