RTalk 'Source' with Peter Koenig

If ‘source’ stands for founder – as Peter Koenig says – is he advocating old-fashioned top-down, dictatorial hierarchy? What happened to equal co-founders, democracy even? What about generative consciousness?

Peter Koenig is an inveterate researcher and dispeller of illusions. He has spent over 30 years with what he calls his ‘moneywork’ helping people get to grips with their relation to money. With ‘sourcework’ he has now picked entrepreneurialism apart with a fine toothcomb and describes in detail what ordinary people do to realise their plans and visions when they’re in their creative flow.

His ‘source principles’ go to the heart of how organisation and collaboration work, be that in a relationship with a spouse, an association for healing systems or a Wall Street corporation. These principals operate also to express the magic of an orchestra playing Beethoven’s ninth symphony with perfection.

“Everybody is equal in the potential to start or form an initiative. But there’s one single individual that actually starts it. Always.” That is the ‘source’.

How does one recognise a source-person and what are his or her roles? The answers may be contrary to what one might have been trained to think but in the end they are liberating and empowering for everyone involved.

“The role of the source is to receive the vision of the initiative and define the boundaries of the initiative’s field.”

Once this is set in motion the source-person defines the next steps – even if he or she does not know how to take them. Being the ‘source’ does not necessarily entail an operational job. Instead, others are attracted and invited to enter the field. They follow their own dreams and are sources in their own right. They become – temporarily or permanently, fully or partly –co-habitants in the original source’s field. Ideally this becomes somewhat of a dance and a symbiotic ecosystem which unfolds as the initiative flourishes.

In reality though blemishes may linger in the field. Peter provocatively calls them ‘pathologies’. Analogous to the pull of the source’s vision, the other players may resonate to these less savoury dynamics which cause problems to the initiative. How to unravel this welter of developments?

Exemplified with personal cases the discussants explore an elementary truth for source-persons:

“It’s not the other people in your field who have the problems; it’s you. Unless you work on that you’re not going to be able to resolve the problems.”

In his moneywork Peter Koenig developed “a little tool” that can be used for every aspect of life. It is impressive how he explains it in a real life situation where Peter reclaims “the parts of ourselves we have dissociated from”. It ends with an insight which is almost shocking – unless of course one sees the context and its positive result:

“If I insisted that everybody in my community must trust me because I’m the source, it would be ridiculous! So, that’s how I use this process to advance.”

Time was short and the two men concluded that the topic of succession of source from one person to the next is of great relevance and importance … and a topic for a future RTalk.

Biography

Transforlution: Smart tools for the transformation and evolution of life, money and business. We all, even politicians and certainly the business community had started to embrace ‘Climate Change’, ‘Purpose’ and ‘Transformation’ processes before the arrival of Covid-19 and these have remained on our agenda even through the economic disruptions. But vision and moral imperatives alone are insufficient to create desired changes in old, inherited institutional patterns. What makes the difference between truly ‘walking the talk’ and just talking? Over four decades now, Peter Koenig has pioneered and refined advanced evolution towards solutions in accordance with nature. A generative consciousness related to money lies at the core of his work – and love. At 73, his community is Nextgen, a working model of how we can look in the future. Peter makes suggestions on how to source vitality in your own enterprise, be that at work, in life and business or in relationships between individuals or collectives.