Dear Dan,
very touching what you write. As a (predominantly) German child after the
war, I grew up with gratitude for the "Amis" as we called them who had come
to help put an end to this hell. But as it happens someone who slays a
killer is in danger of being overcome by this energy, and the perpetrator
energy travels on until it is redeemed. Worse still for the American soul,
there was another pig that did not get slaughtered, as Churchill put it. So
America braced itself to at least hold out through the cold war as well. It
feels chilly even as I type this. A very mild person told me how she had to
stand up to someone. It was very frightening for her. Then she could not
shake off the energy she needed to hold her ground. It still haunts her.
Hitler Germany was not beaten by the UN but by the countries that were
affected by him. Stalin was not beaten at all.On top of being a Stalin, he
became a Hitler as well.What happened to the energy that was needed to stand
up to these two systems? After that it was unleashed onto smaller countries.
Bringing freedom to the world became a communist or freedom fighter saviour
complex/megalomania, and every other motive could come along for the ride. I
just watched a documentary about Chile, about Ariel Dorfmann's connection to
it. To Chile we looked with hearts full of hope. In Chile many of us buried
our hopes. Allende was fought as if he was a Stalin. A peaceful government
for the people with the people became an enemy to the world. And a fascist
was hailed as the saviour by many.What was right a long time ago became
wrong later on.
The United States would have needed some Trauma Therapy. One sentence in it
is: It is over. You can put the weapons aside now and go home. Otherwise the
fear stays inside, the monster is still the monster, but now it is seen
anywhere, is fought anywhere.
Palin is like a caricature, swinging the sword because she has got one, with
eyes closed, a symbol of blind righteousness- madness.Heart and mind have
left. Once upon a time there was a good amount of righteousness in fighting
Nazi Germany and being afraid of Stalin was justified. But now it is
frightening to think that people with freedom of information would vote for
someone like her. But to fight monsters leaves you deeply scarred. Even the
UN soldiers are in danger of loosing the plot. We are still a long way from
fighting like Arjuna was told to.
But I found Iran such an ironic place when you think that is where a large
circle of brutal conquests had begun. Unfortunately the US going there did
not close the circle but rather took off to a new turn of the spiral.
In my mind I visualize country constellations then, the world leaders in
WWII, then later scenarios with different players, how it all intertwines
because we freeze in fear, in bracing for the next onslaught. For me, Bert's
country constellations have been a source of hope, Rudolf Steiner wrote
about the souls of nations. A country constellation, to me, is something
like a few drops of homeopathic medicine. To see a small deeply traumatized
country come out of its frozen state was a deep experience. It felt like the
confused traumatized, even insane soul found a connection with its higher
source. I am aware this is still like something in a dream state, but if we
can get to the point where we can have the feelings we have towards a
psychotic person, when we can extend these feelings to large entities...
just as a drop of medicine we add.
There's John Lennon who tells us that war can be over if we want it. The war
that has not left us inside is the one that starts the next one.
I am glad to say that I had constellations myself and witnessed others where
Nazi Germany went to its knees and broke out in deep sobbing. Deep down it
is so hard to disarm unilaterally. When one does it as the weaker one one is
afraid of the next onslaught. When one does it as the stronger one one is
afraid of not remaining the stronger one.I would say that is the big U.S.
fear now. Having had to be the hero for so long this energy is beginning
to crumble and it turns into a persecution complex, and the whole world has
to play along.
So what inner images at least can we come up with? If we take The U.S., or
Russia, or any other war zone, it could be a walk past all the wars they
have been involved in, doing a recapitulation... and looking towards
another future...
I let myself get away with this uncensored spill. thanks Dan, Angelika
On Thu, Sep 18, 2008 at 12:57 AM, Dan Booth Cohen <danbcohen@xxxxxxx> wrote:
For those of you interest in the U.S. Presidential campaign, here is an
essay I wrote on a Constellation-eye view.
Country First
John McCain's "Country First" slogan first struck me as a rather abstract.
What does it mean? How does it translate into policy and governance?
