System Theory

During the Psychosynthesis training we had a guest teacher Mark Horowitz. He introduced System Theory that for me was complementary when looking at interaction with others. Psychosynthesis too looks at the whole of us, but it starts from the individual process and when in touch with the core of us our actions are in aligned with life in general.
 

What is system theory; in short it brings understanding to what is a functional and dysfunctional system; a system being a group (family, groups, organisation..).
In general human systems are created to make life better and are defined by some boundary (for example common purpose).

All of us play a part in human systems where we can create conditions either for well-being or craziness. In these systems the change in one person affects the whole and also the change in the whole system affects all individuals; here we can see how interconnected we are in a system.

What we also need to understand is that the system does take on a life of its own as we emerge with multitude people within the system (or with a system of two participants). We can look at the system like own identity or personality, with own behaviours and conscious and unconscious rules. And these behaviours and rules of the systems can either be Life-affirming (functional) that is supportive and energising or Life-deadening (dysfunctional) that can have low morale and fighting.

Healthy system would be described as a Life-affirming system where the participants are nurtured and while people take care of the wellbeing of the system itself. Life with capital L as Mark defines it to indicate the largest whole and also as he believes this whole to be sacred and mysterious.
In a healthy system there is information flow and all are treated as human beings where individuals can make choices for themselves and for the system as a whole.

Unhealthy system is seen as Life-deadening as it can be destroying individuals aliveness and sense of self. Mark believes that extreme dysfunctional systems can for example include secrecy, isolation, control of members, paranoia and sense of righteousness.

In the dysfunctional forces the aids are: Observing the system as whole, as an entity, the finger pointing to do not serve, but rather seeing how WE all are responsible and start the discussion of what action WE as a system need to take together. Here the individual might also need to create courage to express what is needed from others, what the individual can offer and also expressing who they are (as an expression of Life). Any “feeling like a victim” can work well for the wake-up call for reclaiming one's own power and choice back in any relationship or situation. Individuals also need to see how to express care and love in a way that brings people together. Empathy and compassion for others is also needed but in a way that the individual does not give up their own needs or group’s needs + listening skills in a way that the system can actually learn and grow.

If we get to understand how the human systems work we get to also help these systems to become more Life-affirming. The pitfall of not understanding how the system works, the system can start to take a life of its own and even end up dictating the conditions of our lives.
So coming back to the reminder; in general the purpose of the system was that the system originally is created to make life better.

If you are called to more depths of System Theory + how to communicate in the ststem that brings more love, power and Life, Mark Horowitz has written a book;; “The Dance of WE” ~ “The mindful use of LOVE and POWER in human systems”.
For those called to understand how to express themselves in a system I would also recommend "NVC; Nonviolent Communication - A language of life" by Marshall Rosenberg, PhD. ~ Conscious communication setting principles that support compassion, collaboration, courage and authenticity; increasing meaning, connection and satisfying relationships ~. You can also find a lot of videos in YouTube about NVC.

Inner freedom of choice

PART 1/3 Inner freedom of choice (introduction and the ‘self’)

My final presentation on Psychosynthesis training was about ‘inner freedom of choice’ and what that actually means. It included my own process, learnings and the steps taken during our whole training + included relationship dynamics and system thinking (bigger groups e.g. family, work community) as a base.

Here I’ll present the theoretical framework behind individual as you may yourself reflect what might be meaningful for you at this point in your life.

So, coming to the inner freedom of choice: When we get to be in the contentless awareness we can make conscious choices. Simple, however so many factors influence this in the light of Psychosynthesis (transpersonal psychology that combines both the personality and transpersonal aspects).

So this place of contentless awareness is called the ‘self’ which contains the awareness and also our aligned will that is strong, skilful and good..

How to even experience this place of being? Psychosynthesis meditations aids there, into presence, awareness and surely many other forms of conscious methods touch here too.

