The One and the Many

In any given day we show up in many guises. These are our subpersonalities, those partial aspects of ourselves that can take over consciousness and run the show, whether WE want them to or not. The language is out in the world now: the wounded child, the critic, etc. Good descriptions, in fact, of much of what plagues us. And plague us they can. Who decides what to buy at the grocery store? The dieter? The pleasure seeker? The one who is in a hurry? The rebel (angry at the dieter)? On the other hand, would we want to be just a unified presence, easily recognizable as one kind of personality?

There is an invitation in our multiplicity to know ourselves fully, without having to deny or exclude anything. What a thought! How much easier to push things back into the closet, to see only the best of ourselves... or at least to show only the best of ourselves, that good resume that we present to the world. But that which we put into the shadows; our own hurt, anger, greed, our own woundedness, eventually leaks out, sneaks out or speaks out. So it is our job to know who we contain and to know who we are.

Who we are invites us into those considerations that transpersonal psychology and spirituality in general carry as a central theme. In psychosynthesis, for instance, self is defined as " a center of pure awareness and will". The analogy that works for this essential who and the cast of characters that we carry inside is the orchestra. I am the conductor of my many selves and when they play in tune and under my direction we create beautiful music. When they don't.... well you all know what that is like. I wouldn't want to be without any part of me. My inner child brings me playfulness and spontaneity; the critic, while needing to be tamed, offers me discernment; even my wounded selves allow a greater empathy; my stubbornness supports my will and my less lovely subpersonalities remind me of my humanness and invite me into acceptance and compassion for my own imperfect self ... and for everyone else who is in the same imperfect boat.

And when I can anchor into my self, I can conduct the orchestra... and I can play the music that has been composed from within an even deeper aspect of my being. What to call that still small voice is a matter for each to decide. It has many names. But everyone knows it. That is the experience of intuition, of resonance, of hearing a call, of knowing what is right in a given moment, of feeling at one..... so many descriptions. But the call of Self, as a good enough term, invites us into a life of purpose, writes the music that we then get to play as the concert of our lives. It will include every instrument and all our voices. The one and the many, together.