Dear Dan
The first thing that comes to my mind is the following.
How do we (morally?) look at life and death? Is life better than death? Is
death a bad thing? Is life a good thing. Does God make a mistake when
someone dies? (Or doctors???)
It seems you cannot escape the philosophy of conscience here, as so well
described by Bert in many of his books.
It seems that our opinion about life and death is formed or nourished by our
cultural, social, religious or practical circumstances. I think every
religion would answer these questions in a different way. I recently saw a
program about the Muslim suicide bombers. Their families were celebrating
their deaths as one of the highest things that could be achieved in life for
themselves, their family and their society. There was not a trace of
mourning visible. They were in a kind of group dynamic strongly lead by the
religious speaker.
In the constellation idea that you describe, I would not make it just
personal. The child has no power over life and death, neither does the
mother. If you assume that, you place them on a level that is too high in
the hierarchy. They are all in the hands of a greater force, a spirit that
governs the whole, not just the fate of individuals. So maybe the
constellation would also include someone for life, someone for death and
behind them someone for the greater force that uses life and death in his
service. You could observe the reaction of the other representatives to
these forces. This type of constellation would be mind stretching, opening
up our ideas, opinions and our thinking. It (the constellation, the soul or
spirit?) could speak for itself and provide new insights for everyone who
was involved. It would also honour the fate of the mother, the father, the
child, the villagers, the soldiers on both sides, and the war.
I hope this is of any use for you and I would like to hear from you if you
have tried it out, set it up for yourself to see what happens and what makes
sense.
All the best
Margreet Mossel
_____
Van: ConstellationTalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:ConstellationTalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] Namens Dan Booth Cohen
Verzonden: dinsdag 20 mei 2008 20:58
Aan: ConstellationTalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Onderwerp: [ConstellationTalk] Research Question
In my Dissertation I am linking recent findings in neuroscientific moral
psychology to Constellations. The former is digital and quantitative, while
Constellations are analog and qualitative. In this sense, there is no
comparing them. However, the findings seem compatible.
With that as an introduction, I have a research assignment for you. Here is
the moral dilemma of the crying baby based on an event from the Korean War:
It is wartime, and you and some of your fellow villagers are hiding from
enemy soldiers in a basement. Your baby starts to cry, and you cover your
baby's mouth to block the sound. If you remove your hand, your baby will cry
loudly, the soldiers will hear, and they will find you and the others and
kill everyone they find, including you and your baby. If you do not remove
your hand, your baby will smother to death. Is it okay to smother your baby
to death in order to save yourself and the other villagers?
The question posed in the research study is, "What would you do?" But I
pose a different question.
Imagine you set up the issue in a Constellation. You ask the representative
for the baby, "How do you feel about sacrificing your life so your mother
and the others can live?" How does the baby respond?
Please indulge me, if this all seems forced and phony. I have my idea of
the answer, and am trying to collaborate it, so it is not only my own
conjecture. Thanks.
To protect the integrity of the answers please respond to
Dan@HiddenSolution. <mailto:Dan%40HiddenSolution.com> com.
Thanks.
Dan
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