A Soul Connection

Perspectives of the Mind (in the Relative World)

Let's begin by meeting ourselves where we are, or at least where we find ourselves most of the time -- the Mind in the Relative world.

With depth psychology, we learn that the development of the Ego is an integral process of every human being. It's interesting that in trying to understand this process we find that the Ego is an image-maker. The Ego creates images of anything and everything having to do with life experiences as a means to define itself and the world. From the time we are infants, the Ego begins to emerge showing us, distinguishing for us, that there's a self and an other -- an image of the self and an image of the other. These images form and change throughout our lives.

At this point, we can ask ourselves the following questions:

What images do I have about myself? About who I am, my aspirations, my limitations? How do these images about myself affect my relationships with others? With myself? Are these mere images and, therefore, not real? What is the truth?

Within the Voice Dialogue system, or process, we learn that the Ego creates various different selves (termed "voices") as a means of protection -- to protect the self which, of course, protects the Ego. Each of these selves has a specific function with the underlying mission -- to protect. The voice that's "in charge" of all the other voices is called the Protector, or Controller. Other voices include: the Fixer, the Critic, the Judge, the Pleaser, the Rebel, the Seeker, the Victim, the Vulnerable Child. There are many, many voices. Basically, remember this: 'if you can name it, it's a voice'.

Some basic guidelines to use in the dialoguing process are as follows:

• never have an agenda other than curiosity to understand, to see what you can learn
• always ask permission to speak to a specific voice
• shift your body to initiate the shift in consciousness
• use the pronoun "I" when speaking from the perspective of 'the voice' and the pronoun s/he (or "the self" or your name) when 'the voice' is giving information about you
• always ask the voice this question: "how do you help the self?"
• identify and speak with the opposite voice
• complete the process by reflecting on what you've learned and how you might integrate it

For every voice we recognize within ourselves, there's an opposite voice, one we may or may not recognize. Most often the unrecognized voices, the one's we find hard to imagine or get in touch with, are our disowned voices. I call these my orphans. Another rule of thumb is that when we dialogue with a voice, we need to dialogue with the opposite. After we've dialogued with both, we need to stand back and reflect, either verbally or in writing, what we learned from these two opposites.

Speaking from the perspective of any of these voices can be extraordinary as we're introduced to knowledge about ourselves we did not know or fully understand previously. If, or when, we find that we're not learning anything new, or not receiving a better understanding about ourselves, then there may very well be something (a voice) blocking, resisting the process. A good voice to speak to in this case is Fear. Ask questions like: "As fear, what are you afraid of (having to do with the voice we were just speaking to)?" Even with the voice of Fear, you need to ask the question: "how are you helping the self?" Once you dialogue with Fear in this way, you should be able to go back to the voice with which you were working.

Exercise
We're now ready to do the following exercise. It can be done alone; however, it's particularly helpful, especially when first learning this work, to both facilitate others and be facilitated by others.

Identify a self/voice that you feel you are particularly identified with. Use all the basic guidelines above to dialogue with this part of you. When you've finished with that voice, identify and dialogue with the opposite. After speaking with this opposite voice, step back and reflect, either verbally or in writing, what you've learned from each voice. Lastly, talk, or write about, how you can integrate both voices in your life now.

Repeating this exercise with more than one voice will help you understand more about yourself AND will help you in learning how to shift your consciousness more easily from one voice-perspective to another.

Comment Area Below
I encourage you to use the comment area below to share your experience and insights. Feel free to use your initials if you're uncomfortable using your name on this blog.