The Mind as a Creator: Tagore, Trauma, and the Truth in Healing

Vollständiger Abstract

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Contemporary psychology defines trauma as a lasting emotional or cognitive response to distressing events, yet it rarely acknowledges how trauma transforms the self’s fundamental relationship with reality. Drawing on Rabindranath Tagore’s essay The World of Personality, this paper applies his relational model of perception to recast trauma not only as a psychological wound, but as a disruption of the ontological and aesthetic exchange between inner awareness and outer existence. With Tagore’s philosophy and the broader Indian, spiritual understanding of human psychology, reality is no longer fixed or objective, but co-created with the personality of the perceiving self. When trauma occurs, this creative dialogue may stagnate, dimming one’s perception and engagement with life. Consequently, healing can be understood as a fundamentally relational and holistic process, where the self’s relationship and communion is restored to find the ultimate truth and beauty in existence. This theoretical reframing challenges the WElRD model of trauma-treatment and invites a cross-cultural dialogue, bridging philosophy, art, and clinical practice. Keywords: Trauma; Relational ontology; Tagorean philosophy; Rabindrik Psychotherapy; Post-traumatic growth.