Dear Anni,
Thank you for this post from you Anni, and the thread, Dr Joseph, and
for talking about a subject that is not easy to talk about. I think it
takes some courage. Sometimes I find if I start to talk about the
Spiritual matters in Constellations, I feel some blockage or
resistance inside me, and I pull back. The Spirit shows up in
Constellations but we don?t often talk about it. But, having said
this, I will have a go. I add some ideas based on my Constellation
experience.
From Anni:
With regards to Dr. Joseph's post, I agree that there are similarities
in what is referred to as "Buddha awareness, Jung's Individuated
collective consciousness and the healing power of the Communion of
saints and that these are things that we comprehend not through our
normal intellectual function but through a process that includes some
kind of a leaving behind
the attentive state of physicality and moving oneself into a level of
another kind of awareness. However, I cannot agree that the word equal
gives us a sense of the nature of each of these experiences or
observations. For example, if one considers spiritual progress as a
ladder and that as we slowly step on various rungs of the ladder parts
of our ego consciousness
fall away and we are led to a deeper awareness of other states of being.
From David:
In Constellations, when we have a sense of the bigger picture, as
though we are on a ladder where we can see the bigger picture, then we
take a different position. Up there we can get a sense of equal-ness
or ease and flow with that level. This is different from taking an
elevated position based on pride or being puffed-up in some way, or
something we try and do because of fear or ego. One of the main
differences is our relationship with ?What is?. I come back to this
below. I think in any System we take different positions depending on
what part of the system we are relating to. Like I a family system. So
it is with what we might call the ?System of Constellation healing?.
Recently I have spent much time exploring how I relate to the
Constellation healing system as a facilitator.
However when we see he big picture from a position further up the
ladder, if we are not grounded, then this connection or experience is
not useful, and is not healing, because healing is very practical, it
is manifest in the physical world. I like the idea that the best place
to see the sky is on the earth. I think this is a similar notion to
many spiritual practices in which the journey to the spiritual is
often through simple practices, our daily lives, rather than something
amazing or magical. 'What is' seems more accessible if we slow down
and wait in the stillness, and have a less complex life, then we are
more able to see it, to connect with it. From our Constellation
experience, we know that all elements in a system are always there,
though sometimes it is hard to connect. So ?what is? is always there.
From Anni:
There is a point beyond what we might 'normally' call Buddha awareness
or perhaps Christian union that is a further surrender of self. It
seems that in the Buddhist tradition, and I am not Buddhist so this is
only from my 'reading' about it not experiencing it, there is a point
where the main beam that holds the house up, collapses. This is
perhaps similar to the experience of no-self in the Christian mystical
evolution whereby the complete 'personality' dis-integrates into a
place of only creator presence. This is not something that is
frequently discussed but it is a point where there becomes so much
similarity in the spiritual traditions that no dogmatic differences
remain.
From David:
I find it useful to see a difference between the Creator and what we
might call the energy of 'What is'. For me, the Creator or what I call
the 'First Mover' exists in our ancestry; it comes before everything
else, before all the events and people that shaped our life. So I look
for that in my past, behind me, with my future in front of me. So for
me the Creator exists in time, it is temporal.
'What is', or the unknown or unnamed, exists outside and inside of
time, it is not dependent on time, it is everywhere, more like a pure
energy or attitude, but basically almost impossible to describe. As a
Constellation facilitator I see my connection with 'what is', as very
important, even to my health. Because it is the bigger picture it
seems to help clients connect with the bigger picture in their
Constellation. We tend to use names such as 'what is', as though it is
in the present, but it is 'what was', 'what is' and 'what will be' and
it also stands outside of time, so our connection with 'what is' seems
to take us to a different level from history, ancestors or the future.
I am finding it important with the energy of 'what is' to not just
connect with it in the past, in one direction, because then we can
only experience part of it, and I feel then we limit the constellation
and what it might get in touch with. If we experience 'what is' just
as 'what happened' then we can confuse it with events and ancestors
and only part of it is available to us. And I find if I experience
?What is? in the past then I feel smaller but in other places I find
myself more equal with its energy.
From Anni:
It is my belief that the more steps up the rung of spiritual awareness
one has taken that the more effective one will be as a constellator.
