What we stand for

Bert Hellinger left us two major legacies. Constellations and three survival mechanisms in social systems.

Constellations and three survival mechanisms.
Constellations are a method, a work form, a lively depiction of a system, that makes, what is truly going on in the system, transparent and relatable.

Bert Hellinger’s three survival mechanisms are the personal conscience, the collective conscience and the Spirit-Mind.

The BHIN has given Bert Hellinger’s three consciences different names; the unit conscience, the system conscience and the evolutionary force. Only after adding the principle of phenomenological perception (also Hellinger’s), do these three survival mechanisms become complete and ready for use. Phenomenological perception is value-free and allows you to look at a system as if seeing it for the very first time, giving you a birds’ eye view of the whole system and from a position of wonderment: “What is this system trying to tell us?”

Systemic phenomenological work is very applicable without using a constellation. For example, for teachers to create a good learning environment for their students; for leaders to understand their issues better and make systemic interventions; for coaches to offer systemic coaching without the constellation etc.
At this moment, half of the training programs at BHIN are about how to apply the systemic approach without using the constellation as a method.

BHIN has made the explicit choice to use the constellation only as a method in service of and connected to systemic phenomenological work.

The BHIN has done exceptional work for the ongoing development of constellations, especially in the field of organizational constellations; so-called mini constellations and constellations for greater societal issues. Over the years, there have been some fundamental developments in the underlying principles of family constellations and constellations around symptoms, illness and health. This means that many of the processes and interventions that we used to do, are no longer part of our curriculum. This ‘work in progress’ will undoubtedly continue for a long time to come.

A good example is the work of Cecilio Regojo, who (recently) started an interesting experiment. This is how it works: announce to a room full of people that you will be doing one constellation for everyone at the same time. Not for the group as a whole, but for everyone individually. Every participant is asked to think of a certain situation, maybe a specific case. They are then asked to think of the four most important stakeholders for this case. One of the four stakeholders is you. Four representatives then enter the room: A, B, C and D. Next, each participant determines who of these four stakeholders are the stakeholders in their case. In the eight minutes that follow, the representatives can move around and interact with each other (without words). When the eight minutes are up, the leader stops the constellation. The four representatives can share what they experienced and the participants are allowed to ask them to clarify things.

These constellations have proven meaningful to 80% of participants. (Mind you, they weren’t asked if the constellation brought new insights, a break-through or solutions).

So, a constellation in itself is nothing. Allowing representatives to move when you aren’t sure what you are doing isn’t very useful. Constellations need a firm structure. To facilitate the constellations in a responsible manner as well as to interpret them.

BHIN has chosen the systemic approach as the starting point for all constellations, meaning the three survival mechanisms and the phenomenological perspective. And also, to do interventions and interpret them from this same framework. Together, and closely attuned to the client-system. This could also be a group of 35 managers of the same company. As a whole, not as 35 separate parts. What is noteworthy, is that this is also what Bert Hellinger always used to do, even with his new constellations. Connecting constellations to the systemic consciences and a free, non-judgmental, clean perspective.

Since the introduction of constellations in the Netherlands in 1998, and the introduction of systemic work slightly later, systemic constellations have become an increasingly popular method and the end is far from in sight. The variety of fields where constellations are being used, is equally growing.
The constellation as a method has proven to be extremely attractive and the word “systemic” has become commonplace, and has literally become an attractive concept.

To be clear, constellations can be used for a variety of different disciplines. In the Netherlands, they are used for many concepts and paradigms other than systemic phenomenological work. For example, within NLP, constellations are used to resource people (it can sometimes be life-threatening when someone works in the organization in a position that places a heavy burden on them!!), for constructivist goals, to build a new reality (and sometimes an illusion). And so much more.

We feel that the constellation as a method is used for too many different disciplines in the Netherlands and in some of the 30-odd countries where we work or have worked. And we also feel that the word systemic is used for too many approaches that aren’t systemic phenomenological. The, in itself powerful, concepts of constellations as well as systemic work, are being polluted with many improper approaches and applications. The systemic constellation then loses its power as well as its credibility with the end users. Finally, this pollution doesn’t do much to acknowledge Bert Hellinger and the power of his work and his legacy.

BHIN is seen as one of the most innovative institutes for the development and progression of systemic work, constellations and the application of it in many different areas in society. For BHIN, our key focus is that we work from the starting point of the original DNA, the original sources underlying systemic work.

The three survival mechanisms that Bert Hellinger revealed are, as increasingly seems to be the case, inherent to the human species (and a few species that live in groups such as horses and dogs etc.). This means that the source of systemic work is closely connected to human nature, as a group, as part of evolution, as individual. The deepest sense of our work, be it in multinationals, with politicians, or with a severely ill person, is the connection with what it means to be human in this world.

To us, innovation is nourished by a continuing deeper understanding of how the three survival mechanisms work on the one hand, and with how this connects to the natural systemic intelligence of people and human systems on the other.

