The trouble with Chiron

One of the most annoying planetary energies is that of Chiron. The annoying part is that astrologers talk about a wound that can't be healed. In a world full of self-help books, where we are told that "Anything is possible" if we just turn a switch in our heads and change our mentalities, the meaning of Chiron seems completely outdated. We don't want to be told that all that psychotherapy, all that astrology, all those metaphysical studies actually amount to nothing. What's more, what is the nature of that wound? Astrologers talk about a collective wound, but since Chiron is supposed to be a mediator between Saturn and Uranus and Saturn is not an outer planet, how does this wound become personal?
I think the term "collective" really means that we are born in a world that it's just the way it is. It may be that, at a deeper level, we are all responsible for everything that's going on in the world, but from a personal viewpoint it's not our fault that evil, misery and sadness exist. Yet, we are thrown into a world where what other people think or do has a profound effect on us. And because of this interaction we become the people we are with all our strengths and weaknesses. Chiron is interested in exactly these weaknesses. And what he's telling us is that these weaknesses never actually go away. We are stuck with them and there is nothing we can do to change that.
What can we do? We can become conscious of them. We can shed light to them (Uranus) and try to keep them in check (Saturn). But they don't disappear. If we are proud and arrogant, we will always be proud and arrogant. We will always be susceptible, that is, to our personal "sins". But if we realize what we are doing (Uranus), then our weaknesses cease to have such an enormous power over us and we can stop them from harming us and other people. But this is an ongoing struggle (Saturn) and we can never claim that we are cured. The moment we become too sure of ourselves, this is the time that they take over our personalities and cause havoc. Our personal demons cannot be vanquished. They can simply be controlled.
This becomes clearer when we think about alcoholics or drug users or smokers even. Once an alcoholic, always an alcoholic. You may give up drinking completely, but in moments of crisis, when you desperately want something to cheer you up, you will always feel the urge to reach for the closest bottle. You can never become a social drinker or the sort of person who just drinks a glass of wine during meals. That's not your reality. Even if you do manage to become a social drinker, you know instinctively that you always stand in great danger of relapsing, unlike other people. Drink is always going to be your weakness, even if you never have another drink for the rest of your life.
The benefit of all this is knowledge and consciousness. It's infinitely better to know where your weaknesses lie than to remain ignorant of them throughout your life. You learn to avoid whatever threatens your well-being. You learn humility. You learn to forgive yourself and others, because everybody's going through a similar hell. You become a healer, not by waving a magic wand, but by understanding and showing empathy. You can't truly heal them after all, since you can't heal yourself. But you can be there for them and share their pain. Most of the time, that's enough.