The Four Forces model, A way to balance in the wholeness of life

What are the Four Forces about? I became aware of the Four Forces in coping with some daily dilemma’s: “Should I buy the tomatoes grown in my neighborhood, or do I give in to the seduction of the big tasty red ones from South Africa?” In making that decision I have to weight my personal interest against the pollution the transport causes. I have to make a choice between me or we. It is about taking care for a part (or fragment) or taking responsibility for the whole.

Another dilemma I experience quit often is when I measure the immaterial by the material dimension and vice versa. Where the immaterial dimension is endless, abundant, and not necessary objectively to explain, the material is scarce, subject of research and most of the time we can agree on what we see. In most of the situations we have to deal with both sides: the material and the immaterial or the facts and the meaning, the objective and the subjective, the reality and the dream. The dilemma starts when we try to solve the problem only one way, excluding the other side.

These two dilemma’s actually reveal the Four Forces: the whole and the individual, and the tangible and the non tangible. Together they create a field.What are the essential topics in the book? The main message in the book is that opposite from what we think the Forces do not exclude each other. So it is not a matter of making choices between them, but about finding a way to align them. In every situation, all Four of them play a role, they are connected and can enforce one another. It is up to us to find out how to bridge them, how to connect them or how to combine them with a maximum of synergy. The book guides you through the characters of the Four Forces and their mutual dynamic, so you can learn to understand them deeply. From that profound awareness you can play with them, you can find a unique balance for every moment and every situation.

In the book you name the Four Forces continuously different. Why? To play with the Four Forces, to act from them you need to recognize them in as many their different way of appearance as possible. That’s I why I choose to give them their most abstract names as the only constant factor in the book: Tangible whole: earth Tangible part: creation Non tangible whole: cosmos Non tangible part: free will

Throughout the whole book, you’ll find other names, I made the variation as large as possible. It helps you to identify the Four Forces in as many situations as possible. On a personal level for instance, I define them as hart, body, soul and mind.

Can you tell a little bit more about the Four Forces themselves? The Four Forces model offers a framework to support the search for balance in wholeness. Serving the earth and the cosmos, from your own drive to create and from your own free will.

The Force of the earth represents the tangible whole: raw materials, environment. Keywords are caring, adding, co-existence and ecosystem. The creating Force stands for the tangible fragment: products, creations, services production. Keywords are routine, creativity, stabilization, and drive. The cosmos stands for the non tangible whole, destiny, faith, dreams, hopes and all that’s is possible but not visible yet. Keywords are possibilities, associative thinking, stepping out daily reality, fantasy and pre-sensing, intuitive wisdom, foreseeing. In the free will we make choices from all of that. We agree with the whole, or we oppose it, we follow our destiny or we decide to create it. Words such as concept, goals, ideals and targets belong to this domain.

The Four Forces create the field in which a you live and operate. Every moment, every situation needs an unique balance between all four of them. Acting from these Four Forces makes a person dynamic and responsible. Taking care for their own development and continuity and for that of the society they belong to. Acting meaningful for the whole and their own interest.

The book combines explanations, poems, examples, stories of a family, and over 35 paintings from Dagmar Baumann. Why all those layers? The Four Forces need difference kind of languages, different perspectives and different intelligences to see through them. For that you need different ways of describing them opening the various layers of the Forces. Some readers got an enormous insight through the mail exchange between four family members. Others got a deeper insight thanks to the maybe rather dry explanation of the interaction between the Four Forces, where others use that chapter mainly as a look up part, to find dedicated information for a specific situation.

  How can you use the Four Forces in your daily live? The Four Forces model is not an instrument you can apply, as a five step method, directly in your life. It is more like a framework you can use to look through. Or as a window opening different perspectives to keep in mind. That is why you really need to dig into the forces. The Four Forces model is not an easy thing to step in. But once you got struck by it, it really can your life and that of your environment. Reading the book opens your mind, your hart and your soul for them. And on your path you’ll find your own way to play with each of the forces and how to join them, how to connect and recombine them over and over again, in every possible situation.

© Uitgeverij Lannoo nv, Tielt en Godelieve Spaas D/2009/45/193