Chapters 6 & 7
Chapter 6 - Levels of the Self
This
section includes information about:
The Divided Self,
Subpersonalities, The Personal Self, The Higher Self, and the Synthesis of all
together
Many things in life become clearer when we
realize that there are different levels of consciousness. For forgiveness work
it is useful to recognize three of these levels - the Higher Self, the Personal
Self, and the Subpersonalities. Subpersonalities are "parts" or "little selves"
within our personalities, clusters or patterns of beliefs, feelings, attitudes,
expectations, imaginings, emotional reactions if the expectations are not met,
and styles of behavior. They each consist of patterns we developed when we were
younger at times when one or other of our basic needs were not being met
adequately, and some of them are roles we play in life. If you look at the list
of basic needs (these are given after the description of Makikh in the section
on Goodwill Patterns) you will be able to see that you and those around you may
think, feel, imagine, and behave quite differently when certain needs - e.g. for
food, sleep, approval, love, freedom etc., are not met.
These can be quite compartmentalized and even in
conflict sometimes. A person may say "I need to stop smoking, but I go on doing
it". Or, "I need to change my job, but I can't because I'm too scared of
unemployment". "I want you to be a man my son, - but don't answer me back!". The
"I"s in these sentences seem to come from separate "selves", or parts of a
divided personality. In the roles of pedestrians and drivers, doctors and
patients, teacher and student, son or daughter and parent, public and private
personae, and so on, you can often see the compartmentalised "little selves" ,
which are not always in harmony with each other.
All subpersonalities have basically good
intentions. The Inner Striver often seeks to win approval from internalized
parents if love and approval were given by the real parent figures mostly or
only for achievement. The Inner Critic seeks to make the person conform to an
internalized set of rules or "shoulds" that the person as a child had to conform
to, in order to win love and approval from parents or peer group. The Inner
Saboteur seeks to keep you safe by preventing you from taking risks. The Inner
Victim (and the Perpetrator) need acceptance, unconditional love and
recognition. The Inner Depressor seeks to remind you when you have strayed too
far from the purposes of the Higher Self.
But these parts can become unbalanced if one or a
few dominate the personality, as if one instrumentalist dominated an orchestra
and played out of tune and time with the others. Our life can seem to be
organized around these patterns as if they were all that we are.
There is another centre
within our fields of consciousness which is called the
observing part of
the personal self or observing self. This is the part that can step back from
the action and first of all observe what is going on in both the outer life and
the inner life of the personality. It is here that the will is discovered, the
capacity to make conscious choices and actualize them. As long as the person is
controlled by forces from the level of the unconscious mind , true willing is
not possible. Disidentification from (that is, no longer being identical with),
by observing, understanding and harmonizing of the subpersonality level is
therefore an essential first step in discovery of the will and taking charge of
your life. Thus developing an "observing self" is necessary in order to develop
the "conscious willing self"
.
Your Higher Self (fuller
description comes later), your personal self, and subpersonalities can be
thought of as being like the Composer, conductor, and players of an orchestra.
For the best results, they all need to be aligned with the Spirit of the Music,
the essence of the inspiration within the composer. Psychosynthesis has evolved
many techniques for helping you to recognize, appreciate, mature and harmonize
the different aspects of your personality.
There are many other
analogies, with similar basic pattern of:
1. Cause (Inspiring
Impulse),
2. Organizing centre
(observing self and directing Will), and
3. Manifestation
(actualizing parts) in harmony with each other.
Other examples could include:
The Impulse to Freedom, -> the
general, -> the armed forces in all their parts.
Without an adequate cause
to fight for, the army becomes disorganized and perishes.
The Impulse to Synthesis,
joining peoples together, leading to the spirit of the United Nations, and of
air communication, drawing forth on one side the designers (like Leonardo da
Vinci, Orville and Wright, down to the designers and manufacturers of modern
airliners), and on to the overall airline director, the managers, pilots, ground
staff and aircrew, the radio, radar and computer linkups, the office staff, the
travel agents, and the airplanes themselves with all their many parts.
The Impulse to Revealing Knowledge
of Truth, calling forth the great
scientific researchers (like the Curies, Darwin, or Watson and Crick) and the
universities, laboratories and staff.
