by Nina Kirchberger-Frankfurt, Germany
The program "Love as the Chance and The Way" was introduced by the German FFWPU Vice President Siegfried Klammsteiner (Frankfurt am Main) and Thomas Schuh (Munich). It was developed to support blessed families in their efforts to reach out to other families in society, as well as to enrich and strengthen their own interpersonal relationships.
"Love As The Chance And The Way" is not aimed at people of a specific religion, but it leads participants to realize that the ultimate solution to problems in relationship is within a person's readiness to live and sacrifice for others, which is one of the basic principles of any religion.
This concept is quite different from numerous programs on human relationships, which are offered in Germany. Since the era of the Enlightenment man's emotional sphere has become greatly dominated by the intellect, says Siegfried Klammsteiner. With the coming of the so called New Age Movement, the direction became opposite and now it is the emotional sphere which is paid the most attention. Emotional healing of different kinds became very popular, also among many members of the Unification Movement. However, centering on emotions in solving family problems is an easy step to selfishness, which eventually makes the way to the ultimate solution much longer. On the other side, even many of those on the path of emotional healing (outside of the Unification Church) feel, that there is much more to it and are not satisfied with what they are offered by psychologists. It is the sphere of Heart which they are missing, and it was opened with the coming of the True Parents. It is what the Unification Movement is reach with, but it proved to be so difficult to bring people to understand, what Gods Heart is about.
The program is an attempt to teach people about God's Heart through relationships in the family. It helps participants to discover their own original heart, as the first step to healing their personal problems.
There are three main parts to the program, which deal correspondingly with the personal development, partnership in marriage and parentship. Lectures are short and supported by group exercises, guided meditation and role plays (for example, playing a conflict situation in order to find the way out of it). Here some of the topics discussed: "Love as the way to self-realization", "To deepen understanding of your desires and the ones of your partner", "Clarifying your expectations in a relationship", "To fight in a right way, growing together", "Using the healing ability of the partnership", "Realizing dreams of closeness and intimacy", "From stress to joy in dealing with children", "Taking children's feeling seriously", "To stay in love in spite of children".
The program was developed through the joined efforts of Siegfried Klammsteiner, Thomas Schuh, two other UC members-Gerd Schmidinger from Austria and Annemarie Hanisch from Dusseldorf-together with the "outside" professionals Gerhard Pfeffer, a psychotherapist from Heidelberg, and Dagmar Persch from Frankfurt. The latter is known in the city for her courses of "Emotional Clearing".
Siegfried Klammsteiner, 44, is an experienced DP lecturer and former national leader. He also taught many CARP and HARP members about the Blessing. He and his wife Margaret have three lovely children. Siegfried completed a professional course in family therapy. Though it remains his main sphere of interest, his mission includes PR work and dealing with the finances of the German Church.
Thomas Schuh, 31, was blessed to Mitzue from Japan in 1992. They have a son and their second child is about to be born. Thomas recently finished his education in natural healing.
Besides weekend courses and evening programs special one-week seminars are offered for those who would like to become trainers themselves. The first seminar of that kind took place this February in Schmitten, Germany. The participants arrived not only from Germany, but from other European countries, such as Great Britain, Holland and Austria and even Russia.
The course materials are now being translated from German into English. The next weekend seminar will take place in Frankfurt area March 27-29.. The course for trainers is scheduled for the 6th-12th of July. To register or for additional information contact Siegfried Klammsteiner via e-mail: <Smklamm@aol.com> . Nina Kirchberger, Frankfurt am Main, Germany.