Writer Dylan Morrison

In my last post in this series we looked at the initial step in dealing with our survival sub-personalities viz observation.

Once we can identify a number of these ‘mini-me’s we are on the road to receiving healing.

As we saw previously many of these little defensive personalities within have been created through trauma, often mimicking the behaviour of our parents that we believe will cause them to love us. This bondage to the self of ‘the other’ is, I believe, the root of much of our psychological pain.

Where then does spirituality come into this healing process?

One unusual characteristic of Yeshua was Hs willingness to eat with the social outcasts of His day, with those commonly referred to as ‘sinners’ by the establishment’s religious power-brokers. Annoyed by the Nazarene’s transgression of their fellowship code Yeshua’s critics continually tried to drag Him back into line regarding their status-quo morality and so-called  orthodoxy.

A key to Yeshua’s world view and the Kingdom that he proclaimed was social and spiritual integration.

I believe that such welcoming integration is the principle of all healing, spiritual, psychological and physical.

So what are we to do with the sub-personalities that we’ve recently identified as part of our psyche?

Firstly we are to recognise and welcome them as part of  ourselves. Imagine a scene in ancient Palestine where Yeshua is lying on a couch, eating with prostitutes, extortionists and the general ‘lowlife’ of His day. Yeshua saw something deeply appealing and valuable, yet often wounded in His fellow guests. The road to their healing lay not in religious demands but in eating in the Presence of unconditional Love.

The same holds true for our fragmented psyche with its  strong survival sub-personalities. Each of  them has a light and dark side that contributes to our survival under stressful replays of their original birth trauma.

When I slip into my ‘father’s’ withdrawn sub-personality I exercise a form of detachment to avoid the rejection I perceive coming my way. Such a detachment has its plus side. Violent verbal or physical exchanges will probably be avoided. On the negative side the detachment leads to a lack of engagement with the issues involved and constructive dialogue.

Once the pluses and negatives of our sub-personalities, unearthed from the dark layers of our subconscious are identified we can welcome them into the ‘family’ circle that communes without condemnation or self judgement. Another step to healing has been taken.

What are we to do with the often demanding energies of the now identified subpersonalities?

More of that in the next post.