The Roots of Systemic Thinking

Pumping original insights from the Ancient Greek Philosophy

Looking for the beginnings of psychology in ancient Greek literature, I found that it does not exist, because any disease could be treated through philosophy. Through the writings of Plato and other sages and philosophers, the orders of love as taught by our teacher Bert Hellinger are revealed. So together in this workshop, we will do a recollection of what has been said by the ancient Greek philosophers and we will arrive at the modern treatment of souls. And we will do this, honoring the basic knowledge left by all these Greek sages. Our goal will be for us all, to reach the bliss of spirit and to spread this experience with everyone around us. Because as Bert was saying: “Everything we have as knowledge or experience, has an expiration date.” At the end, we will have a meditation to conclude every aspect of this view in our heart in order not to immediately forget all that we will share together.

In Phaedrus of Plato, Socrates says, (245c), every soul is immortal and moves by itself forever. He then likens, (246a-b), the soul to a vehicle drawn by two horses and driven by a coachman. One horse is white, good and obedient, while the other black horse is clumsy and disobedient. So driving becomes difficult. In Timaeus, (29e), says that the creator was perfect good, and in the good no envy is ever born for anything. He also points out that God first created the soul, (34c), and then the body, because he would never permit the elder to be governed by the younger. Here we can observe the divine hierarchy, which was established by the creator from the beginning. In Timaeus also, (50d), says there are three kinds of beings: the first is that which is born, the second is that in which something is born and the third is that comes out from its birth. So we can liken the first to the mother, the second to the father and the third to the child. Likewise there is a first kind of super being, (52a), unchanging, unborn, and indestructible, receiving nothing else into itself from anywhere, nor entering into anything else, and being invisible and uncaught to our senses, but it could be sensed and we may call it spirit. Second there is a being which is of the same kind and similar to the former, but it is perceptible, it is born and moves about constantly, it arises somewhere and then disappears from there, it becomes object of opinion and sensation and we call it earthly. And third there is the space, though imperishable, offers a place for all that have been born.

In the State of Plato, (430e), Socrates says that prudence is not simply the reining in of pleasures and desires but a state in which one is superior to himself. In (432a), he emphasizes that prudence brings into harmonious agreement the inferior with the superior. In (484b), says that philosophers are those who can grasp that which in every respect always remains invariably unchanged. Philosophers are always in love with learning anything that reveals something to them about that essence which always exists and which genesis and decay do not take it here and there (485b). In (514a), the myth of the cave gives us more aspects on education. Because of all the previous, Bert Hellinger’s move in the last years, which turned completely towards philosophy, is completely justified. Some more details on other ancient Greek scripts concerning our topic will be given in the workshop.