Summary Notes
Collective Constellation:
Unpacking the Hidden Dynamics of the November 3 Election
Conducted online October 16, 2020
Facilitated by Harrison Snow
Notes taken by Bruce Nayowith
Sponsored by CBODN and Keystone Conversations
Overview
Participants discussed in dyads two questions: 1) Why does this topic interest us?
2) What should we remember to do to foster good experience for all?
Framing of the Constellation
Our focus assumption and questions: If we see the current election dynamics as symptomatic of deeper drivers in the national psyche, then;
1-What are those drivers? And 2-what is needed to reduce the disruption and enhance the functionality of the democratic process.
Every system functions based on the relationships between the various parts that make it up. We are asking ourselves; What are the relationships of the different parts in our system that have been highlighted by the election process and, what is needed to restore harmony between those parts?
In this work we don’t show up with judgment or blame or taking sides because that affects the systemic healing. By looking systemically without preconceptions and agreeing to the “what is” that we see we mitigate the blocks that keep the system from coming into balance.
You can choose to or not to represent some part of the system. What you feel may be a strong emotion but it’s likely not yours. If some emotion is directed at you know that it likely is not about you personally. The process is not personal. It pertains to a part or the relationship between the parts. To keep our bias out of the process we will do a blind constellation. The facilitator will know who is in what group but you the representatives will not know till the end of the constellation which group you are representing.
Constellation Representations
The participants were divided up by the computer into 6 group of 5 or 6 members each.
The groups were as followings:
Group One - Trump Supporters
Group Two - Drivers Behind Trump Supporters
Group Three - Biden Supporters
Group Four - Drivers Behind Biden Supporters
Group Five - Election Dynamics
Group Six - What Is Needed
The groups were in their own breakout room for a few minutes and shared what they noticed somatically. Most reported feeling heavy, afraid, tired, angry, overwhelmed and other uncomfortable sensations or emotions. Some of the members of group five were hopeful and concerned. The groups were brought back to the main room and asked to turn off their videos.
Conduct of Constellation
One person who represented his or her group was asked to turn on their video. Groups one, three and five were on the screen initially and asked to report on what their group noticed during the breakouts and what they noticed in the current moment.
The groups representing the supporters of Trump and Biden reported feelings of:
Sinking, beyond my abilities, over my head…..
Drowning….
A conflict between wanting to connect with others, and the amount of courage
it takes to go into an unknown experiential process.
Emotion sinking down from heart into belly. Felt like fear and anxiety….
A lot of uncertainty….
Almost a positive excitement, needed to come up….
Empty in stomach.
Some numbness.
Waiting for some feeling, waiting for what is going to happen….
Feel the potential for violence because of the fear on a mass level…..
“functioning without guts” - not depth, not grounded…..
Despondent, listless. I have given up….
The representative for the Election, group 5, reported more positive feelings
but was also concerned and overwhelmed: She stated:
Many feel lost…..
Wondering what can help people add strength to what they are…..
wanting to help, and, there are so many, so fast….
A lot of competition for my positive energy….
Group 1 for Trump stated - I can’t breathe. Pain in my chest. Tightness and constriction
Group 3 for Biden - I feel pretty self-absorbed. This is my orbit now.
Group 1 for Trump- I feel the same. In my tight perimeter. Can’t see the others
Both Trump and Biden groups felt Isolation and self-absorption. They felt they cannot really connect with each other or Group 5…..
Group 1- We are two different tribes of pain but feel very different and separate from each other….. One in holding it all in the chest/heart; the other one in belly…..
Group 5 – the Election - I see this as empowerment, and, something is preparing us for changes in the world… feel a lot of positivity…..Like something is emptying out, like a barrel draining… Nothing I can do, makes me nauseous…..
The Representatives for group 2 and 4 were brought in and asked to turn on their videos so others could see them.
Group 2 – The drivers behind Trump Supporters stated:
Feeling a wave of energy…..
Heavy eyes, just go to sleep. Just don’t look…..
Keep your head buried in the sand.
Pressure around throat…
Feel disconnected and alone….
Heaviness in chest….
Empathy towards the others….
Another Trump Driver in group 2 reported that while in their breakout room:
We did not want to see. One of our group put his shawl around his head.
There was heaviness and unwillingness to see in the group
It felt safer to have our eyes closed.
As group 3 and 4 start to connect the member of group 2 with her video on reports:
Group 2- My heart opens towards group 1…..
