Dear Dan,
so much in one post!
I agree with everything you have said here. Regarding the economic divide:
many practitioners in Australia give some heavily discounted places to
disadvantaged people in each of their workshops. I know it is only a drop in
the ocean, but it still counts.
Also there is another group of service delivery you haven't mentioned -
NGO's (Non Government Organisations) Recently Raquel Schlosser was telling
me how she was getting constellation work to the poor and disadvantaged in
Mexico using NGO's.
hasta la vista
Chris Walsh
An Australian Constellation Website:
www.constellationflow.com
----- Original Message -----
From: "Daniel Booth Cohen" <danbcohen@xxxxxxx>
To: <ConstellationTalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, 2 July 2003 6:45 AM
Subject: [ConstellationTalk] Headline: "'I felt like they treated the WHOLE
PERSON, physical, emotional, spiritual.'"
Dear Friends - Here is another topic to consider that relates somewhat tomy
previous posts.cover
The headline above comes from today's issue of the Boston Globe and a
story subtitled: "Women suffering from eating disorders finally get theof
medical and psychological attention they need." It's not the particular
topic of eating disorders that grabbed my attention, but that our method
soul work has no place under the umbrella of physical, emotional andneurophysiology,
spiritual treatment.
I am just returned from a week at the residential portion of my Ph.D.
psychology program at Saybrook Graduate School in San Francisco. While
there I facilitated a constellation for one of the students and confronted
that within the boundaries of psychology the soul does not exist as
something to work with.
There are two great divides in psychology as seen from San Francisco. One
is between "spiritual" psychologists and "scientific" psychologists. The
former are integrating Eastern and Western mystical philosophy and quantum
physics with the study of the mind and emotions. The latter are locating
individual suffering in the brain and seeking solutions via
biotechnology and genetic engineering.of
The second divide is between therapist who treat YASI (young affluent
sensitive intelligent) clients and those who are employed by the public
health system and serve as frayed strands in the so-called safety net of
public mental health. The former are moving away from conventional forms
psychotherapy towards integrative modalities. The latter are burning outin
their impossible jobs.an
Across the second divide, constellation work falls within the YASI realm.
An employee of a mental health agency would have no opportunity to employ
unproven and unsanctioned form of intervention. Only practitioners with aof
private client list could offer constellations. Across the first divide,
constellation work has no place. It would seem to fall within spiritual
psychology, but actually stands in conflict with many of the key precepts
that area. When I speak to students and faculty involved in transpersonalme
or Buddhist psychology, the differences become immediately clear.
For example, one woman I spoke to who practices spiritual psychology told
about a ritual she employs. The client imagines her parent's standing infor
front of her. She can tell them whatever she wants. In this example, she
told them to go to Pluto and take "How do be a good parent" lessons from
advanced spiritual beings. When they returned, the client forgave them
being lousy parents to her and accepted them as they were. This got herout
of her vindictive and bitter attitude towards her parents and gave herthe
compassion towards them and peace of mind. ...Perhaps, but it flies in
face of the "orders of love." This is opposite from bowing in front ofyour
one's parents and saying, "I am small. You are big. Please take me as
child."work
Constellation facilitators work on the dimension of the soul. Since we
phenomenologically, it makes no difference to us what the soul actuallyis,
or even whether it exists or not. We can work equally well with anatheist
who has no soul, a bishop whose soul is going to Heaven, a shaman whosesoul
migrates across mountains at night or a Jungian whose soul is part of thelabeled.
collective unconscious. In facilitating a constellation, we need not
concern ourselves with any of these definitions.
However, we also exist in a culture whether everything is named and
When I describe my interests to my fellow students or faculty - they can'thelp
help from inquiring, "What is a Family Constellation?" I can't seem to
from responding. There seems to be no language of common experience thatresponds
links my description with their world of experience. When someone
to my description, "Yes, I do a similar process where adult children leavethe
their parents behind and seek tranquility from universal divine light,"
conversation just runs out of energy.have
To us, the Whole Person is no only physical, emotional and spiritual - it
also encompasses the family soul.
I am interested in hearing from psychologists and other therapists who
confronted this general issue. What do you say when someone wants thewho
60-second answer to the question, "What do you do in a family
constellation?"
Dan
P.S. The Globe article traces the long, dangerous path of a young woman
was bulimic and couldn't find adequate treatment. She finally had totravel
to a residential program 1,500 miles from home where she recovered. She
says, "A built-in week of family therapy was a turning point."
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