Subpersonalities: The People Inside Us

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It is where you can see the common interests and shared agendas that you can also begin to develop new, healthy narratives between the different personalities. These new narratives can form the basis of the peace treaty. The peace treaty is built on realising that the negative characteristics of the subpersonalities all have a virtuous persona. Our primary agenda is to persuade each subpersonality there is a better way; they each do have a higher purpose. When the subpersonalities can see there is a more noble cause they can pursue, then the community of the self can be established on a new footing. What were the valuable qualities and the limitations of each? How did each help me or get in my way?

One of the most useful instruments for long term self-development is a workbook, diary, or journal. We use the term ‘psychological workbook’ because many people tend to associate the word ‘diary’ with memories of adolescence in which often trivial and burdensome accounts were kept of one’s daily activities. I recognise and affirm myself as a centre of pure self-awareness and of creative, dynamic energy. I realise that from this centre of true identity I can learn to observe, direct, and harmonise all the psychological processes and the physical body. I choose to achieve a constant awareness of this fact in the midst of my everyday life, and to use it to help me and give increasing meaning and direction to my life. Synthesis. This is a state of effortless co-operation in which the different subpersonalities are integrated and synthesised into a single whole, directed and loved by the Let us now look at the psychological elements of the subpersonalities and see how Assagioli understands their constitution.Secondly, the message received is not always clear in its application and so must be interpreted correctly. A famous example of this is God’s injunction to St. Francis to “Go and rebuild my church”. At first Francis thought this meant to rebuild the little ruined church of San Damiano outside the walls of Assissi, and only later did he realise its true import—to rebuild the whole Catholic Church!

What distinguishes the therapy based on Internal Family Systems theory the most is the so called Self energy. It is a state of consciousness in which we do not identify with any of the parts. In that state, we dissociate from all our parts and are in a state of pure curiosity, openness and kindness. It is from this level that we want to communicate with each part, because it makes our parts more open and more willing to share what they have to say.Examples: “There are so many flaws in this novel of mine, I’m such a poor writer!”, “B+? I could have done way better!”, “I’m such a weak person compared to _____. I should be better.” The Victim According to Assagioli (p. 19) ‘co-ordination of the various subpersonalities into a higher unity is possible’. To achieve this, we must first find a synthesising centre that is above all of the subpersonalities, and this is the ‘I’ in the personality and the Transpersonal Self in the superconscious realm. From these centres, we must become the observer of the content of consciousness (i.e. becoming awareness itself) and learn to direct and lead (i.e. by using the will) the various subpersonalities according to our needs. Assagioli suggests the following formula for achieving synthesis:

Finally, a continuing identification with either a role or a predominant function leads often, and almost inevitably, to a precarious life situation resulting sooner or later in a sense of loss, even despair, such as in the case of an athlete who grows old and loses his physical strength; an actress whose physical beauty is fading; a mother whose children have grown up and left her, or a student who has to leave school and face a new set of responsibilities. Such situations can produce serious and often very painful crises. They can be considered as more or less partial psychological “deaths.” No frantic clinging to the waning old “identity” can avail. The true solution can be only a “rebirth” that is, entering into a new and broader identification. This sometimes involves the whole personality and requires and leads to an awakening or “birth” into a new and higher state of being. Now bring into this state of awareness a span of time, say, an hour. Let this span gradually increase to a day, a week, a month, a year, ten years, a hundred, a thousand, etc., letting these increments emerge naturally. Then, when you are holding in your awareness a great span of time, let it go “on out” to eternity and hold eternity in your awareness. Experience this. Now let it go and simply be aware. I have emotions, but I am not my emotions. My emotions are diversified, changing, sometimes contradictory. They may swing from love to hatred, from calm to anger, from joy to sorrow, and yet my essence—my true nature—does not change. ‘I’ remain. Though a wave of anger may temporarily submerge me, I know that it will pass in time; therefore I am not this anger. Since I can observe and understand my emotions, and then gradually learn to direct, utilise, and integrate them harmoniously, it is clear that they are not my self. I have emotions, but I am not my emotions.It is also interesting to note that Assagioli considered subpersonalities to be ‘entities’– living beings – which can live a semi-autonomous life that affects the ‘I’ through patterns of behaviour that are outside of our conscious control. Assagioli (p.93) even suggests ‘each subpersonality has a kind of ego’ and that subpersonalities ‘without our awareness, independent of, or even against, our will – [find] the means of achieving their aims’ (p.84); and Assagioli states that subpersonalities can be co-conscious centres in our personality, meaning they know things about us that we are not aware of ourselves. However, the semi-autonomous nature of the subpersonalities is a condition we can change via personal psychosynthesis, which can bring the various subpersonalities under the wise leadership of the conscious ‘I’. Next hold both eternity and infinity in your awareness and see what you experience. Then, again, let both go and simply be aware. In the form which follows, the first phase of the exercise—the dis-identification—consists of three parts dealing with the physical, emotional, and mental aspects of awareness. This leads to the self-identification phase. Once some experience is gained with it, the exercise can be expanded or modified according to need, as will be indicated further on. Graphic models of theoretical constructs (though you may wish to include these under the headings of the various areas of intellectual interest instead). These will help you express your thoughts visually, and this may be useful for purposes of clarification and visual communication.