I have been following this whole discussion with great interest and of
course, we are all speculating because we do not really know exactly what
goes on with a constellation. Having said that, from my personal experience
I would be inclined to agree with Kenn that the inner and the outer are
inextricably linked and inter-dependent. This surely is the basis of a
systemic approach? For me, the whole experience of a constellation is an
interplay between individual, systemic and field-based phenomena, as is life
in general. We are not separate from our environment. We are not separate
from our past. When we sit in the room, we are there with our whole family
system, past and present, as well as with this particular facilitator and
this particular group at this particular time. All those factors play a part
as far as I am concerned.
The way I make sense of an experience might be individual but of course,
even the making sense can be linked to the particular field in which I find
myself. I remember so well working with couples in groups with their newborn
babies and how frequently a baby would be distressed and if we took the
focus off the baby and concentrated on the tension between the couple, the
baby would immediately calm down. So how do we explain this? Is it to do
with the field-dependent state of the baby, the baby's hyper-sensitivity to
its mother's and father's emotional states, tensions in the room, my posture
as a facilitator, the noises of other infants, some historical event the
infant is re-experiencing - to do with birth, time in the womb, conception,
systemic phenomena prior to its birth? And what calms the infant? The
release of tension in the couple, in the mother, in me as the facilitator,
in the group as a whole?
And why is that two people could have a very similar life experience looked
at objectively but make sense of it in such different ways? Is this an
individual process or is that also an inter-play between the individual and
their environment, life experience etc.?
Interesting topic.
Barbara
On 10/23/07, Kenn Day <enki@xxxxxxx> wrote:
As I understand it, Johannes has suggested that the constellations we
see set up in the field are in fact presentations of the client's
inner experience. I would not argue with that, as far as it goes.
However, one of the key elements of shamanic work, which applies to
Constellations as well, is a state of consciousness in which the
inner and the outer self overlap into a consistant whole. This is
often referred to as "liminal consciousness". As a facilitator, I am
very aware of entering this liminal state in order to perceive the
dynamics of the field. I am equally aware that another thing seems to
happen in the field as well and that is the interaction with more
than the individual client's view of what is going on.
It is not enough to say that the constellation represents the inner
experience of the client and leave it at that. We also need to
recognize that this inner experience is engaged with the family or
organizational soul, and thus is capable of expressing and revealing
things that the individual is completely unaware of.
Other thoughts on this?
namaste,
Kenn
P.S. Cris - it was great meeting you in NC. I hope we can do it again
sometime.
