Hi Dan:
I too feel that grounding our work as you aim to do is important.
I feel that a number of responses to your thread have pointed to different
ways to hold or re-define the concern you cite that ³there is a lot of
ambiguity and imprecision in that word ³soul.²
I agree that the word is metaphoric and points to a ³mystery,² or something
like the collective unconscious, as others have responded, and as Donna
points
out, those from a strong religious faith may not require further
elucidation. However, more educated or skeptical people often do.
So for me, it¹s good to recognize that the multi-generational family soul
that which BH has evolved a methodology to access and work with was not
invented by him but must have existed for millennia, and therefore must be
delineated through other systems of belief and thought, although perhaps not
in identical terms.
I also find it personally helpful to hold the work within a larger spiritual
context, rather than sui generis. I actually see the work fitting within and
resonating to the Hindu, Tibetan Buddhist, and Confucian traditions.
I¹ll focus on one tradition: the Hindu. It does not define a particular
³soul² that reincarnates; it speaks of four bodies, or sheaths: physical,
subtle, causal, and super-causal. It¹s the causal body that is said to
reincarnate. It¹s possible that what we call the ³family soul² is the
super-causal body.
This view is reflected in the Five Levels of Healing (at
www.neuraltherapy.com) defined by Dietrich Klinghardt, which I find quite
helpful in providing a context for not only our work, but all healing work.
Dietrich has been one of the first to practice and teach our work in the US,
and he was also a one time student of yoga. He¹s based the integrative
health model he uses and teaches on the four sheaths to identify where
diverse healing modalities intervene. That¹s an important contribution
because it guides us to make health referrals and choices by judging what is
indicated by the condition, without necessarily comparing other modalities
unfavorably with the one(s) we offer. And it also promotes dialogue between
well-intentioned healers of diverse forms.
Dietrich places conventional psychotherapy and other work with beliefs at
the third level, the mental body, and the constellation work on level four,
the intuitive body along with the Jungian therapy and shamanism. This
framework allows us to describe and treat individual this lifetime impacts
that are not necessarily family systemic with level three (causal body)
level interventions, while deploying level four (super-causal body)
constellation work to address multi-generational systemic issues. Both the
facilitators and the representatives are in some sense tuning in on the
super-causal level.
What typically occurs is that clients come to us reporting level three
understandings, as those modalities are better known and people have become
accustomed to perceiving their issues that way, and we focus the inquiry to
level four wisdom, as a foundation for setting up a constellation. Since
working on the fourth level is less well known, many people with unresolved
issues may require an intervention on the fourth level.
Although I don¹t explain always this at workshops, feeling behind me one of
the world¹s oldest spiritual technologies supports me in presenting it to
people, as does knowing the valid and specific differences between
psychotherapy and our work. Experiencing the super-causal level is
sufficient validation for many of us, and research into non-local forms of
information sharing will hopefully one day provide the validation for the
rest.
Further, the Five Levels model gives us our place, and other treatment
methods their place, and knowing ones place in the greater scheme is
important as we know.
Best,
Alison
On 12/19/06 10:25 PM, Dan Booth Cohen at danbcohen@xxxxxxx wrote:
Donna I think it¹s a good point. It¹s easier to say what Constellations
are not: psychotherapy, New Age spirituality, a new religion or belief
system, the teachings of a guru, etc. The difficulty I run into is when I
tell people what Constellations are, the description makes no sense.
It wouldn¹t matter if my circles filled-up with participants with a modest
amount of promotion, but that¹s not the case, at least up until now.
Distinguishing mind from soul is the key. But again, there is a lot of
ambiguity and imprecision in that word ³soul.² The soul that we work with
in Constellations is neither the Christian soul that survives the body, is
judged, and then sent to heaven or hell, nor is it the Hindu soul that is
reincarnated over and again for many lifetimes, nor is it the ³soul² of
psychology which is an illusion of the brain.
The time wasted is the time spent promoting events that are undersubscribed
and speaking to people about what I do without getting my message across.
One woman whom I told about the process at length told me she wasn¹t
interested because she didn¹t want to get involved with Scientology.
Despite the time it takes, I feel it is a service to our larger community to
write and publish about Constellations for a general audience.
Dan
-----Original Message-----
From: ConstellationTalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
<mailto:ConstellationTalk%40yahoogroups.com>
[mailto:ConstellationTalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
<mailto:ConstellationTalk%40yahoogroups.com> ] On Behalf Of donna joy
Sent: Tuesday, December 19, 2006 9:08 PM
To: constellationtalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
<mailto:constellationtalk%40yahoogroups.com>
Subject: RE: [ConstellationTalk] Seeking Comments on Research Essay
My view is that it will help us collectively to develop a coherent response
to the understandable skepticism that we encounter at every turn
Why don't you just tell people that this isn't psychotherapy? Why waste
time comparing apples and oranges? Just curious!
