We are dominated by everything with which our self is identified. We can dominate and control everything from which we disidentify ourselves. The normal mistake we all make is to identify ourselves with some content of consciousness rather than with consciousness itself. (Roberto Assagioli)
For Assagioli, the founder of psychosynthesis, the practice of self-inquiry is a continuously evolving relationship to the contents of our consciousness, and ultimately, as he writes, to consciousness itself. The idea is that when we are able to observe that very relationship, we are creating a space between the contents of consciousness, for example the feeling, the thought, the desire, and the observing part of ourself. This is a fundamental practice that we call disidentification.
When we disidentify from for example a thought like ”I could have performed better”, we shift from being in the grip of the thought, and believing it to be true, to observing it. And as soon as we observe the thought, we realize the shape and limits of it, its transient nature. At that moment, other alternatives appear to us, for example its opposite, which could be ”I couldn’t have performed better”, ”I did as well as I could” or ”I could have performed worse”. Logic loosens its grip as we realize that these different thoughts probably also have their truth. Disidentification helps us broaden our conscious experience of the world as we know it. It increases our sense of freedom and choice.
Our identifications often appear in clusters of perceptions that show up as patterns over time. We call them subpersonalities. Each subpersonality has its distinct feelings and belief systems, and the gallery of subpersonalities is unique to each individual. I have an achiever subpersonality dressed in the classic Swedish student graduation cap, full of vitality, duty and optimism. When I’m identified with her, I can be in touch with my desire to conquer new horizons of knowledge, but I can also be gripped by an overwhelming sense of responsibility to make the world a better place. Another subpersonality of mine is so good at hiding in her tiny seashell that I am still getting to know her, still wondering what she is protecting. In psychosynthesis, we often draw these inner parts as a step of the disidentification process, to honour their individuality and allow them to be expressed in their own right.
Each subpersonality has its distinct needs and qualities, and when these are in conflict, we can experience inner turmoil, confusion, loss of meaning. The concept of the subpersonality offers an access point for us to increase awareness and acceptance of our inner dynamics. As we disidentify from the experiences of our subpersonalities, our inner multiplicity comes into view, and so does our felt sense of freedom of choice.
The journey of disidentification doesn’t have an end point. Rather, it is a conscious choice about how we want to meet the world within and around us.
Anna Thurdin Hedblad, founder Paxsum AB