The Higher Self of each
(the individual and the organizations) is the source of the vision, resonating
to the higher impulses to which each is attuned. It been said, "Without a
vision, the people perish". The Inner source of inspiration, energies and
qualities is vital.
The human psyche is very
similar to an orchestra, and cannot fulfill its potential until all the
Musicians (subpersonalities) are present, matured and harmonized, directed by a
skilled Conductor (personal self), and attuned to the highest inspirations of
the Composer (Higher Self).
Vivian King is soon to
publish a well-written book "Inner Theatre" which uses the metaphor of the
Playwright, Director and Actors in a similar way to show the relationship
between the Higher Self, the Personal Self and the Subpersonalities.
Understanding the levels
of consciousness and your subpersonalities is an important part of your personal
growth. It cannot be dealt with fully in one short seminar. My goal here is to
interest you in searching further for yourself this fascinating and vitally
important subject, for it will lead on to a deeper understanding of the nature
of your Self and your Will. It will increase your understanding of the different
levels of the psyche, and the very different levels of love, will and wisdom
that are available on each.
The important feature of
subpersonalities for the purposes of this workshop is that we recognise that a
person who is offending you (i.e. is out of harmony) is usually trapped in one
subpersonality that is not all of who they are, but just a pattern that evolved
at a time in their lives when their needs were not met. And your reaction to
their behavior, and eventual need to forgive them, may be based in the same
dynamic - your unmet needs.
These understandings help
us to become less critical of ourselves and others, and to restore the flow of
compassionate love. Now let us consider the Will, the instrument of the Self.
The correct use of the Will is crucial to the
Forgiveness and Unconditional Love Process.
The Will is one of the
most neglected subjects in education, medicine, and psychology. Yet its
importance is increasingly plain. Many illnesses, much unnecessary pain in
relationships, much waste of real potential, can be seen as being brought about
fundamentally by incorrect use of the will.
Like Love, the Will is in
the process of evolving - mineral, vegetable, animal, and human life have within
them an increasing amount of self-determination and ability to make choices
consciously. It is our unique and precious gift. Humans can show many levels of
the Will.
At the first "level" they
may feel themselves "willed by" their physical and emotional realities. At this
level they react in a similar way as does a rock or plant when subjected to
external forces. They may feel as if they are "making choices" but these are
often really results of conditioning earlier in life - in this sense they are
still being "willed by" subpersonalities, the inner sub-selves, each of which
evolved as our best way to meet our basic needs.
At the next "level", that
of the personal self, the human being is making choices in a fully conscious
way. The Will is now the instrument of the personal self, for directing
attention and energy into courses of action that have been chosen with
increasing levels or expansions of consciousness. This means, with increasing
awareness of the Benefits of a course of action, and of the Burdens of not
following that course of action, for the personal, individual, self. Our use of
the Will is then related to our personal purposes. With it, we can control our
goals and attitudes, and select what we draw out of our memory. This is the true
area of free will - no one else can select our goals, attitudes, or what we
choose to recall from memory, even if they physically are able to restrain or
imprison us.
By controlling our goals,
attitudes, and memory selection, we influence how our minds reason and
discriminate. This in turn influences our behavior, our energy output, our
internal processes that bring about body states and feelings.
We can develop our
capacity to do this with increasing levels of Wisdom, Love, and Intelligence.
Assagioli, in his book, "The Act of Will",
has outlined a sound approach to this task.
At the highest levels
currently known to us, that of the Higher Self, the Will is used only to direct
Love (or to direct Energy lovingly, if you prefer) towards our selves and all
our parts, all those of whom we are aware, irrespective of their outward
behavior (with which we may not be in agreement), and towards Life Itself. At
this level we are increasingly able to include in our perspective the good of
all, and of the planet on which we live, and to direct our energies towards
that. Our personal purposes begin to merge with purposes that have an increasing
content of group consciousness, - family, professional and social groups,
nation, international and finally planetary. It is the Will-to-good, activated
independently of the behavior of others..
We can learn to become
aware of which "level" we are coming from by observing how the Will is being
used in any situation, both in ourselves or others. Try saying "I hope I can get
up" as you get up from a chair, and find out how your body feels as you do it.
Then do the same for "I want to get up", "I'll try hard to get up", "I am
choosing to get up", "I choose and will to get up" and "I won't get up!". You
will learn a lot about the way you motivate yourself. Then imagine yourself
getting up out of your chair to save a child or someone you love from burning.
This exercise gives you some idea about the levels of energy available on the
different levels of the psyche.
Because a problem is
rarely solved on the level on which it arose, we can also use our Will to "lift"
our consciousness to a higher level, until we reach the level at which the best
solution occurs. (An analogy: The law of gravity cannot be broken, but by
understanding it and using the laws governing aerodynamics and solar and
interstellar space, we can fly beyond the apparent limitations imposed by
gravity).
It is interesting how
different languages have approached the idea of willing. In Russian, for
example, the word "volya", the individual will, tended to fall out of common
usage and become a literary term about 150-200 years ago. Its place was more and
more taken by the word meaning "I want". It is interesting to speculate whether
this set the scene for the collectivization process, the individual will
becoming submerged in the voluntary and forced cooperation with the collective
will, which reached a high peak in the development of communism and the
collective resistance by the Soviet peoples to Nazism.
Events have shown in
recent years, however, that forcing of cooperation by a centralized totalitarian
will is not as viable in the long term as a voluntarily chosen cooperation
between persons who know how to make a conscious choice.
In Anglo-Saxon cultures
the individual will has become very strong, to the point of sometimes displacing
the service of the whole in the cult of "rugged individualism".
As East and West share
their perspectives there will be a synthesis developing between these two polar
positions which will enhance the life of both. Both sides have much to learn
from each other.
This diagram attempts to
show how the vast amount of information coming to our nervous system is filtered
by a "mind-filter' or "mind-set" before being acted upon and producing
chemicals, feelings, behaviors, and output, results. If you are very hungry and
have a goal to eat, you are likely to "see" the food-shops and restaurants as
you drive into a new town, and your car will tend to park itself as near to them
as possible. On the other hand if you are very well fed and want to sleep
instead of eat, you are likely to "see" the motels and guest houses. Your car
will tend to park itself near one of those. Thus what you "see" is conditioned
by your goal. This in turn causes your behavior.
If you want to eat AND go
to sleep (i.e. have two incompatible goals held at the same time) you will have
to make a value-judgment as to which is most important to you. If you do not
choose which has priority for you, you may end up doing neither, but feeling
paralyzed with indecision, and your car may come to a stop or even have an
accident if you do not look where you are going while distracted with the
indecision. We apply this knowledge by recognizing that we may need to SET ASIDE
other less important goals while we make the time and give all our attention to
doing the forgiveness processes.
You can set a goal, say,
to cross the room. There is another step you can take, for you can DECIDE to
cross the room joyfully or miserably. You will still get across the room (i.e.
successfully accomplish the goal), yet the experiences will be quite different!
Many people do not take the time or trouble to CHOOSE THE ATTITUDE with which
they will pursue their goals. If you have a default setting that you pursue your
goals in a miserable manner, what happens? This is relevant to the forgiveness
process, for many people approach it with the "I'll do it the hard way"
attitude. We apply this knowledge by choosing to do the process "comfortably,
compassionately, joyfully, and completely" instead.
How well you move towards
your goal will be affected by what you IMAGINE also. This can be very subtle. I
might want to get on well with a certain person, yet if they remind me of MEMORY
TRACES of someone who treated me badly, even a long time ago, there could be
subconscious forces willing me and setting a goal for to steer clear of them. As
I increasingly try to avoid them, they may become increasingly suspicious of my
behavior and start to treat me in an increasingly negative manner - and this
will appear to me to confirm my original suspicions...and so on. This is why it
is important to imagine a positive experience while doing the forgiveness
process and a positive outcome to it. It is also why it is important to not set
goals while emotionally upset.
Setting a goal for
yourself sets up tension in your system until that goal is accomplished or you
remove it.
Having someone else set
goals for you, especially without any kind of discussion with you, can be very
irritating to you, no? And for them if you don't do it!
If you set a goal for
another person it sets up tension in YOUR system in the same way. This tension
can then only be relieved by the OTHER person fulfilling your demand that they
do the goal you set for them. In this way you have given power to control and
irritate your system to the other personal They have only to enter the room, you
have only to think of them, and your muscles will tighten!
We rarely realize that we
are setting goals for others much of our lives - these are called EXPECTATIONS.
For as long as someone fulfills your expectations, you remain happy, you may
even feel you have unconditional love for them! It is when someone does not
fulfill our expectations that we first become aware of them or even realize that
we had them.
The forgiveness process
pays great attention to discovering what were all the expectations you held of
another. The CONDITIONS in the mind that blocked the flow of love were the
DEMANDS that the other person should fulfill your EXPECTATIONS.
"It is an illusion that
developing your heart qualities means "getting out of your head". Mind and Heart
go together, and are not to be seen in opposition. Love, openness, kindness and
respect for others cannot be bought or produced by machines, but only generated
in the mind itself..... The importance of individual responsibility is clear."
(The Dalai Lama 1990)
The means whereby the
human mind controls its mind-sets, - its goals and attitudes, what is selected
from memory, and the images or visualizations that are held in the mind. It is
concerned in choices, decisions, initiating action, eliminating what is
non-essential, and fulfilling goals. You will see from the diagram that there
are different levels of will.
If a subpersonality is in
charge, its will will set goals related to the Basic Need which it serves. The
associated attitude and imaginings will be set based upon past memory traces
created at times when that need was not met. This may not serve the whole
personality.
If the Personal Self Will
is in charge, the choice of goal will be set with greater consciousness of what
serves the whole personality best.
If the Higher Self Will
is in charge, the goal set will increasingly serve not only the personality but
also a group, in due course humanity as a whole.
Example: One part
of me may want to smoke so I can relax in a tense situation. My personal self
might, however, choose not to for the sake of MY health. The Higher Self might
take a larger view and choose to take responsibility for the good quality of
air, not just for myself, but for the health of the human family with whom I may
be staying. This choice might also be accompanied by a flow of peace at having
made the wisest choice, thus serving the subpersonality as well, from within.
To maintain right
intention, right attitudes and perception, right recollection, right thought,
and right inner and outer speech are functions of the will. Right actions will
inevitably follow.
We can develop our will
by considering benefits and burdens of different courses of action in the light
of our deepest values, by assessing priorities and consequences of different
actions, by affirmations and repetitions, by will-statements, by visualization.
People do not lack will
power. They do not know how to direct their will into positive actions because
they have not been taught how to use their will rightly. An addict will use the
will to obtain the drug of addiction and sacrifice money, job, home, health,
friendships and family to get it - sacrifices that would be considered heroic if
made in a noble cause.
MIND-SET:
A combination of goals,
attitudes, feelings, thoughts, memories, belief-systems, "facts", ideas,
symbols, images and expectations which controls what the mind perceives, and
thus the output of the mind's activity.
GOAL:
An objective established
and maintained by attitudes and the will. Right speech is needed in the correct
setting of goals. If a negative goal is in place, a positive goal must be set
which conflicts with it and then substitutes for it, in order for the negative
one to be eliminated. Example: "I want to smoke" v. "I will to love and to take
good care of my body".
Goals that are congruent
on all levels (physical, emotional, mental, spiritual; subpersonality, personal
self, and Higher Self) have the greatest leverage. Goals formed on the physical
and emotional (go for pleasure and avoid pain) principle do carry much drive
however, and to overcome these we need to go to a higher level.
Goals can arise both from
our needs, our unconscious and our conscious choices, and from personal and
transpersonal levels.
ATTITUDE:
A filter established and
sustained by the will, that modifies what the mind perceives. Attitudes help to
set and modify goals. Examples: a loving, or a hostile attitude. One is much
more open than the other. This in turn affects behavior. It would be well nigh
impossible to carry out a harmful goal at the same time as maintaining a loving
attitude.
MOTIVATION:
The inescapable tension
produced by an existing and unachieved goal. The mind ceaselessly searches ways
to reduce tension by bringing about the goals we set -whether they have been set
consciously or unconsciously, wisely or unwisely . If it cannot reduce the
tension by expression (action), it may seek to eliminate tension by inhibitory
blocking - but this puts stress into the body.
SUCCESS:
Relief from tension
gained by achieving a goal.
EXPECTATIONS:
Goals set by one person
for another, with an underlying demand and threat to cut off love and goodwill
if the expectation is not met. The very basis for conditional love. They can be
internalized (especially by children) and then become the conscious or
unconscious expectations we hold of ourselves believing we have chosen them when
in fact we have not . Example: "I must achieve ( = please my parents) - or I am
no good".
