Marina Bernardi – Science of Group Work

With the word “group” we can understand various different things: certainly the first meaning that emerges is that of something that goes beyond an individual unit to include more people. But we can add another, which is that of a set of individuals connected to each other by a common purpose. And there is another one: more individuals with a common purpose, but also aware of wanting to give life, together, to a specific and particular collective experience that can lead, step by step, to the achievement of that goal. In fact, the first definition would be attributable more to a collection of people – to a more or less small or large crowd – than specifically to a group. An The actual group only begins when a number of people come together to pursue a common goal together.

Nowadays, from any perspective we look at the path of inner growth, we always meet the group as a space for development and as an instrument for expanding consciousness. Whatever theme we deal with, on whatever project we share, we always talk about the group. This is the real great theme that characterizes our times and that differentiates today’s inner research from that of the past. Today everything happens in a group; this fact can be explained through several factors:
– The group is the fundamental note of the Aquarian era
– The group can multiply forces and resources and therefore produce much more substantial effects and accelerate any development
– The group allows Those who guide us to save energy by creating an amplified transmission which in turn
– Through the group allows everyone, even those who would have difficulty walking a path of self-development on their own, to proceed and accelerate their evolution

I have chosen to speak on this issue because I am part of a group that was founded in Italy, 40 years ago, a Community, the Community of Living Ethics. I have been living and working in this group for many years and therefore I have lived closely all the key events; its moments of achievement and those of crisis, the important passages, its internal and external expansions, the realization of its service. In this group, alongside the experience of building a concrete and visible group life through its many works, psychological, psycho-energetic and philosophical research has always been active. Thus, while the phases of the development of the group were ongoing, it was possible to observe and ‘read’ the process, understanding it in the light of a theoretical map: a map, which can offer a general value useful for other groups. Themes such as cooperation, safeguarding individuality in the group, leadership, decision-making, the resolution of conflicts, generational change, the death of the founder and his succession, and many others …

We are now on the threshold of the Age of Aquarius, the age of groups: which means that not only will groups on the planet multiply, but that they will increasingly become the bearers of the flame of evolution. Therefore it becomes useful and necessary to discover new and more effective methods than what has been done so far to promote the formation of well-directed groups and to favor their rapid development, so that the Planet, so in need of union, can benefit from it as useful construction tools and of acceleration.

So far, mankind has progressed with transforming itself and the world through individuals who, either acting alone or guided by enlightened ones, intuitively grasped or expressed new ways of life.
In the coming Age of Aquarius, this process of renewal is necessarily accelerated and will be realized by aligning the activities of individuals within a group structure. This process occurs spontaneously on a physical and emotional level in the “family group”, on a mental level in some groups of co-workers and researchers, and on a spiritual level in some religious and monastic groups.