And group 1 in return states - I feel connected, less isolated, less fearful
Group 3 reports – I am feeling less distress…..to hear that between groups 1 and 2
Group 4- Representing drivers behind Biden Supporters stated:
Felt relaxation and calm at first…
Then the calm became a heaviness that was pressing down on the bodies…..
Tired, heaviness…..
Now, heart is a bit jumpy. Trying to open, feeling afraid…..
The fear seems related to everyone
Group 3 (Biden Supporters) and group 4 (Biden Drivers) now feel connected
to each other and see each other
Group 4 shares with group 3 that she is afraid.
Group 3 acknowledges he hears her and her fear (without judgment)
Group 4 shares - I am relaxed and grounded and has nothing to do with
the election right now….
Group 2 reports that - Something in me settles….
The sharing between 4 and 3….. as they connect authentically,
there is a settling….
Facilitator Comment: Let’s all pause and take this moment in. Something is shifting in a good way. When what has been suppressed is shared authentically and acknowledged there is space for something new to emerge.
Group 5, the Election shares that - I wanted to say, ‘don’t give up’, but knew it was not helpful.
When they connected and expressed their fear, and how the connection is bigger than
the election, that felt very important. Feels like floodgates opened…..
Group 2- the weight came off of my chest….
Groups 1 and 2 interact with each other
Group 1 shares - there is a little opening, focused on 2…… feels like I am safe…..wanting to stay under her wing…..and group 3 and 4 have become more visible to me……
Group 2- it feels safe to look, and to speak.
It is important to hold space for each other…..
I feel warmth…..
Group 1 shares – I am coming out of myself; I can feel her (group 2) rather than just wanting to protect myself…
Group 5- it feels like there was the emptying out of manure. It changed to feeling a sense of a container, something precious. Not ‘empty’, but precious.
It does not have to be filled with something new…. A big contrast to what it was…..
Group 5 - listening to this, feels like the third leg to the stool. Not so wobbly….
Appreciating the permission to let people know that I also am afraid, that I have strength. I can be more diverse in how I express myself….
Group 6 is brought in. This group represented What Is Needed. They are asked
to turn on their videos if they have something they want to say to the other groups.
Facilitator Note: Much of what was needed seemed to have happened at this point in the listening and sharing authentically between the groups 1 and 2 and groups 3 and 4. As the Trump and Biden supporters became more self-aware and honest with themselves they could see and interact with the other group and the election process in more healthy and positive way. Group 6 members had mixed reactions to being brought into the process at the end.
Group 6 (What Is Needed) The first representative for the group shared -
Feeling an expansive form of power that felt very welcoming….
Clearing the old energy of pain and isolation and opening up space for the
accepting of self and each other with the new energy that was coming in…
Two other group 6 representatives shared that:
Some in our group felt expanded, someone else was itching all over….
I felt pain in my chest, very desperate, nauseated….
In this space, it feels desperate - whoever speaks beautiful thoughts...
I cannot trust them…..
Sitting here, and waiting this long to be heard, was difficult.
I wanted to get out of here.
We were connected, but it felt like an island to ourself.
I could not connect to anything.
I had no idea what they were talking about….
Some discomfort in the group, not-knowing who we were and what we were…..
We were disjointed but joined in that discomfort.
We had the solutions but no one was interested in what we had to say.
This was very annoying and I just wanted to walk away ...
Some thoughts shared after the constellation was concluded:
· In 1954, Eisenhower recommended that they put “under God” into the Pledge of Allegiance….because of the communist threat. We need divine intervention now…..
· What happened when there was more honesty in the constellation was moving…..
· It is not about figuring anything out; it’s about being in connection and building authentic relationships. This theme keeps showing up in the 3 other recent collective constellations I’ve done.
· The value of clarity of purpose is what is missing. On the Trump town hall, he was defending himself. The disconnect is between ‘what’s my purpose’ and the activity showing up…
· The manure-like nauseating feeling felt by group 5 must be the potential for cheating, gerrymandering, voting suppression and other disruptive activities.
That is the emptying out… Just give all the people equal rights to vote. Keep our democracy
as it was intended…..
· We have to listen to each other and be concerned about each other as people to people.
Nothing moves if we are in our own tribal circle of self-absorption and fear. Be patience.
Face your pain and discomfort and own what belongs to you.
