Why subscribe to Resonant World?

I’m Matthew Green, and for a long time I worked in legacy media organisations, covering wars, political crises and the climate crisis.

But the job that’s most needed — as far as I know — has never existed.

Let’s call it: Collective Healing Correspondent.

Resonant World is my attempt to fill that void.

My aim is to serve the fast-growing, global community of people working to address the impact of collective trauma by documenting my own journey to understand the phenomenon — and writing about people and initiatives I encounter along the way.

I also hope Resonant World will form part of the connective tissue linking the individuals, networks and organisations already engaged in this field — and provide an accessible point of entry for newcomers who want to learn more.

The mission

For years, I thought of trauma primarily as something that affects individuals.

That people can suffer lifelong consequences from abuse in childhood, terrible suffering in war, or any number of other horrific experiences seems by now self-evident.

But what if that narrow understanding of trauma is missing something huge?

Early in 2021, I discovered Healing Collective Trauma: A Process for Integrating our Intergenerational and Cultural Wounds, a book published the previous autumn by the Thomas Hübl

.The book blew my mind.

Hübl shows how trauma works at the collective level as the impact of past wars, injustice and oppression cascades through generations, cultures and societies in hidden ways. But the symptoms are all too visible in the apparently intractable political, economic and environmental crises we’re confronting today.

The book isn’t just a diagnosis of our predicament: It’s a treatment manual. After years of working with large groups of people — initially hundreds of children of survivors of the Holocaust, and latterly communities all over the world — Hübl had devised a protocol for collective healing.

I felt so electrified by the book that I did something I’ve never done before: I organised an impromptu book club. The intensity of discussions were at the edge of what I could then handle as a facilitator — and seemed to confirm my intuition that healing collective trauma is one of the most urgent, neglected topics of our time.

What you’ll get

• Weekly updates exploring how collective trauma shows up in ourselves and the world around us — and how we can respond.

• Reports on collective healing work in action around the world.

• A community of like-minded explorers of the collective psyche.

• Podcasts of my personal insights and interviews.

• Reading recommendations and resources.

Into the unknown

I’m the first to admit that these topics take me to my edge.

I’m starting this journey without a map.

I’m worried about the hidden pitfalls I may encounter.

And I also feel called to make space for a conversation about collective trauma, and healing, at this time.

I would love you to join me on the journey.