Perhaps distinguishing mind from soul is the key?
________________________________
yahoogroups.comTo: ConstellationTalk@ <mailto:ConstellationTalk%40yahoogroups.com>
aFrom: danbcohen@rcn. <mailto:danbcohen%40rcn.com> com
Date: Tue, 19 Dec 2006 11:12:10 -0500
Subject: [ConstellationTalk] Seeking Comments on Research Essay
All My Relations,
I am writing my 2nd research Essay for my Ph.D. It will eventually become
tuningchapter in my dissertation. It would help me to have some input and
feedback from the group. In the end, I am aiming to examine the literature
that deals with understanding how it is that the representatives are
ain to something other than their own subjective responses to be so
positioned. Also, how it is that trans-generational trauma exists without
deconstructingchain of physical linear experiences.
Before I get to that end, I am going through the exercise of
eithera typical Constellation and laying out all the ways that the process
excerptconflicts with conventional psychotherapeutic best practices or our common
sense about the sources and remedies for pressing personal issues.
I have written a draft of this section. What follows is a condensed
beof some of the key points. I am requesting you critiques and comments.
o The intake interview, such as it is, last only a few minutes,
whereas a conventional psychotherapist would take a detailed history.
o Upon hearing only a one or two sentence description of an issue and
a few facts about the family history, the facilitator initiates what can
seeker'san extremely intense emotional process.
o The group itself defies conventional description.
o The facilitator disavows that the process is a form of therapy or
treatment, yet leads group members into an intense emotional experience
without formally screening participants for pre-existing medical or mental
health issues.
o The representatives receive only a skeletal description of the issue
and family history before they are asked to stand in the circle in an
assigned role. Once so placed, their responses are assumed to mirror these
actual individuals.
o The representative's feelings, the facilitator's intuition, and the
nexus between past and present events - point to the hidden dynamic.
o This hidden dynamic is not perceived as a product of repressed,
forgotten or traumatic experiences of the seeker, but rather of the
perceptionfamily seen as a collective whole. The presenting issue is contextualized
as an echo of an event that occurred before the seeker was born, sometimes
several generations before. While there are loose parallels to this view
found in established schools of psychotherapy, such as Jungian Analytic
Psychology, Transactional Analysis, and Contextual Therapy, this
Familyof trans-generational, systemic entanglements is a unique element of
processConstellations.
o The so-called "Healing Resolution" is achieved by repositioning the
representatives and/or adding representatives of members of the family
system who were exiled, excluded or forgotten. In this stage of the
patternthe seeker is a passive observer.
o Membership in the family system is not confined to biological
relatives, but may include people whose position of belonging can be hotly
disputed, such as aborted fetuses, perpetrators of violence against past
family members or the victims of crimes committed by past family members.
o What are called, "healing sentences" can be either tautologies that
state the obvious, e.g., "I lived and you died," or provocative statements
that conflict with the seeker's ordinary understanding, e.g. "You are the
right father for me."
o Proponents of the Family Constellation process claim that this brief
intervention can be instrumental in overcoming a persistent lifelong
<mailto:danbcohen%40rcn.com> com>.of behavior. There are no English-language empirically validated or peer
reviewed research studies corroborating this claim.
o The facilitator does not provide for monitoring or aftercare in case
of adverse effects.
o The Orders of Love purport to be a set of invisible systemic laws
that exert irresistible force on families and individuals. Within the
framework of the Orders of Love, familiar constructs take on new, sometime
even reversed meanings.
There are many ways to contribute to this research. Here are some ideas:
o Add to the list or suggest corrections or clarifications.
o Provide case examples of representatives whose inexplicable responses
were corroborated by factual evidence.
o Provide case example of healing solutions that support the validity
of our claims.
o Discuss how you address the ethical questions about pre-screening and
aftercare.
o Discuss your conception of the distinction between Constellations and
therapy.
And so on. Response can come to the group or privately to
danbcohen@rcn. <mailto:danbcohen%40rcn.com> com<mailto:danbcohen@rcn.
responseMy view is that it will help us collectively to develop a coherent
to the understandable skepticism that we encounter at every turn.
Dan
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
__________ NOD32 1910 (20061208) Information __________
This message was checked by NOD32 antivirus system.
part000.txt - is OK
part001.htm - is OK
http://www.eset.com
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
