Dear Wilfried Nelles, PhD
Thank you for your e-mail. I sometimes feel exactly the same having watched
Bert alone and Bert with Sophie. In my heart, with or without Sophie, I am
deeply grateful for his work and I keep thinking if Bert has anything to do
with a passage in the Bible which says: there will come a time when dead and
alive will be the same - and this is a sign of a great change in the times..".
However, I noticied, that some of Bert disciples became rich with his work
(this is not an accusation) and made many demands on "how" his work had to be
in "his " name- and that nobody else could do his work except them (the
germans). I felt this, not without pain, in Brasil. And I saw that Sophie came
to claim this for Bert. And to this I think they are "right".
So, me too, I continue the work, what was given to me, grateful letting all
other things pass by and accept what it is as it is now. But I appreciated what
you said. Thank you.
Ms.Zaquie Meredith
www.zaquie.com
S.Paulo, Brasil
----- Original Message -----
From: Verena
To: ConstellationTalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Wednesday, May 21, 2008 2:14 AM
Subject: [ConstellationTalk] Re: Bert & Sophie Hellinger
Dear Wilfried, dear CTalk members
I am new to this forum and see this as an opportunity to be more in contact
with what is
going on in the Constellation world and to learn about the different views.
Thank you for your clear words, Wilfried.
Watching the youtube videos about Pichl I was between laughing and crying. It
looked like
a propaganda clip for a sect to me.
(If somebody wants to share translating the article Wilfried is refering to,
please let me
know, at the moment I do not have the time for all of it.)
Verena Giebels
--- In ConstellationTalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, "wilfriednelles" <nelles@...> wrote:
> Dear Theresa and all others,
>
> it really hurts me when I read that Sophie's effort to make people scream
"yes" could be
> connected with the German culture. Every serious constellator here is upset
with the way
> she is acting and how she is dominating Bert and is denouncing other
facilitators. If she
> would not have become Bert's wife nobody would take notice of her. Apart
from this:
The
> camp in Pichl (Austria) is for an international audience. So far Sophie (by
the way: She is
> not German, but Hungarian-Austrian) used this methods only with this kind
of audience
or
> in foreign countries like Spain or South / Central America. I don't think
that she would
> dare to do this kind of work in Germany with a German audience.
> But to say this frankly: It is BERT how gives her the power, and so HE is
responsible.
>
> Another thing: I read that you have been told that Bert did reconciliation
work in South
> Africa. This is not true. He has not been in South Africa after he left the
country in 1968.
I
> wonder which fairytales go around about Bert.
>
> In general I would like to say something to the discussions in this forum
about Bert and
> Sophie:
> I really wonder what strange opinions and false informations are shared
here, for
example
> when people are speculising about exclusion of Bert and father and sun and
so on. It
> seems that people cannot resist to spread their opinions allthough they
don't have any
> knowledge about the facts.
>
> Just a few facts: As one of the two organizers of the International
Conferences 2005 and
> 2007 in Cologne I have to say that we did everything that was possible to
avoid a split
> between Bert and the constellation scene and it's associations. The fact
is, that BERT
> WANTED THE SPLIT. Why? Because Sophie wanted it in order to build up her
own field
> which is now called Hellinger sciencia. She presents Bert as a victim (and
he himself
does
> this too), but that's rediculous.
> Nobody of the leading German constellators wanted to exclude him, he
excluded
himself!
> 2007 we made every effort to have him in the same leading position as ever
in the
> conference but he didn't want. 2005 I published a book to defend him
against the
attacks
> from the media and against his critics in psychotherapy, and together with
Heinrich
Breuer
> I edited a book that we dedicated to him as a commemorative publication to
his 80's
> birthday. But when we stated that there are also developments in
constellation work
which
> are not initiated by Bert, and that other facilitators too contributed a
lot to the work we
> were identified by Sophie as his enemies.
>
> This is very, very sad and I can understand that it is hardly to believe
for people who
> experience Bert only in his work, but it is the truth, and you who do not
really know
what's
> going on here should be a little bit more careful with your opinions.
>
> And, please, don't come with those simple interpretations like father and
son
projections.
> People who were very close to Bert and broke with him are not that
childish, at least not
> all of them! I never took him as my father, but when once I refused to be
treated by him
as
> his son or as his deciple he turned away from me. Bert himself (or Sophie,
which means
> the same) presents himself as the father or the mother of the work. That's
their creation.
> That means that all the others are children, and those who regard
themselves as adult
> people and don't take that parent-child relation are blamed. Since Sophie
has taken the
> lead they are on a way to become a sect with one Guru and his manager and
their
> followers.
>
> Bert is telling everywhere that many of us who are succsessful facilitators
have stolen his
> ideas and his work. Until 2005 he never claimed that he is the owner of
those ideas,
now
> suddenly he claims them as his property. Before she knew Bert, Sophie was
my group
> organizer and student. If I had the same attitude like she and Bert I could
easily say that
> she has stolen my work. Bert had some great insights, but they did not come
from god
> (that's what he is saying now, that his ideas came directly from god and
that he was
> choosen and so everything must have his name on it) but from the field of
human
> consciousness and knowledge. And if it should be true that he was chosen
then I have
also
> been chosen and you too. I am sorry but I have to say that in the last 3
years he is
simply
> telling a lot of rubbish. I guess this is very painful to face for
everybody who loves what
> this great man has created. Please believe me that I had to go through a
very painful
> process of disillusion (like many collegues in Germany who were very close
to him) but
in
> the end I am grateful and free.
>
> I am still grateful to the immense gifts I received through his work, I
still give him my
> reference in my workshops, trainings, and books, I still acknowledge his
practical work
> and deep insights, but I also see his limitations and his faults, and I
clearly disagree with
> the idea of a "Hellinger Sciencia" (as if there could be a science that is
owned by a
person)
> and - above all - with the politics of Bert and Sophie and the way they
treat people as
> "enemies" who just follow their own insights.
> For those who are interested in the methodological and philosophical
implications I
would
> like to mention my article "Klassisches Familienstellen - Bewegungen der
Seele -
> Bewegungen des Geistes" (Classical Family Constellations - Movements of the
Soul -
> Movements of the Spirit"). It is published in the German Journal "Praxis
der
> Systemaufstellung" and also translated into Spanish. Maybe their is
somebody who
could
> translate it into English, you can download it from my website
www.wilfried-nelles.de.
>
> Wilfried Nelles, PhD, MA, Germany
> Author of 6 books about Constellation Work
> Co-Chairman of the 5th and 6th International Congress on Systemic
Constellations
>
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