This is a really helpful perspective, Dan. I was facilitating a constellation
last week in which there had been a significant perpetration against the
family. We had bought in the one who had made the mistake (and it did seem to
be a mistake), and we were doing the work required to address the wrong and
return dignity to everyone involved. It was moving forward nicely, when a
participant started to talk about how the family had chosen this experience
before their incarnation and so there was nothing to address. Ack! I had a
tricky time explaining that indeed, that was a legitimate point of view, and
yet not truly relevant to the experience of the family WITHIN this incarnation,
and that addressing the distortions of love was desperately needed in the
family system.
I’ll remember your summary next time this arises…;-)
Peace, Leslie
The Rev. Leslie Nipps
NLP & Family Constellations Practititoner
“Trust as a Way of Life…”
leslie@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
On Dec 27, 2014, at 8:55 AM, 'Dan Booth Cohen, PhD' danboothcohen@xxxxxxxxx
[ConstellationTalk] <ConstellationTalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Thanks to all for this intriguing conversation.
I feel drawn into the conversation by Alison’s question, which points me
towards a continuing area of confusion within the Constellations community.
The Orders of Love as originally identified by Hellinger are placed in the
context of three levels of conscience. While the concept of conscience has
evolved over the years, the framework for holding the Orders remains mostly
the same. These three levels have many names and exist within many cultures
and spiritual traditions. In Love’s Hidden Symmetry they are named as
personal, systemic and the Conscience of the Greater Whole. Later, Hellinger
relabeled them, Personal, Soul, and Spirit-Mind. Thomas Bryson and Ursula
Franke call the poetically, Drop, Wave, Ocean. In my work, they are named,
Personal, Ancestral and Spiritual. Whatever the names or labels, the
fundamental concept is that humans exist in multiple dimensions of
consciousness.
The confusion arises when an idea that is valid on one level is applied to
another without distinction. For example, the first Order is that everyone
who belongs to a family system has an equal right to their place of belong.
This is a principle of the second level: systemic conscience. It is does not
mean everyone belongs and no one can be excluded in our ordinary life. The
second order is about the hierarchy of precedence. As Alison suggests, some
in the Constellations community misuse this principle on the first dimension
to exert their authority by asserting, “I came to the work first. I am above
you in the hierarchy.”
Another example of how moving between these three levels without
distinguishing them sows confusion can be seen around the conversation about
the Western perspective. Regardless of your heritage or ideology, if you
purchase your food with money and burn petroleum for heat and transportation,
you are surviving within the global, monetary economy. The playwright and
former President of the Czechoslovakia observed during Communist rule that
every citizen of the State from the Prime Minister to the street sweeper both
complained about Communist rule and contributed to its oppression. On the
first dimension, we cannot so easily extract ourselves from the Western
perspective by renouncing it or claiming to stand apart from it. It is
wonderful to expand our awareness of spiritual consciousness….and it does not
liberate us from living in the ordinary world.
The themes of the movie Interstellar are about second dimension
consciousness. Here, past, present and future coexist all at once. That’s
because consciousness that exists outside of an animal body has a changed
relationship to time than when it is trapped within an animal body. Time is
way of knowing the external world that animals use to extend their own
survival. We can work with timelessness in Constellations and also need to
acknowledge that human beings are not free from the ordinary constraints of
time while they are still breathing.
My takeaway is that Orders of Love and other principles of Constellations
that are valid within one dimension of consciousness may become confused when
applied to another dimension without distinction.
Dan
From: ConstellationTalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:ConstellationTalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] ;
Sent: Saturday, December 20, 2014 2:32 PM
To: ConstellationTalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [ConstellationTalk] Backgrounder on Interstellar
Thank you all! For me, too, this is a refreshing and enriching and resonant
discussion.
I wonder if it is connected to another question I've been wondering about,
regarding "orders" as in orders of love, and "place" as in, your place on
what can be seen as a hierarchy based on linear order.
I am running into places within the constellations community where it feels
like the concept of "order" feels like "you're not in your place".
An example of this comes in the question of seniority and experience. As a
relatively new constellations facilitator, my "place" is as a little one, yet
given this concept of circular/spiral/non-linear hierarchies, how do we make
sense of ones true place? Perhaps it's ever shifting?
No answers here, just questions.
In the spirit of the season,
Alison
On Saturday, December 20, 2014, 'Blossoming Heart Intuitive Arts'
heather@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx [ConstellationTalk]
<ConstellationTalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
This is such a refreshing dialogue as it encompasses so much of what I’ve
experienced living in different cultures and in breaking down the Eurocentric
perspective of life, death, afterlife, etc.
I’m reminded of a northern tribe who greet newborn children as “grandmother”
or “great grandfather” and such, recognizing that the ancestor has
reincarnated in the next generation, and they give the respect of that soul’s
wisdom from previous times to love and support the family in different ways.
The mystery is unknowable ultimately but I trust older cultures in ways of
understanding spiritual truths that Christianity tried to destroy.
In my family, they are a white Christian background but apparently when I was
born there was an immediate recognition that “she’s one of us” and I
continually remind my mother of my great grandfather since the day I was born
and in how I treat people and what I care about. It’s beyond belief systems.
Thank you for initiating this conversation and having us step out of a linear
truth….
From: ConstellationTalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:ConstellationTalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] ;
Sent: Saturday, December 20, 2014 1:02 PM
To: ConstellationTalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [ConstellationTalk] Backgrounder on Interstellar
Yes! Yes! Yes, yes! You have spoken much of what my own experience has been.
If we can affect things several generations back, then surely our work can be
modeled to look at all souls in the system as interactive. These simple
knowings are not contained within the Western Enlightenment culture that has
risen from both science and Christianity. Western minds are set to think
within parameters that confine us too often to accept what has been seen
through Western eyes. It is possible to step back and have the deep
understanding that in fact it is only one way of seeing life systemically.
I love the way you have expressed this. Also within us is an ability to see
the world in several ways all at once. We do not need to limit ourselves to
one perception. All have a validity. It is not that one is good and the
other bad. They are simply different. This is a deep truth that has entered
my life in the last month on a personal basis. This is not sitting on the
fence but rather being poised in a position to see several pastures at one
time and to be able to glean from each of them what it is we need and to
integrate those things.
In Canada we are coming to the beginning of the new sun for the year and also
will celebrate Christmas. The contradiction that in the south you are
celebrating the height of the sun is easily integrated into our
understanding. So it is with perspectives. All is true and all can be
integrated!
The Christian in me says have a blessed Christmas and the indigenous part of
me says glory in the gift of the sun. May all things come to you as you need
them. Much love, Anni
--
It is the courageous heart that loves. It is the loving heart that heals.
alisonfornes.com
