CONFESSIONS OF A CORPORATE SHAMAN. Harrison Snow

or traumas to conscious awareness help transform a hidden obstacle into a visible resource. The light of awareness generates insights that free up misdirected energy. As the flow moves upward from resources, participants may notice an energetic shift that indicates something changed at the subconscious level. This change supports the desired outcome, which feels more realistic and attainable. No one should claim that a constellation automatically provides a person with his or her desired reality. Skillfully facilitated, however, the constellation should offer a map of the desired outcome linked to actions, resources, and insights that correspond to the second and third levels of consciousness.

       Figure 4-2: Transformation Through Systemic Mapping

       Accessing the Knowing Field

      During a constellation, information is surfaced that leads to new insights and possibilities. The process works by taking intangible mental concepts and giving them a physical and an emotional representation. Information does often emerge, however, that only the issue holder is privy to. Surprised by what has been revealed people want to understand how this happened. The short answer is we really don’t know. One possible explanation is that we are all connected to an “energetic internet” we will call the knowing field. When the representatives in a constellation quiet their verbal mind, they nurture the connection between their nonverbal subconscious mind and the infinite knowing field of all subconscious minds. The endless possibilities of this collective field can provide us with unexpected revelations. Since the information is coming through the subconscious it tends to be a felt-sense of physical and emotional sensations. This felt-sense phenomenologically describes the issue and the solutions that would lead to its resolution.

      A simple exercise offers a visceral insight into how we naturally access this field of knowing. Ask people to sit next to someone they have not yet met. Ask them to write down five characteristics of the new person and five characteristics about themselves on separate notecards. They should do this before they start talking to each other. When they both have finished, ask them to share what they wrote about each other and themselves. Generally, people find the shared cards to be surprisingly accurate even though the writers had very little overt information to go on. Somehow, accurate information was available even though they were not aware of any physical source.

      What if the members of your group already know each other? Another approach for this personal research project is to ask the participants to form triads. One person will be the experimenter and the other two will be the subjects. The experimenters think of someone with whom they have an intense relationship. The relationship could be positive or negative—but not so negative they feared for their safety. The experimenters select one of the subjects to represent themselves and the other subject to represent the person who is in the intense relationship. Without telling the subjects whom they represent, the experimenters position the pairs a few feet apart. The experimenters then touch each subject on the shoulder with the quiet intention in mind of who that subject represents. The subjects are given a few minutes to notice what they notice without any agenda. Then they report how they feel about each other. Again, experimenters find the representatives’ comments are surprisingly accurate. One explanation is that through mirror neurons in the brain we sense what others are feeling. The reaction time, according to some brain researchers, in sensing whether someone is a friend or foe is a mere .07 seconds.¹ As neuroscience uncovers more about the capacity of the human brain, we will continue to be amazed by what our neurology can do.

       Being Your Own Scientist

      The knowing field is not located in the individual mind. Yet, the individual mind can be used to explore the field. One way to start this exploration is to use systems thinking to map out the component parts of the problem or question posed by the issue holder. This is where you make good use of your mental powers; a systems analysis starts with forming a picture of the issue. The details are teased out by asking: What are the parts of the system? How do they relate to each other? What needs to happen to restore harmony or order?

      The next step is to send your verbal mind on a break and let your body, emotions, and spirit or intuition take the stage. According to the Wall Street Journal, brain researchers peg the number of calculations that the conscious brain can work on at the same time at one. In comparison, the simultaneous activities in unconscious parts of the brain number in the billions.² The conscious mind tries to make sense of things through comparisons, judgments, and categories: this is good, that is bad, and so forth. Staying in the brain’s mental mode, one calculation at a time, can limit access to a much larger field of intelligence and knowing that is contacted through the subconscious. I often tell groups, especially those new to the systemic approach, that what we are doing is not conceptual. The analytical process has its place and time, just not everywhere 24/7.

      The rational mind is eager to know and will quickly make up stories and explanations to fill a void. It tends to not slow down enough to decipher the memo from the unconscious that has the answers it seeks. Accessing the tacit knowledge that resides in our subconscious is possible if we tolerate the discomfort of emptiness and uncertainty our conscious mind runs from.

       Taking a “Field” Trip

      According to Lynne McTaggart, author of The Field: The Quest for the Secret Force of the Universe, a field is “a region of influence . . . a medium that connects two or more points in space.”³ Objects in a field are influenced by it and by each other through a connection or force that is not visible to the eye. McTaggart quotes a number of scientists who believe that the zero point field, the field of all fields, is a vast storehouse of memory. The biologist Rupert Sheldrake postulated that fields have a morphic resonance that influences how those living within them look and act.

      He asserts that all living beings are shaped by “a living, developing universe with its own inherent memory.”⁴ The nature of the world and the beings in it is determined by this field of fields. According to Einstein, “The field is the ultimate reality.”

      So how do we connect with this ultimate reality of infinite potential? McTaggart reports the findings of researchers that “the unconscious mind somehow had the capacity of communicating with the sub-tangible physical world.”⁵ The unconscious and the zero point field exist together “in a probabilistic state of all possibilities.”⁶ The details of how this works are a mystery. We only know that it is possible to access this field through the nonverbal subconscious and that we temporarily experience the reality of other individuals or groups.

      Every living system has its own collective consciousness. The connection between each individual consciousness in a living system constitutes a field. Most of what is in the field exists below the threshold of human awareness. You might not be aware of all the forces that shape your behaviors and attitudes, but they affect you in more ways than it’s possible to comprehend. The social psychologist Karl Weick made an intriguing point that the word “organization” is “a myth. If you look for an organization you won’t find one. What you will find is . . . connected incidents that seep through concrete walls . . .”⁷ Connected incidents, especially ones that can seep through a wall unconstrained by time or space, is the classic definition of a field.

      Einstein referred to this unified field when he said, “All religions, arts and sciences are branches of the same tree.” Our mind, body, and spirit, along with everything else in the manifest world, are all expressions of one infinitely pulsating consciousness. When we tap into the zero point field, according to McTaggart, we tap into all possibilities.⁸

      Everything comes out and goes back to the nothingness of the zero point. This is not news. Ancient texts like the Upanishads have long professed the interconnectedness of all life. Recent research published by NASA physicists postulates that the universe is about 27 percent dark matter