This is not a matter of dogma and definition but of depth of
perception into the realms of the hidden jewels of the darkness. My
purpose then for continuing this discussion on spiritual development
(or perhaps as Dan has called it paranormal) is that I wholeheartedly
believe that as facilitators we serve best when we are least in the
way of what is sought. The greater our surrender of our ego self and
the greater our intention to connect with the forces of creation
energy, the more effective our work can become. There is an irony in
that as we step 'up' the ladder of the spiritual, we step 'down' the
ladder of our place in the nature of the constellation. We serve our
'client' from a place that is under them and under their family.
From David:
You say here, Anni, that we serve the client and their family best
from a position under them. Maybe a part of us is under them. I think
I can stand in between the Constellation and the client, and get in
the way. If I do that then what might linger in me after the workshop
has finished? I think a more effective stance is for me to be behind
the Constellation, supporting it; it in turn stands behind the client
helping them face what heals them and their family system.
I have also found that trying to understand my relationship with the
constellation has helped me be clearer about my role. I feel firmer
now in my role as facilitator. I am not a healer when I am
facilitating, and when I let the client?s constellation heal something
in me, then that is more as David the person, not David the
facilitator. As a facilitator, I can support the space and conditions
in which healing can occur, and I can witness it, but the client is
their own healer, if that is what they want. I think my understanding
with this started when I saw Francesca Boring?s work a few years ago,
I felt invited to bring myself into her workshop as a healer, a client
who was a healer. This was very new to me at the time, and it has
taken time to digest this and find my own way with it.
The Constellation does not finish at the end of the workshop, it
continues and is available after the workshop. And because of this my
relationship with the Constellation and the family system after the
Constellation is very important. I think that much of this is out of
our awareness. I found the recent posts by Thomas Bryson on ?Bowing?
very helpful and I thank you Thomas for them. I find that in bowing to
?What is? and the clients Family system I can more effectively let go
of entanglements I have with the client?s system and in turn protect
myself from carrying energies that tie me and can have others effects,
maybe my health, my relationships, and my ability to work with the
next client.
I find that when I take this stance with ?What is? then I can let go
of some of the positions I took in the workshop when I was too big,
too arrogant, and then become aware of trying to return to just being
a grain of sand, in the bigger system. Then I am less likely to get in
the way of the Constellation and the client. However I see this as
different from supporting a client after their Constellation, who
might feel overwhelmed or is resisting their Constellation in some
way, or not wanting to heal. I like the way Dan described this quite a
while ago, something about Constellations being like inviting clients
to step into a river, but how can they know how fast the current is.
Some clients do have a sense of the current, though. I still see
supporting the client after their Constellation fits with my role as
facilitator, still standing behind the Constellation. In fact if we
think about it, we often see clients after their Constellation, the
next time they come to a workshop.
In understanding our stance as facilitators with the Constellation, it
can help get a sense of the difference between private sessions and
workshops. Dan spoke about this recently. I think that we each have an
energy or personality that can suit different styles of working. And
also we may project our own background/family onto the workshop in
some way and this can affect the size of the group. This is something
useful to explore. But I find that in private session the energy of
the work is often more contained, well directed, and the constellation
more supportive of the client. In workshops I think sometimes we ask
much of the Constellation. In addition to supporting the client
sometimes we ask it to put on a show, maybe to make us look good,
recruit for next time, hold the group?s interest etc. I think we need
to be careful of this. It is just a Constellation. In the private
session the Constellation seems to have fewer tasks and be just there
for the client.
From Anni:
We serve the movements of wellness as a moment in time and place for
the movement to occur. We do not DO the movement, we only allow for it
to unfold from that which is. If a constellator uses his or her role
to force movements then they will be more from the lower rungs of the
spiritual ladder and perhaps less effective.
From David:
This is not an obvious issue. What I mean is that the idea that we do
not ?do movements? in Constellations is not that clear. What is a
?movement?? This is an interesting concept because in daily life we
interact with each other?s systems and that is just ?What is?. And
where does the system begin and end? In a way, we are all in the same
System. If we had not held the workshop as the facilitator would the
family have healed at that time, in that way? We are part of their
System of healing. However, again, I think our relationship with ?What
is? is vital. It is our posture and our attitude, which can support
the movement of the client, and our own wellbeing.
You say:
?The more the constellator surrenders to the knowing that is unseen,
the Buddha awareness perhaps or the place of union or the shamanic
role of traveller, then the greater is the power and the movement of
creative energy that heals?
I think this comment should be part of everyone?s training.
Thank you again Anni and to all who contribute in this space.
My apologies for a long post.
David Mathes???Sydney and Beijing
