ABSTRACT
The historical contexts of humanity and sexual mass trauma provide valuable evidence of the evolution of love, or lack thereof, within our intimate relationships. Current sexual trauma–informed guidelines and interventions generally ignore these broader historical contexts. Yet, without these contexts, there is no history or culture. Without culture, there are no people or connection. Looking at the big picture, Josiane Apollon argues that to establish a life-affirming human connection, we can activate compassionate love (CL), a cosmic love antidote intrinsic to all humans that protects us against intimate relationship disconnection and serves as an anti-oppression correction to human-made mass violence, mass rape, and mass trauma. As a force of good, CL helps us to love, protect, and care for a partner or a stranger and preserve humanity from danger. Grounded in the latest genetic studies, the chapter excavates CL through the little-known history of modern humans and the ancient African civilizations, crossing the Atlantic with the slave trade and witnessing the becoming of African couples within the American system of slavery and racism. The author invites the readers into the discovery of our collective shadows sabotaging our most intimate relationships for a more conscious humanity on our path to wholeness.
