One in the Field: A Unifying Energy
Constellation work has been, for me, the culmination of all I have learned about Energy and the Interconnection and Oneness of all living beings. The work begins as a group experience where participants agree to be representatives for people and elements in a person’s story. The goal is to see what past unconscious issues or dynamics might be affecting the client’s life in a negative way.
Those who attend a Constellation usually feel stuck in some area of their life whether in their relationships, their work, their health, or their general sense of well-being. What is so amazing about this work—and one that sets it apart from other therapeutic methods—is the ability of the representatives to access information about people who are strangers to them.
It’s hard to believe that we can feel other’s feelings, sensations, and movements toward or away from us. Sometimes a representative will even report physical symptoms that the people they are representing also suffered. One representative, for example, reported a sharp pain in his chest. He later found out, upon further inquiry of the client, that the person he represented had been shot in the chest during World War II.
Who is chosen as a representative by the facilitator or the client may seem random, yet so often, the issues of the person they are representing mirror their own issues. At other times, even the names of the representatives are the same as the person they are representing.
More interestingly, there are times where the representative is standing in for someone who was a perpetrator in a situation where they (the representative) had been a victim in their own life. This “walk a mile in another’s shoes” kind of experience changes how the representative then processes their own victimization. Empathy flows where bitterness once lived. Finally, in follow-up communications with participants, it is not uncommon to hear that they received a call from the alienated family member whom they had just presented.
Coincidence? Possibly. But I have seen this so often, I have come to expect it. At the end of most workshops, even observers who have not taken an active part in a particular Constellation will thank the client who presented the issue. Many times, it paralleled their own story so much that they felt unburdened and at peace about what showed up.
What does Science have to say about the Field?
We tend to think that the brain is the center of consciousness. But what if what we think of as our “mind” or “soul” is really inside and outside our individual body?
Science has been catching up with what the mystics have always told us about the nature of life and the soul. Phenomena such as premonitions and clairvoyance were unexplainable until recently. Now, many scientists have begun to explore the fascinating facets of Energy as being intrinsic to understanding these phenomena.
Biologist Rupert Sheldrake, for one, has identified a “morphogenic field” to explain how intelligence or consciousness exists in a field outside the body. Sheldrake points out how schools of fish move in perfect harmony without any one leader, communicating almost telepathically. Anyone who has watched starlings can attest to this same dramatic phenomenon.
Remarkably, monkeys automatically develop a new skill once a certain number of them learn it. There seems to be a tipping point beyond which a new skill becomes the norm. Though less publicly obvious, researchers continue to find new discoveries happening in different parts of the world at the same time. Learning on one continent seems to transfer to another continent without any contact or intervention.[1]
In the realm of prayer and spirituality, there have been many studies on long-distance healing. These studies show that intention and focus have a positive effect on the recipient’s overall sense of well-being. Reiki has been the focus of some of these studies with similar outcomes. In one large-scale study, a single session of Reiki was found to have a significant positive impact on a number of physical and psychological issues.[2]
Similarly, there are studies on how one person’s thoughts can affect another’s strength. I have often marveled at the accuracy of muscle testing, or applied kinesiology. One person is asked to secretly think a positive thought, while the strength of a second volunteer is tested in a blind exercise.
The outcome is surprising: Positive thoughts—even one word such as Love or Joy—increase the level of strength in the second volunteer’s ability to hold up their arm. Negative thoughts reduce their ability to do so. More notably, increasing the number of people sending positive thoughts has two measurable outcomes: it reduces the ability of the person holding a negative thought to do so, and it increases their muscle strength.
These observations suggest rethinking the power we have, in situations of personal conflict or national disputes, to impact the outcome with how we think about the situation!
In many scientific fields of inquiry, there is growing acceptance that we live in a “holotropic” universe—that each of us is one part of an interconnected system. These connections are not entirely random, and the system appears to consistently be moving toward unity and coherence.[3]
Science has further theorized that we can only know about 4% of what we call our physical world, 27% is made of dark matter that we cannot see, and 69% is made of dark energy which is invisible for us.[4] The implications of this are far-reaching if you think about it: What we see is only about 4% of what is really going on…
Putting It All Together
“When we focus our attention in the moment
to our bodily sensations, feelings, emotions, and movements
with the intention of being of service to each other,
we can access a new way of seeing our experience.”
Essentially, Spirituality has taught that we are not individuals with a separate consciousness or soul—but that there is a unifying Source, Consciousness or Energy. We are all a part of it and we all draw from it. It is connecting to this source that can bring us into wholeness. In Constellation work, we call the container that holds all of this information the “Knowing Field”.
Two researchers compared their respective mutual findings about the oneness of life. Alexander Lazlo, working from a spiritual perspective compared what scientist Ervin Lazlo identified as a holographic understanding of how the world works. Science and Spirituality, while using different language, acknowledge the same observation:
“When we work with the understanding that spirituality is the embodied and enacted awareness of the interdependence of all things, it serves as a pathway to sourcing, sensing, and coming into sacred relationship—with self, others, the more-than-human world, our ancestors and future generations, and the deepest realms of cosmic being.”[3]
This comparison describes what happens in Constellations as well:
When we focus our attention in the moment to our bodily sensations, feelings, emotions, and movements with the intention of being of service to each other, we can access a new way of seeing our experience. It can show us what is needed to bring us into a space of peace, harmony and wholeness with ourselves and each other. It takes being present to the moment, suspending judgment, and being open to the possibility of redefining our story from a deeper and more expansive perspective. From there, miracles can happen.
In our next part in this mini-series, I will describe one of my first personal experiences of Constellation work. I will share how what showed up in the workshop changed not only my perception of the root of my distress but also opened my personal and professional world beyond measure.
What experiences have changed your perception of your world?
Share your comments at the bottom of the page.
Special thanks to:
https://medium.com/broaderinsights/morphogenic-fields-5b06600438bc
Alexander Laszlo & Ervin Laszlo (2021): Understanding Oneness: How Science and Spirituality See the World*, World Futures, DOI: 10.1080/02604027.2020.1871165
https://www.space.com/11642-dark-matter-dark-energy-4-percent-universe-panek.html