New insights can sometimes come to you by chance, and with difficulty. Sometimes they feel uncomfortable, because we start to realize that we have done something in a certain way for a long time and it doesn’t feel right anymore. To us, innovation also means being prepared to stop what we once lovingly started. That is also why, below, we are adding a list of interventions that we no longer do.

Starting in 1996, Bert and others have taught us to work with constellations. In the first courses on family constellations, until 2000, the main focus was on learning how to facilitate a constellation. This was based on a fragmented theory. The theory was mainly about connection, order and balance in giving and taking. It wasn’t until the year 2000, when Bert Hellinger’s letter, “An meine Freunde”, arrived, in which he explained the first two consciences and how they work against each other, that a certain cohesion came about in Bert’s empirical theory of how social systems work. That knowledge base supported constellations.

Soon after, we at BHIN decided to make the systemic approach a central focus of our work. Constellations are not only the most powerful tool we have within this focus, but also the most important source for many, maybe even all, new insights.

Years later, maybe around 2008, Bert came up with the concept of the evolutionary force, the third survival mechanism. It has taken us years to fully grasp this concept and make it workable. Many people who work with constellations in Germany, moved away from this work when Bert introduced this notion of the evolutionary force.

At first, we thought in terms of what people had done in a family system and the entanglements that stem from those actions. Granddad misbehaved, was excluded, and a grandchild now subconsciously starts showing behaviour that resembles granddad’s.

We now know that it is not necessarily about how people behave, but more about events that couldn’t be processed by the system.

Originally, we spoke of entanglements in the family system. About things that had to be solved or disentangled. Until it became clear that these so-called entanglements were actually patterns. Patterns that can be very helpful, yet sometimes form obstacles. Nowadays, we view patterns from a more neutral perspective and we are interested in what those patterns are trying to do for the system.

In the beginning, we tried to solve entanglements or help the client get away from or out of the entanglement. Around 2003, it became clear to Bibi and Jan Jacob, that constellations don’t cause patterns (or entanglements) to go away. What does work is becoming aware, conscious, of the patterns, which helps you deal with them in a better way. This discovery was a fundamental moment of change. It may look like a pattern disappears from the family system but usually this is just appearance. It looks this way because the people involved don’t seem as burdened by it anymore.

The next step is growing beyond the pattern. The only way to do that is to get rid of the exact opposite of the pattern: becoming the pattern. And accepting it. And letting it be part of you. Only then can you grow beyond it, where the pattern is part of your history for good.

Parents no longer give permission to their children to be successful or happy. That too is an illusion, and it keeps the child in the child position. What does work is knowing deep down that you will never get that permission from your parents to do what you need and desire so much. This is what you have to deal with in life. That is where the impulse to grow up comes from. And… the ability to take permission…

Re-ordering is wanting to change the past. And again, this is an illusion. It gets worse when children ask their parents to take their place. It is an implicit invitation for the child to stand above his/her parents. Under the guise of a need for order, more disorder is created. What helps is to see and understand how much disorder there was when you were young. And that as a child, it wasn’t you who created that disorder. And even though it cost you your youth, you have now physically grown up. And now the choice is yours: either remain in the child position or take the risk of being disloyal and of saying: enough is enough…

Originally, every successful constellation ended with the words: “That is the solution.” Solutions are also limitations. Moreover: what is a solution for an individual cannot be a solution for a whole system. And that gets stronger as there are more systems involved.
What we do want to offer are insights that create room for solutions: the ability to take responsibility. What we also want to offer is the start of a transformation process: where a person or organization can face difficult issues and work through them, without even knowing where the system will end up or what its identity will be after the entire process.

In short: we have moved from first-order interventions (solutions) through second-order interventions (insights) towards third-order interventions (working towards a transformative situation) which is visible on the horizon.

BHIN tends to work in service of the evolutionary force. That means that we find ourselves working for organizations and countries that we didn’t choose ourselves, which makes the work exciting and scary at the same time.

Of course, we have to say “no” sometimes. This “no” finds its origins in the so-called unit conscience, in that as BHIN we are deeply connected to the essence of systemic work. To the extent we know it today. Sometimes, we do something out of the box. And we then use that (mistake) to become even more aware of what we want, who we are and who we want to be in the field of systemic work that is developing so quickly, and in the world and the direction the world is moving in.

We are very aware of the generations to come. And in terms of the system conscience: we are aware that the patterns that we added to systemic work may not be the patterns that the next generations full of systemic intelligence need.

We have no ideals in the sense that we want to make the world better. Light and shadow, prosperity and crisis, are all allowed to exist. We are deeply grateful for the position that our work and passion gives us. We are aware of the fact that we haven’t had to deal with deep crises or black periods in a way that many of our clients and the countries that we worked with, have.

We love working with people in smaller and larger-scale situations, where we can make a difference in the world. But we will never really be able to judge if that difference is for the good or the bad.

What we do feel, is that systemic work still has enormous potential. And where the world wants to use that potential, we are more than willing to move towards it, despite the risks.