Identity and subpersonalities

I keep coming back to the topic of identification and subpersonalities.

When reality awakens to itself, there is either an apparent release of all identifications (nondual) or there is still identification as an I (unity).

At the same time, there are subpersonalities at our human level, and these may still be marked by a previous life within a sense of I and Other. They may be wounded, confused, reflect beliefs and so on. These too wish to move from confusion to clarity, they wish to align more with reality, they seek liberation from their suffering. They seek to heal, align with reality, and mature, and this is an ongoing process.

The overall process can happen in different ways.

There may be a good amount of healing, aligning and maturing of subpersonalities prior to reality awakening to itself. Many spiritual practices has this as side-effect, and this is what most traditional paths intend to set the stage for.

Reality may awaken to itself and the liberation and maturing of subpersonalities happen within that. Byron Katie may be a good example of this. Reality woke up to itself, it recognized that many subpersonalities were still confused, so she spent years inquiring into thoughts following/within the awakening. That’s how she developed The Work.

Reality may awaken to itself and then fade. In this case, there is a conscious knowing of what it’s about, subpersonalities surface to find liberation from their suffering, and there is no way out but through since the “awakening” can’t serve as a refuge anymore. The confused subpersonalities cannot be “transcendet” but must be taken seriously. This is probably quite common, and one flavor of this is the appearance of a dark night of the soul.

Both the “up” part – the clarity, and the “down” part – the healing, aligning and maturing of subpersonalities, is an ongoing process. It can always be more clear. The subpersonalities can always align and mature further. There may be some markers and sign posts on the way, but the process is free of goals or end points – other than in our thoughts.

Of course, reality doesn’t conform to any ideas or models, and certainly not to what I wrote here. It’s free to follow it’s own unfolding, which partly appears to fit and partly goes outside of any ideas.

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• identity and subpersonalities
  • reality awake to itself
    • either release of all identifications (nondual)
    • or still identification as an I (unity)
  • subpersonalities
    • wish to move from confusion to clarity, align more with reality, liberation from their suffering
    • heal, align, mature etc.
    • ongoing process
    • –> as soon as any viewpoint is taken as true, even if by a subpersonality, then identification as a separate I
  • can happen in different ways
    • healing, aligning of subpersonalities prior to any glimpses
    • awakening then liberation of subpersonalities within that
    • nonabiding awakening so there is a conscious knowing of what it’s about, and the subpersonalities can surface and align with no way out but through
  • ongoing process
    • both the “up” – clarity, and “down” – healing, aligning, maturing of the subpersonalities – is an ongoing process
    • ongoing process – no end point, no goal, at most some markers or sign posts on the way
  • …..

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As soon as any viewpoint is taken as true, there is identification as a separate I, and when these wounded subpersonalities surface, there is a chance of

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Of course, reality doesn’t conform to any of this, including those three versions mentioned above. Even if there is the appearance of a “stable” awakening, wounded subpersonalities may surface and since they reflect an old belief, there may be a temporary reidentification with this belief – and so also the (apparently subtle) reappearance of identification as an I. It’s possible to be caught in these old wounds reflecting old beliefs. And then it looks more like #3. There is no way out but through.