At a recent Constellation circle at Bay State prison, I reflected on its
meaning. Country First foremost is meant to justify aggression. If the
U.S. has a strategic need for Persian Gulf oil, putting our Country first
conveys permission to rain bombs on Iraqi cities, destroy infrastructure,
and kill countless civilians. After the pretense for invading is exposed,
Country First elevates victory above all else. Under Bush/Cheney/McCain,
Country First gives license for the U.S. to destroy, bomb, invade, and
imprison whomever is labeled as evil or an enemy of the United States - all
for a righteous cause, such as freedom or democracy.
Sarah Palin invokes this righteous, virtuous America that denies the shadow
culture of genocide, slavery, and habitat annihilation. Her self-proclaimed
spirit animal is the pit-bull, a muscular, flesh-tearing predator that
kills
on command for sport.
Our Growing Together group proves again and again that innocence=virtue as
guilt=evil is a false equation. Making strident claims of one's own
righteous behavior perpetuates the worst suffering. Whereas accepting and
acknowledging one's own guilt opens the door to compassion and
reconciliation. For the United States to cease being a scourge to the rest
of humanity, we need to move beyond the fallacy of Country First.
Following the check-in, as we have for several years, the space opens for
either an inmate or a volunteer to set up a Constellation. When it was
time, one of our regular women volunteers, K., said she was in crisis and
asked the group for help. [She has given her permission for me to recount
what occurred and given me the descriptive text that follows.]
Everyone in her family for 3 generations has been medicated with
anti-depressants. Two years ago, she weaned herself off them and now finds
herself struggling to maintain emotional balance. Her mother was
hospitalized for mental illness. She fears repeating this pattern and does
not want to return to medication.
She writes, "As a daughter of two Holocaust survivors, I lived with the
ghosts that haunted my home since childhood. They were the same ones that
disturbed my father's sleep causing him to let out uncontrollable, nightly
shrieks; and the shrieks, in turn, disturbed my sleep as well. In our home,
there was no escape for me and my siblings from shattered nerves. Nothing
we
did could scare off those ghosts."
We began with a single representative for her mother. After some time, I
asked K., "What happened to your grandmother?" She replied her grandmother
was murdered by Nazis in the Holocaust. The grandmother and mother were
trapped in the Vilna <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vilna_Ghetto> Ghetto.
When it was liquidated in 1943, they were transported to a Nazi death camp.
Upon arrival, they walked the notorious selection line; the grandmother was
sent to the left and immediately shot, the mother to the right and
survival.
As the Constellation unfolded, I added representatives for the soldier who
shot the grandmother, the Nazi machine, and Judaism. The movements were
slow. The emotions in the space were so powerful as to be beyond
description. Eventually, the daughter took her place in the Constellation.
She moved slowly and silently with her mother and grandmother. The soldier
was gradually drawn away from the Nazi machine, finding his place aligned
with his victims and his personal guilt.
We went through a stack of tissues. The pain for the destruction of
ordinary life was tempered, even transformed, by the love and pride of the
grandmother in seeing that her granddaughter was living a prosperous and
fulfilling life with children of her own. K. came in contact with
immeasurable suffering and unbearable grief. There too, she was with her
mother and grandmother in a vast ocean of love. Finally, I brought in a
representative for the anti-depressant medication to test for an answer to
K.'s specific question.
By the end, all, except the Nazi machine were moved. This representative
stood solid, unrepentant throughout. When the Constellation finished, the
man who stood in this role was viscerally shaken. He commented that he had
never felt so much hatred and such a hardened heart.
Following the Constellation, we conducted our check-out round. When it was
my turn, I commented that we had come full circle. The representative for
the Nazi machine embodied the spirit of Country First. When the collective
survival and advancement of the State comes first, the worst cruelties and
atrocities are legitimized for national defense. With the fate of the
entire human species threatened by ecological collapse and nuclear
annihilation, Country First is a dangerous choice.
In my experience, acknowledging one's own guilt is no easier for liberals
than for conservatives. It can be extremely unpalatable to come into
contact with whoever we are excluding in our heart and soul. I yearn for an
Obama presidency where it may be possible to begin facing and healing our
national traumas. If the McCain/Palin ticket wins, we will surely slip
further into the grips of corruption, impoverishment, and war.
Dan
Boston, MA, USA
www.HiddenSolution.com <http://www.hiddensolution.com/>
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
