FLASHBACK TO OCTOBER --- SYSTEMIC CONSTELLATIONS FOR PERSONAL HEALING AND GROWTH

Perhaps the Germans will dance again, if this is any indication.

Some years ago I made the acquaintance of an immensely intelligent, talented, and compassionate American woman, whom I will call Kathy because that is her name. I met her during a spiritual workshop focusing on personal transformation and growth. It was the sort of thing that, after attending similar events for years, finally gave me the strength to make the major changes in my own life that I am now in the midst of.

In the past few years my friend Kathy has been trained in a new methodology for creating positive change in both individuals and organizations. It involves using actual people as representatives of important issues in the client's (or clients') life, even other persons, such as parents, children, or ancestors. The placement of these representatives by the client within a specified space, and their movement within it, reveals things about the client's feelings toward the issues (and persons) in their life or in their past. It seems that changing the pattern of the representatives within the space can actually promote change in the currents of the client's life.

Now I must apologize to Kathy and all the other practitioners of this methodology for describing it so imperfectly. I am not qualified to discuss the psychological underpinnings of this technique, and I am trying to be brief. I encourage my readers to learn more by googling "systemic constellations".

The remarkable thing is that this method originated in Germany. It seems to have been developed primarily by a German psychologist named Bert Hellinger, who has a website of his own (www.hellinger.com). I will quote from his bio on the website: "One last influence --- or perhaps, better, companion --- must be mentioned: Hellinger's archetypically German love of music. Yes, opera; and, yes again, especially Wagner." Interesting. Coincidence?

In October my friend Kathy attended the Second International Organizational Constellation Training Intensive, which was held in (or near) Amsterdam. An acquaintance of hers, who is also a student of this technique and who also attended this event, happens to live near Stuttgart. He and Kathy decided to hold a small workshop offering this method on their way to Amsterdam.

When I learned about this, I knew I had to go, only to see Kathy, a familiar American face, if for no other reason. It turned out to be my only real excursion away from Mannheim during all of last semester. (Worms and the Pfaelzerwald are too close to count.) (And I went to Zuerich in December, but the semester for me was over by then.)

So on Friday the 13th I took the train to Stuttgart and then the one to Ludwigsburg, where Kathy's colleague had suggested that we meet. I will call him Christoph, because that is his name. He treated Kathy and me to lunch, but still had work to do before the weekend, so Kathy and I explored the grounds of the Palace in Ludwigsburg on our own.

It was October, so there were lots of pumpkins. Lots and lots of pumpkins. Including one about the size of a Volkswagen: the European champion, I believe. The idea was that it was supposed to be about Halloween, which ironically is known in Germany as an American holiday (although it actually has its roots in Europe). The people who ran the gardens there incorporated into their displays every American stereotype they could think of, not just Halloween but cowboys and Indians, a teepee made of pumpkins. It was all very odd.

We met up with Christoph for dinner. He took us to a little town across the Neckar (yes, the Neckar flows by Stuttgart, too) called Marbach, and there we were in old Europe again, like in the Old City of Heidelberg. On the way to the restaurant we walked by the house where Friedrich Schiller was born. There was a plaque.

Christoph had been kind enough to put Kathy and me up for the night. There weren't enough beds, but fortunately he had an extra mattress and let me sack out in his home office.

The workshop had been originally planned to be in Christoph's place near Stuttgart. But it turned out all the other participants live near Frankfurt. So it was decided to go to them. Early Saturday morning we rose and got in Christoph's car for the 130-mile drive (I did the conversion) to Frankfurt. We made it in less than an hour and a half. It was to this day the only time I've been in a car in Germany so far.

The workshop was held in the home of one of the participants. There was still plenty of space, because there were only seven of us altogether, including Kathy, who facilitated, and Christoph, who assisted, primarily by providing German interpretation. Together with Christoph's place, it was the first time I'd been inside an actual German residence.

Christoph's place was an apartment, but it was palatial by German standards. I live in a house in America. Christoph's apartment was bigger. This is very unusual here, I take it.

The workshop was in a house, I assume a typical one, in a typical German suburb near Frankfurt. It was what we would call ranch style, with a small yard and a privacy fence all the way around, including the front, right by the sidewalk. So no one could see the front yard. It was a typical suburban neighborhood, except that the yards were smaller and the houses closer together than in America. And when we broke for lunch, we walked to the restaurant. It was a good distance, too. But for Germany, too close too drive.

Interesting note: Our host was a gentleman who is a skilled professional and occupies a position of authority in a major, well-established enterprise. In America a person in his position would be earning a very large income. Such a person would probably live in a 20,000 - 30,000 square foot mansion (Mcmansion?) on a 5 or 10 acre lot. At least. Myers Park, or South Charlotte, or the shores of one of the Catawba lakes. But here in Germany this man lives in an ordinary house, not much bigger than the one I live in, in an ordinary neighborhood. Is he paid so much less? Or does he merely choose to spend his money more sensibly? I was too polite to ask.

But enough about the environs.

The systemic constellation method is not specifically spiritual in the narrow sense of the word; there is nothing religious about it. But Kathy's previous background was in more overtly spiritual contexts, and she began the session by establishing that the space we were working in was a space apart from ordinary life, and by explaining that she used the constellation technique as a tool in the context of transformational ritual. In fact, the title of the workshop was "Systemic Constellation as Transformational Ritual".

By the way, just to be clear, the "workshop", as they called it, was not for the purpose of teaching this method, but to actually use it to addresss the issues of the participants. These issues, of course, are personal, so I cannot go into detail about what happened that day.

But I can say that the participants were an older group than the people I had been associating with --- college students --- the youngest were in their thirties, and a couple of them were even older than I am. Or at least I think so. And their concerns were the concerns of mature adults. Or perhaps they were not so different from the concerns of younger people. Or my own concerns at this pivotal time in my life. What should I be doing with my life? Where do I go from here? Some of them were in transition: tired of what they had been doing, seeking a new direction, not just an income (as a younger person might be concerned with), but something more fulfilling.

It was good to see that others, too, in the middle (or past the middle) of their lives are realizing that there is more to life than making money and are looking for ways to fulfill themselves as human beings. And this is happening in Germany, too.

Of course, it could be that the sort of person who is attracted to this kind of experience is not the typical German. It is work that requires self-examination, honesty with oneself, and a certain amount of openness. One must be willing to reveal intensely personal things (or have them revealed) in front of the other participants. But it is happening here in Germany. More than that, as I said before, this particular form of exploration started here.

These Germans on this day had the courage to be open with themselves and the rest of us. They spoke freely about what was going on in and beneath the surface of their lives. This type of experience often elicits strong emotion, as mental blocks are recognized and cleared. The release can be quite cathartic. It was fascinating to see the stereotypical German restraint be laid aside for the sake of personal growth.

Not entirely, however. At the end of the day there were handshakes, not hugs. (Except for a couple of the women.) But it was clear that beneath the surface we really are all much the same. Our joys and longings are much the same. As I have always believed.

It may seem odd that am writing about something that happened over 4 months ago. Yes, I got way behind with the blog, and I am not going to pretend that I can catch up and write about everything that happened. But this day was too significant not to write about. On this day I learned more about the German people than in all the rest of the semester put together.

At the end of the day we all returned to ordinary reality, to ordinary consciousness. We said our goodbyes, with handshakes (a couple of hugs), and went home. But a deep connection, a connection beyond words, had been formed between us all. Temporary, perhaps, like everything else in this life. But still a connection. I really hope I get to see them again some day.