and that is to bring into union that which has been made separate."
Bert Hellinger
" Bert Hellinger was born in Germany in 1925. His parents' faith protected the family from becoming Nazi, and, as a youth, he was suspected of being an enemy of the people. At twenty he began to train for the priesthood. For sixteen years he worked as a missionary among the Zulus in South Africa, where he was both parish priest and director of a large school.
Hellinger's major influences are rich and varied. His early experience included pre-war period in Germany, Nazism - which he refused, and World War 11 and it's effects. As a priest he was exposed to the customs, rituals, and music of the Zulus. An ecumenical training in group dynamics that valued dialogue, phenomenology, and individual human experience was a turning point. After twenty-five years of service, he left his religious order, returned to Germany, began training as a psychoanalyst, and married (Sophie). ... ... ... ...
Hellinger is led by his spirit of inquiry. he calls his method phenomenological. It is profoundly experiential and experimental. Through empirical testing he has discovered many rules that govern our lives and destinies. However, when Hellinger talks of rules he refuses to be definitive and thus to lose his precious freedom to develop and learn. He is continually testing his rules, as are all those who facilitate using his method. The rules are confirmed, adapted, and sometimes also disproved within his phenomenological method."
Excerpt from: Joy Manne, Family Constellations, A Practical Guide to Uncovering origins of Conflict. Forward by Bert Hellinger, 2005.
Image: Bert and Sophie Hellinger - Hellinger Institute
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