This is the second part of Jac Conaway’s keynote speech for the International conference – Core World Wide 2014. This article is published with permission from the author. All rights reserved.
Jac Conaway speaks about Core Energetics
To help foster this kind of larger association, let me offer some thoughts on my view of the fundamental nature of Core Energetics for your musings.
First of all, I see Core as founded on two ‘principles’ which are, of course, part of one body.
The first is the physical body with all of it’s aspects: Anatomy and physiology, emotional flows, consciousness and purposefulness. This emphasis on the human body as a fundamental aspect of human psychology, is still not widely accepted in many of the institutions of so called ‘higher learning’ around the world, except in that it provides a ‘receptacle’ for psychoactive drugs. The idea that, except for that point, the body is an integral part of what is known as the human psyche gives a lot of people fits still to this day. But, slowly, the world is catching up with us more and more. Always try to keep in mind that we are AHEAD of the curve.
The second principle is the Pathwork lectures. These are so fundamental to Core that we have adopted much of our lingo directly from them: HS, LS, mask, Neg. Intent, ISI, the soul’s journey … I could go on for several minutes just listing them. Yet, rather widely, even in Core this material gives US fits as well as those outside of Core. We speak of our spiritual base, yet seem squeamish about putting it forward. But, I ask you, if we ‘discount’ this material in our work, we have to ask ourselves, in all honestly, are we all that different from the Bioenergetics people? Or other proliferating body therapies? I believe that this is a very basic question that needs addressing directly and, that if we don’t get this well integrated into our training and work, we run the risk of having those others that I just spoke about move ahead of on this principle. Look carefully at what is coming out from these body therapies and you will see a lot of opening to how the ‘spirit’ works in body therapy.
Spirituality: What is this all about? What do we mean by it. How do we relate it to people’s religious cultures? What about re-incarnation? What value does that have in our work? After all, Core is fundamentally based in the Pathwork material and reincarnation is fundamental to the Guide material.
On the other hand … well, not really ‘other hand’. Better to say … and yet the material also says repeatedly that we do not need to ‘invoke’ past lives to live a full, satisfying and transformative ‘present’ life. So what value is there in ‘involving’ ourselves in a person’s spiritual life, even if they bring up an interest in ‘past lives’. What about dreams and ‘alternate’ reality experiences. How do we use [or not use] these in our work? My observations indicate that, especially in America, we shy away from touching these situations, especially in our training classes. In Brasilia, these situations are far more easily ‘absorbed’ and integrated into the training, and from the stories that I hear are regular aspects of the daily work of the Core therapist there. What about in Europe? or Mexico? or Australia? We need a deep, far reaching conversation on these question as a community.
And, even with our commitment to body work, my perception is that we are so focused on the psychological process that we neglect the most basic training in anatomy and physiology. Many students are accepted for training and who go on to graduate and, in my opinion, are totally deficient in true physical body awareness. A student that has no awareness of the function of blood circulation cannot, in my opinion, function adequately as a body therapist, yet I have encountered that exact situation more than once when teaching Core graduates. And this is just one example of insufficient basic physiological knowledge in our graduates.
Let me mention only one last point. Do you remember hearing the phrase ‘Core Evolution’? This was John’s way of defining what Core was all about. I remember him using it with at least two different meanings. He clearly meant it to speak to the idea that Core is helping with the evolution of the human being. This is inherent in the foundation of Core in the Pathwork lecture material.
Core is meant to be a basic tool in the evolution of human consciousness.
We are meant to be on the leading edge of exploring ways that human consciousness develops. Let’s not forget that as it give us both the excitement of the exploration of what that means AND the strong need to take risks to venture into the unknown. I want you to be WILD men and women!! There is no other way to keep us young, vibrant and continuously relevant from generation to generation.
And that highlights the second way I heard John use this phrase Core Evolution … That Core must regularly evolve over time. We must be open to change, to trying new things, to evolve. To do that, we need to not only initiate and risk, but we must be willing to let go of what is not working. This is a basic aspect of evolution, that new things come along and actually change the environment that we operate in, so that we must be willing to let go of what is no longer relevant. Obviously, we must, through all of that trial and change, keep our eye on what is fundamental to the evolving consciousness of our lives. That makes is all the more important that we develop and dedicate ourselves to the dialogue we have started here today.
