Unattached Burdens

Exploring the idea of parts that are mysterious and feel like they are not self.

Nondual IFS posted this fascinating post a week ago that I wanted to explore this morning, but my computer is glitching, so I am trying to write on my phone.

From ancient times, humans have struggled to come to terms with what have felt that distinct entities in the psyche. You don't need to have watched The Exorcist to have a horror of how alien and monstrous what many have decided is demonic possession can be.

We are in the 21st century, and in modern psychological phenomena that feel and act like not-self are called unattached burdens.

They function as extreme exiles, like firefighters function as extreme managers, exiled so far from the human psyche that they feel distinctly othyester

Of course they are not all as dramatic as something that looks to the religious eye like demon possession. And they often require a deft and compassionate therapist with much patience to help the person work through what this anguished part has been trying to convey.

As I was talking to my spiritual director about this yesterday; I thought of that quote from Rilke about perhaps all the dragons in our lives being really princesses, just waiting to be seen.

There are exiles within even the most apparently balanced and content person that have been waiting close to that person's entire life to be seen.

Can you imagine the torment of a part that has been buried deep in the psyche long decades without any hope of seeing the light of day or being welcomed into the internal family?

Can you imagine the relief of that part and the richness for the entire ‘family' when at last it begins to be integrated into the conscious self?

I am really looking forward to doing more reading and learning about exiles, including these ones.