First day of the conference

The conference is all organized in a perfect German way. And today was a mix of a formal welcome, a World Café, some presentations and short and long workshops.

What is important to share?

First my experience of the World Café. I was a table host for three rounds of conversation around some questions, of which the most important one was: “What is the ‘Big Why’ that is worth contributing my very best?” And the café format did what it was intended to do: the conversation was rich, deep and meaningful. Every table ended with writing down two theses, sentences as a harvest of the conversation. Our table came up with: “Share with each other about the such-ness of evil.” and “Daring to bring lightness even in difficult situations.” Imaging something like 80 people reading all two sentences like these…

In the afternoon I attended the workshop from the Research Group on Political Constellations. The system you deal with in Political Constellations transcends the system of a person or a family, even the system of an organization. It has to do with government, economics, cultures, international organizations, religions and so on. We had some theory, even some research and also a real practical experience. The way Albrecht Mahr (initiator of this research group and of this conference) facilitated this constellation was fascinating in itself. A way to speak about it, is that he trusted the collective wisdom of the system. He allowed the representatives to move in their own way. He only started with a few of them and gradually more people in the audience reported bodily feelings and emotions. They were asked to stand up and follow their impulse. In this way the constellation unfolded. Although there was no ‘solution’ he stopped the constellation by asking all representatives to stand in a big circle. This was not ‘pushing’ a solution but a way to allow the client to give equal attention to all the elements of the system.
Albrecht told us he holds the hypothesis that elements that are in conflict with one another are in equal ways important for the solution of the problem. This is for him the real Collective Wisdom.

This brings me to the theme of the conference, not only as it is officially announced, but also how it is alive in conversations and even dreams of the participants. In our little circle many stories come up about the evil, the shadow, aggression etc. It seems that we are all stretched over time and space. Stories of ancestors who were racist, or relatives who died in the war; all these stories are asking us to stretch our awareness – and our love! – beyond these borders that we are so used to.

To go beyond conflict asks us to include and transcend. No easy thing, because we have to give up to look at evil as being ‘bad’, as a thing that we want to exclude from our awareness. It asks us to listen, deeply, to ourselves and all the others – also persecutors! It asks us to see them as human beings and as connected to myself.

Stretching my human being-ness -2nd day

Whaaaw! What a morning was this!

The theme of the congress, in a short version ‘Resolutions for conflicts’, is working on me and in me.
We started this morning at 7.30u with our little groups sitting in silence. After half an hour or so, people started to share little, personal stories. I felt myself sitting with some constraining, but soft pressure in my chest. It didn’t feel like my ‘own’, but as a tension, a push for some kind of stretching within our group or the larger conference. Someone told of her indigenous ancestors, and how they are all dying on the planet. This somehow touched my pain and it released a little bit in a kind of firm commitment to do ‘whatever I could’ to restore life-affirming living in the world.

No wonder the first presentation of the day, by Eva Mozes-Kor - ‘From Dr. Mengele’s Labs to forgiveness and Peace’ - went on with the same theme. This 72-year old lady told in a firm voice her story of being in a concentration camp as a 10-year old girl. The first lesson she offered to the audience was “Never give up!” Although you don’t see the solution, keep looking for it and it will show itself sooner or later. Everybody was deeply impressed how she went through her process of contacting one of the doctors who conducted the medical experiments in the camps and how she came to forgive him, because he showed himself as a human being. After her lecture she got a stand-up applause. She insisted on going beyond justice, but instead go for reconciliation; to really look and acknowledging what was/is.

I talked with my neighbour on how it is easier to find the persecutors of war crimes than the ones who are guilty of the dying indigenous people. As if it is a side-effect of capitalism of what was not intended to be bad. However; by now we all know it is bad and it can be our personal choice to step out of the system, and really look at it. Then we are able to act in a different way. It reminded me of a shocking experience yesterday noon, seeing that so many people at my table left sometimes a lot of food on their plates, even if they picked it up themselves. It shocked me as the basic act in capitalism ‘taking more than you need’.

The next lecture was more spiritual and not so easy to grasp, but what I understood for myself was the message to go beyond the battle, beyond the fight and ‘to feed’ your demon. The image offered was of really looking at your demon – whatever it is – and ‘to offer’ your self and to let your self blend with your demon; then there is no more battle and the demon becomes your ‘daimon’; your unique inspiration.

