Friends - I recently completed my Masters degree in psychology at
Saybrook Graduate School. My culminating project was a paper titled,
"Bert Hellinger's Family Constellation and Its Place in the
Psychotherapeutic Tradition." In the section that discussed the
lineages that led the development of the method, I focused on three
primary sources: existential-phenomenology, family systems theory and
Zulu ancestor worship.
While doing research on a related topic, I came across the website of
the Bert Hellinger Institute Africa. In looking at their site, I saw
the standard blurb about Bert's 16 years living among the Zulu, but
nothing more. I wrote them members of the Institute the following
question:
"You make passing mention in the Introduction page of Hellinger's 16
years living among the Zulus in South Africa. Otherwise, you do not
seem to connect his work to Zulu culture. My question is whether you
agree that Hellinger's stance towards parents and ancestors is closely
related to Zulu ancestor worship? If you do agree, can you reflect on
why this connection is not featured on your website?
I am a member of Chris Walsh's Constellation Talk Yahoo group. If you
would like to respond to the larger community let me know and I will
submit this question to the group.
I look forward to your responses."
I quickly received two very interesting responses. The second included
a request to circulate our exchanges to the Constellation Talk group.
One thing we all share in common is we are English speaking people
living oceans away from England on land originally settled by native
peoples. To me this is a ripe area for discussion.
Chris - Can you assist in having these South African practitioners
gaining access to the Yahoo group?
In the meanwhile, I will forward their responses to me in separate
emails.
Dan
