Have looked through my pile of notes, but cannot find the ones from Summer of 2000 in San Rafael, CA. where Bert did a very moving constellation with an organ donor. So this is from memory only, (perhaps others who were there can add to it): the client was a man who had donated an organ (?kidney) to another man. After donating the organ, he became psychotic and had been in that state for several months. Bert set up reps for the client (psychotic man), the organ, and the recipient. The organ only had eyes for the donor. In fact, she went to him and "glommed on", and said, "I can't get close enough. I want to be inside of you." It turns out that this was the second donor, that the recipient had rejected the first organ as well. When the first donor and organ were set up, that organ too wished to return to the person it came from, in fact felt betrayed when given away. When the recipient faced a rep. for death, he calmed. Now, it could be that when the fear of death is resolved, the man can more easily accept treatment, in this case a donor organ. However, the organs did not ever accept being removed from their "home" and given away, but I don't think that medicine would not readily accept the idea that the organ was rejecting the recipient. I have blind-copied this to the person who represented the organ, and perhaps she will send a reply if she can remember more, or if there are corrections to be made in my memory.
Also, found this in a transcript re: adoption (Taipai, Bert 10/11/01); it refers to a constellation that had just been done (I do not have a transcript of the constellation); as always with Bert's statements, they are true, and their opposite are also true...:
"In family constellations it is very improtant that the therapist has no compassion with those who were guilty. If such a mother would come to a psychotherapist, how many psychotherapists would have pity on her? What happens if they have pity on the mother? How is thier attitude towards the child? They have no pity on the child. Therefore in family therapy, the therapist first of all gives a place in his heart to the person who has suffered most. And this is the child. He looks for a solution for the child, and he does not take away any responsibility from those who were cruel to the child. The truth was, that they gave away the child forever. If this truth is covered up, for instance if the mother would tell the child, "You know at this time I had to work and I was not able to care for you", then she would behave like a child, and the child must behave like her parent, taking care of her. So the reality is just distorted. So, the therapist has no fear to tell the truth as it is, and to tell the truth in front of the people, as it is. Here, the parents were faced with the truth. The child was faced with the truth, and the adoptive parents too. They had to recognise that the child actually is loyal to her natural parents. Only if the child succeeded in a clear separation from her natural parents, could she turn toward her adoptive parents. Many adopted children are angry at their natural paretns because they gave them away. But they do not turn that anger toward their natural parents, they direct that anger toward the adoptive parents. So this is very difficult."
I also found this passage from the same workshop: Bert said, " The phenomenological field of vision ranges from a narrow point of view to a spacious awareness, it extends from what is close at hand to distant vistas. This means, instead of looking only at the client, the therapist also looks at the entire family; and instead of looking only at the client and his family, he looks beyond them, to a larger field of phenomena and to the larger soul containing all of it. An individual and his family are bound together by a larger field and affected by the forces of a greater common soul, which appears to guide and direct them. Furthermore, it seems clear that a problem may only be understood fully, and solutions may only emerge, in the context of a larger view. If I hope to assist the client's soul, I must look at his soul as being guided by the family soul. But if I only look at the client and his family, I may recognise what may have lead to entanglements, but the solution may not present itself, until a connection has been made to those forces and dimensions of soul which lie beyond the individual and his family. These dimensions are beyond our influence. We can merely remain open and recpeptive to them. When we focus on the essential during a constellation, the greater soul may provide insights into a potentially healing image, a healing sentence and a possible next step. The therapist merely makes himself open to be touched by this larger soul, by refraining from any direction on his part, and remaining deeply humble towards all the he fears, even fear itself. Then suddenly a picture, a work, or a sentence may emerge, guiding him to the next step. But it will always be a step into the dark and the unknown. Only in the end will it be clear whether this was the right step, or if it actually helped. By taking a phenomenological stance we come into contact with these dimensions of soul, and this is more easily accomplished by non-doing than by doing. It is the therapist's own focused presence that assists the client in adopting a phenomenological attitude himself, and to receiving the insights and strength it offers. Often the client cannot bear what is being revealed and closes down against it. The therapist consents even to that. The therapist does not allow himself to become entangled in the destiny of the client and his family. This may seem cold-hearted. But our experience has shown, that insight gained in any other way, remains imcomplete and tentative, for the client as well as for the therapist."
So eloquent! all the best, sheila
Sheila Saunders, RN, MFT Systemic Family Solutions sheila@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx www.systemicfamilysolutions.com PO Box 2467 Fairview, NC. 28730 828-273-5015 on 29/1/06 11:43 AM, DIANE YANKELEVITZ at diane@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote: