Dear Readers:
I’m working on an outline for a new parts (or ‘ways of being’) model. I like some aspects of Internal Family Systems, but I believe that there is a need for something different as well. Something that is more imaginative with respect to its understanding of the self. Something that is more soul-centred, and that has a deeper understanding of the relationship between sacred purpose (our unique callings, gifts, and offerings) and the ways that our self is internally organized.
I have always been fascinated by the self. Not only how we define it, but the question of what motivates it when it is actualizing its inherent nature. Simply put, who are we really? Which parts of us are fundamental to who we are? Which parts are misidentified? What motivates the core-self to take action? Where is it trying to lead us? Is it the same for everyone, or is the ultimate destination different for each of us? And what is the relationship between ‘the wave’ (aka unity consciousness, or what many patriarchal spiritualities call the ‘absolute self’) and ‘the particle’ (the localized, individuated self)? Where do the oceans of essence meet the individual droplet of meaning?
IFS Founder Richard Schwartz and I delve into the particle/wave question in this Podcast: (Enrealment Hour Podcast)
The great humanist Jean Houston had this to say about the self:
"Schizophrenia is a disease of the human condition and polyphrenia—the orchestration of our many selves—is our extended health. We have a vast crew within, that used to be called sub-personalities… But I think it has more autonomy than that, and we have to speak to 'the cook' and 'the healer' and 'the therapist' within. And 'the mechanic': I have great fun with my 'mechanic' when I have to fix all these computers around here. And you allow them to come into the forefront, so that local ego and its limiting and habituated structures are pushed aside for the time being."
I really like this, because it reflects my belief that many of our parts are not simply firefighters, managers and exiles (in IFS terms), or adaptations, defences and disguises (as I described in Soulshaping). Many of them are literal and/or archetypal reflections of the self. For example, I recognized a warrior living inside of me at an early age. That warrior was surely a useful protector of the self, but it also reflected the archetypal blueprint that lived at its heart. Similarly, the ‘part’ that sought to heal me on the battlefields of early life, reflected a growing edge on my soul’s journey. It served a healing purpose, but it also reflected an archetype—one face of my polyphrenic self—that I was born to embody. And in so doing, my soulself moved one step closer to wholeness.
In other words, the self is multi-aspected and growth-seeking. It is infused with a variety of unique properties that reflect, direct, and actualize it. It is the furthest thing from a generic entity. It is meaningfully different for everyone.
Does this resonate with your experience? How would you define the “self”? How would you distinguish it from those parts—or those ways of being—that exist independent of it? It’s one thing to identify the various parts that emerge to protect it, but what is the self, itself…