This place of ‘self’ is known to be a place of awareness beyond any personality content. By personality content I mean, the way you for example are with other people and with some others you might be seeing different behaviour in yourself.

This place of ‘self’ is also a place from where you get to observe. Observing the present thoughts, feelings, sensations. Being aware of them as an observer.

Coming back to making choices. In psychosynthesis we look at six different psychological functions that can help us to inform. The functions of the ‘self’. These are our thinking, sensations, feelings, imagination, desire/impulse and intuition. However some can be distorted, weak, overruling. But there are ways to bring these functions more into balance so that they can actually act as our allies and not against us.


PART 2/3 Inner freedom of choice (personality)

Then the personality part and referred to conscious choice making. There are many parts of us that have different wants and needs. Some of the behaviour is very rooted into childhood by survival, how we got attention and were even confirmed by it. However these parts of us also have a beautiful inherent quality underneath.

Many times we are pulled by our parts of personality that do make the decisions. And surely the needs of the parts of us needs to be validated and met, however this can be different from a really aligned place of choosing. Parts of us have wants (that can be quite rigid), needs (that already are more flexible) and a quality underneath (bit about qualities later in the text). Sometimes a part of us can even behave in a way that is getting further from the real need and the quality that it can bring. For example; part that can be called a ‘doer’ can be so busy, good at doing things and have a strong will, the need can be order and quality harmony and peace. If this ‘doer’ really takes over (with a strong will which is not the same than aligned will that is also skilful and good), then the person might not even be able to experience the core qualities (peace and harmony). The harm only starts when the parts of us start to take us (the self) over.. we have all these parts of us and thorough them we do express our personality, however we are more than that. We are something way beyond.

Back to the conscious choice making.. if it becomes hard to make these conscious choices we also do then need to integrate our past related learnings; such as these parts of us (sub personalities that may take us over), look at l.o.a.f.ings (limiting ideas, outdated beliefs, assumptions, fears) and F, C, R (family-, culture-, religion of origin).

The idea is to bring these to light, into our consciousness. Recognise, accept, co-ordinate, integrate and eventually into synthesis.

What this allows is that we have more choices visible. Sometimes feeling you do not have a choice? Most likely it is a strong past learning of yours that do not see other options..


PART 3/3 Inner freedom of choice (values, meaning, qualities + conclusion)

What also makes the conscious choice really our calling is that we realise what we value, what has meaning for us and in Psychosynthesis this is expressed firstly in the light of qualities, not forms. For example a form can be a job title, house, vacation and quality can be energy, peace, joy, ease, love.. If it's hard to think what are meaningful qualities for you; you can look at the meaningful forms in your life and ask from yourself; what does this actually bring to me? Sense of love, union, thankfulness, bliss, freedom, wisdom.. ? And to know these qualities you can start to see that the forms do not need to be the same. Form can change. There are many ways of meeting these qualities. Also sometimes as we see that some forms do not function anymore, it might be that we do not meet our meaningful qualities anymore and that is why it is actually beneficial to let go of the forms as they do not serve anymore.

There are many practices and guided meditations to access all of this. Psychosynthesis coaching also uses ‘just’ talking and reflecting to come to insights and to next steps to be taken.

So this is the theory behind coming to inner freedom of choice that is aligned, it’s also about owning your choice, taking responsibility, stepping into being the willer/the chooser or maybe disowning and finding out that something is not in the alignment.

Loving the Buddhist saying of a ‘pointing finger can guide us to the moon’. For me the frame of Psychosynthesis is like the finger, as without it we might not even notice the moon. In this Buddhist saying the emphasis is not to mistake the finger for the moon, but to look at the moon 🌕

In our expanding consciousness we may easily be present in our beingness and take profound actions into manifestations that are connected to our inherent qualities.

If Psychosynthesis calls you already, you can be in touch with my partner as I’ll be starting my maternity leave ❤️
Our instagram is @livingconsciouslife and contact details can be found through our web too: www.livingconscious.life