This story and too many others remind us again and again that people who commit monstrous acts do not fall from the sky. In looking at our nation — from Keith Raniere to Donald Trump to countless other perpetrators of extraordinary harm and violence — it needs to be recognized that these horrors are not isolated. Rather they are a reflection of longstanding patterns within the shadow side of our nation and beyond which arise out of the many interlinking faces of violence which have yet to be recognized, owned, healed, and transformed. As a people and as planetary brothers and sisters, we cannot hope to begin to intervene on what produces those who commit monstrous acts without addressing the roots of violence — in patriarchy and misogyny, white supremacy and racism, imperialism and colonialism, militarism and nationalism, predatory capitalism and fascism. We deny and turn away from doing this shadow work — the individual and collective work which awakens us from our long slumber and great suffering — at our peril. May courage, truth, justice, compassion, and love be contagious! — Molly
In New York, Keith Raniere, the leader of the NXIVM sex cult, has been sentenced to 120 years in prison for sex trafficking and other charges. Over a dozen women testified at the sentencing hearing, saying Raniere traumatized and brainwashed them while he posed as a self-help guru. One of the survivors said Raniere started sexually assaulting her when she was 15 and he was 45. Others testified that Raniere referred to them as “slaves” and branded them with his initials using a cauterizing pen.
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