Subpersonalities: The People Inside Us

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You can either consider these points during the review itself, or if this gets in your way, you can think about them at the end of the review. These points are meant to give you a choice of perspective, and need not all be covered, except for (1), which is fundamental. We suggest that, particularly at the beginning, you keep the exercise fairly simple, and give it no more than 15 minutes a day. Now close your eyes, recall briefly in your consciousness the general substance of this affirmation, and then gradually focus your attention on the central concept: “I have a body but I am not my body.” Attempt, as much as you can, to realise this as an experienced fact in your consciousness. Then open your eyes and proceed the same way with the next two stages.

This constant input of influences veils the clarity of consciousness and produces spurious identifications of the self with the content of consciousness, rather than with consciousness itself. If we are to make self- consciousness explicit, clear, and vivid, we must first dis-identify ourselves from the contents of our consciousness. Identification Sit in a relaxed position. Close your eyes. Clear your mind. Then ask yourself the “Who Am I?” question again and this time look for a response in the form of an image in your mind’s eye. Don’t try to think or reason, but simply let an image emerge. When you are ready, open your eyes, and write about what you saw, in as much detail as possible, and include any feelings you had about the image and what it meant to you. As you work your way through and establish who are the key players in your community, you’ll come to see they are each driven by fear, guilt, and shame… and as a result are actively seeking to protect themselves and the roles that they play. In other words, like all energy, they will do anything to survive, so unless they are offered a better paradigm, they will continue to resort to the survival mode. A point to note: no subpersonality is truly good or bad, but they may come with distortions. Our driven, career-focused directing type may be fantastic at managing projects, but could come across as overbearing or unsympathetic when given the reins at a poetry recital. Our kooky artist may be especially gifted at coming up with imaginative ideas, but probably isn’t the best candidate for scheduling our workload or filing our tax return.Imagine yourself in circumstances common in your daily life which in the past would have tended to upset or irritate you; perhaps being with a hostile person—or facing a difficult problem—or obliged to do many things rapidly—or in danger—and and feel yourself calm and serene. (This step may be postponed until gaining some familiarity with the exercise). After the dis-identification of myself, the ‘I,’ from the contents of consciousness, such as sensations, emotions, thoughts, I recognise and affirm that I am a centre of pure self-consciousness. I am a centre of will, capable of observing, directing, and using all psychological processes and my physical body. Self-images have latent powers that manifest as subpersonalities. Assagioli listed the following various types of self-images: Well, this was a summary of some of the essential discoveries I made while reading Assagioli’s extensive writings on subpersonalities. I hope the articles in this book will prove as valuable to you and inspire you to keep diving into the wisdom of Assagioli.

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. Miscellaneous thoughts, musings, intuitions, questions, or speculations which do not fit under other headings.

Geronimo

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 Obviously these exercises can be combined with other practices, drawn from a wide range of psychological and spiritual disciplines, East and West, nor do they represent a complete compilation of available psychosynthetic practices. But these particular twelve have proven central, again and again, to work in psychosynthesis, and they are published here in the hopes that they will continue to be of such use in the decades ahead. Description: This person isextremelyjudgmentalof themselves. They put themselves down constantly for any flaw, limitation, or failure they perceive in themselves. They fall into the mental trapofoveremphasizing their weaknesses and filtering out their strengths. Subpersonality is a temporary personality mode. It can be active at one moment, and can alter after a while. You may have noticed that you act differently in the presence of different people. You are someone else at work and you are someone else at home. I know people who are extroverts at work, they are loud, funny, etc., but when they are around their close ones at home they seem to turn into quiet introverts who like loneliness and serenity. Depending on the part that is active, we can behave differently. In the use of this exercise, two further mental processes are necessary: discrimination and interpretation We must learn to discriminate between those images which carry true wisdom and those which do not. For example, occasionally a critical and authoritarian figure appears, one who is not truly loving toward you. This can be the projection of a subpersonality or a known person onto the superconscious, and discrimination must be used to recognise it for what it is and “unmask” it. Also, a positive projection onto the superconscious may result in hearing “what you want to”, not what is really being communicated.

It seems that the different energies and qualities of the seven psychological functions are found in each subpersonality, giving it ‘flesh and bones’ and a directing purpose. Hence, each subpersonality is a miniature personality with access to the same qualities as are found in the general personality. The directing purpose of each subpersonality will typically be a strong desire (e.g. love or ambition) which will dominate when one performs a particular role. In Assagioli’s words (p. 57): ‘A subpersonality is formed by the accumulation of traits organised around a role.’ 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. This identification with a part of ourselves is usually related to the predominant function or focus of our awareness, to the predominant role we play in life. It can take many forms. Some people are identified with their bodies. They experience themselves, and often talk about themselves, mainly in terms of sensation; in other words they function as if they were their bodies. Others are identified with their feelings; they experience and describe their state of being in affective terms, and believe their feelings to be the central and most intimate part of themselves, while thoughts and sensations are perceived as more distant, perhaps somewhat separate. At this point it is valuable to make a deeper consideration of the stage of self-identification along the following lines: This psychosynthesis exercise is intended as a tool for achieving the consciousness of the self, and the ability to focus our attention sequentially on each of our main personality aspects, roles, etc. We then become clearly aware of and can examine their qualities while maintaining the point of view of the observer, and recognising that the observer is not that which he observes.How do I move? (Try out different postures and body movements to see what fits this subpersonality). If something uncomfortable for you has emerged, feel free to park it, knowing it will revisit only when you are ready. You are safe. There are two striking pieces of information in this statement. First that, as early as 1911, Assagioli had formed an understanding of subpersonalities, and secondly that he considered subpersonalities to be ‘one of the chief points of psychosynthesis’. I am not saying the darker subpersonalities need to come out and steal the show, or make your life any more difficult than it needs to be. But what I will say is this: every subpersonality needs something, wants something, and is ultimately trying to express something core in YOU. Evoke serenity directly. Imagine you are in a place which makes you feel serene: a quiet beach, a temple, a cool green glade… perhaps a place where you have experienced serenity in the past. Try to feel it. Repeat the word SERENITY several times. Let serenity permeate you to the point of identification with it, if possible.