Next came Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela, a lady from South-Africa who was helping with the reconciliation process. Her presentation made a lot of impression! She told her own story of connecting with the ‘head of evil’ of the South-African police. She called it a re-humanisation; connecting with the human being that this man was, humanizing our enemies. Forgiveness is possible when the perpetrators show remorse; and after that people can live without the urge to enact out the trauma and the revenge again. She said it is a slow process and in demands the difficult work of dialogue, but her stories gave a lot of hope what is possible within humanity.

I have to admit that I had to stretch myself throughout this whole morning. What these three women brought on the stage was immensely touching in many, many ways. I have to dive deep in my own humanity to be able to hold it and integrate it. But I feel called to do it and I feel it is working in my cells and bones.

Right now the party is starting and I will be happy to use the gift of moving and dancing to integrate all this in a deeper way in my body.

The individual and the circle

I'm already back home but I want ot complete my notes about my experiences in the conference.

It felt really good to have this little home-group. We arranged to have the opportunity to gather every morning and evening 'in circle'. Although most of us only knew two or three other before, we were pretty much one group and felt at home. Especially after the first day, which was very full of information, it was a big relief for me to sit in circle and in silence for a while. After silence we shared what was present. This sharing of what had touched us deepened our sense of community.
Of course I’m not able to give a report of the whole conference as I can only be in one place. Sometimes there were 10 tot 15 possible workshops and presentations we could choose from. Add to that the numerous conversations at breakfast, in the breaks, during lunch and so on … That’s why I will invite our little group to write their experiences and reflections too (and I will post them here).

The workshop I attended on the morning of the third day stated also the importance of being ‘in circle’. Francesca Mason-Boring, a Shoshone, gave as title to her workshop: The International Collective Indigenous: Constellations as Ceremony. A Fundamental Human Technology on Collective Wisdom. She named the circle, smudging an the pow-wow (a ceremonial gathering) as ‘indigenous, universal technologies’. They have proven their value over many, many centuries and we find them in tribes spread all over the world. Many of us were deeply touched by ht hand-shaking or the greeting one-by-one. Somebody asked: “What if would start a conference in this way?” And what if next time we would prepare in advance – like it was or is done by native tribes – by asking help for opening up and cleaning ourselves to be able to give to the community? Surely the collective intelligence and wisdom would enhance a lot!

I also want to share something from the workshop “Hitler in us.” by Bertold Ulsamer. He spoke in a very casual way, but what he said and the questions he asked us to answer were very profound. One of the first questions was: “Which qualities or characteristics do I link with Hitler? Name 3 of them.” I came up with: strong will; blocked heart energy and using the power of archetypes. Can you imagine my surprise when he asked later on “Where did I experience these three qualities in my every day life?” that in a flash I saw that it are exactly the qualities my friends used to give me negative feedback on!
Ulsamer asked if it is/was one leader who seduced us? And why could it happen? He answered it by saying that capitalism doesn’t provide a sense or place of belonging; and that it doesn’t give us the inner power to act. So we are happy to follow a leader and in that way we belong to a group. It re-assured in me the importance of circle, networks, communities and the power of inner leadership.

In the last afternoon I attended the lecture of Hunter Beaumont, one of the early students of Bert Hellinger. His basic question is: If the one who I think I am, is not who I am, then who am I and what else can be possible? And then: And what if the world is not what we thought it to be? He invited to forgo the temptation of answering the question and to stay in the open inquiry. When the soul gets interested in an open question she becomes light, transparent, and the world in which she is living becomes open as well. This quality of openness has to do with the sacred, the divine. “Where two or more of you gather in my name there will I be also”. So we need each other, the collective to do it!

I would like to end my report by the writing of Albrecht and Brigitta Mahr, the organizers of this conference. “Collective Wisdom and its dark sibling, the potential for collective stupidity and destruction, are belonging to us, to the same human family. Against this backdrop it is our heartfelt wish for this conference that together we discover entirely new possibilities to nourish and to strengthen the roots of our collective wisdom. The big world problems are collective problems and it seems to us that currently we are challenged by evolution to unfold collective intelligence together and to use it for the best – at this conference and wherever in the world we may be right now.”