Unsuspected Inner Resource – How Modern Therapy Is Discovering What Is Innate And Healing Within Us by Bruce M.

How can we access the unsuspected inner resource within us as we experience conflicts with those about us and within us

As we explore the perhaps many parts within us that comprise the Dr. Jekyll of us attempting to manage better (i.e. parts like our Inner Critic, Striver, People Pleaser, Know-It-All) and the Mr. Hyde (i.e. Alcoholism, Workaholism, Compulsions/Addictions, Rage, Fantasizing, Escape Artist) of impulsively reacting to protect us from what we don’t want to feel, I’d like to revisit some of the wisdom expressed in Appendix 2 of the Big Book.

As you may know, after the first printing of the Big Book in 1939, many people believed the steps should lead them to some ‘white light’ spiritual experience of intense realignment and awakening. They had the impression that what Bill W described on page 14 in the Big Book as his experience should be the result they should expect. Bill W quickly realized how unrealistic and misleading this belief was and how important it was to clarify that a ‘spiritual experience’ could reflect itself in many differing forms and adaptations. So, with the 2nd printing of the Big Book in 1941; the decision was made to add Appendix 2 and to reference Appendix 2 wherever the term ‘spiritual experience’ was used in the Big Book. Here is a portion of this important addition of Appendix 2 with some bolds I’ve made to add emphasis to what I would like to discuss in this post.

Most of our experiences are what the psychologist William James calls the “educational variety” because they develop slowly over a period of time. Quite often friends of the newcomer are aware of the difference long before he is himself. He finally realizes that he has undergone a profound alteration in his reaction to life; that such a change could hardly have been brought about by himself alone. What often takes place in a few months could seldom have been accomplished by years of self discipline. With few exceptions our members find that they have tapped an unsuspected inner resource which they presently identify with their own conception of a Power greater than themselves. Most of us think this awareness of a Power greater than ourselves is the essence of spiritual experience.

Appendix 2, AA 4th edition Big Book pages 567,568

Let’s relate this idea of ‘unsuspected inner resource’ to what is now becoming quite well understood and respected in one of the leading 21st century therapies for healing. One of the modern therapies now gaining great popularity for the treatment of traumas and addictions is Internal Family Systems (IFS). This evidence based treatment methodology embraces this idea of an “unsuspected inner resource” that it calls the Core Self or Self-energy. Let’s begin with an overview of the healing process described below:

The essential element for the transformation of parts is Self-energy; the key to accessing Self-energy lies in helping parts to unblend; and the key to unblending is curiosity and disinterested inquiry into their experience, with no intention to fix, change or eliminate. As the ground state of receptive awareness, Self provides the compassionate leadership that parts need to initiate change. It is a given in this treatment that burdens, including the burdens of feeling shamed and unlovable, can be released with the help of Self-energy. In sum, the process of IFS involves several steps, in this order: unblending, befriending, being curious about and transforming parts. The befriending of parts is fundamental. All parts. This is a tantric practice: adversaries become allies spontaneously. As the IFS mantra states, All parts welcome!”

Internal Family Systems Therapy : New Dimensions Jack Engler

Let’s further explore this idea of our Core Self through this additional commentary. I think you’ll see how modern science is now aligning itself with the experiential realities of an ‘unsuspected inner resource’ that is innately within us and so fundamental to our recovery.

When a part steps back and releases its grip on us so that we no longer take it to be part of our core identity, what do we discover? First of all, a state of pure, open receptive awareness and acceptance without judgment or agendas. Self is what remains when parts are willing to unblend from us. When we relax into being that which is not any of our parts, IFS says we find our core, our essence, our true nature. Our natural state is a state of wholeness and completeness.

And from that core, uncontrived state, we discover that basic wholesome qualities emanate spontaneously. For instance, we don’t become compassionate and kind. Kindness and compassion are already there, as are many other positive attributes. We cannot acquire or generate them, and we don’t need to because they are innate. They are not transient states of consciousness that come and go, but timeless qualities of being. Self is like a beam of light that refracts into all the colors of the rainbow as it passes through a prism and illuminates our parts and external objects in the world. Interestingly, these “colors” overlap with many of the same qualities that all the Great Traditions identify. Dr. Schwartz (i.e. founder of IFS) used a mnemonic of Cs to identify eight of them, though this list is not exhaustive: calmness, clarity (or wisdom), curiosity, compassion, confidence, courage, creativity and connectedness… IFS uses the term “Self ” for this unblended state. The term Self-energy is also useful to designate the flow of feeling from Self to parts, and to recognize the different degrees to which a part is blended.

Unlike most of the Great Traditions, which typically assume that years of disciplined practice are necessary to access Self-energy, practitioners of IFS find that any time a part becomes willing to unblend, we will experience some degree of inherent wisdom and compassion, some sense of freedom, lucidity and connection. At the same time, IFS recognizes the reality that our parts are seldom completely unblended from us. The part we are working with may need to stay partially blended to feel safe enough for interaction with us. Moreover, as one part unblends we may still be blended or partially blended with others. This means we are seldom completely “in Self.” Instead we move into Self by degrees. This idea may be original with IFS and is crucial in working with parts.

The description Dr. Schwartz gave of Self playing an interactive role with parts was new and stimulating to me. In his conceptualization, Self doesn’t only witness or passively observe as in some meditation traditions; it has an active leadership role. From Self, curiosity, compassion and wisdom arise spontaneously, helping us to get to know and care for our parts. More surprising still was the idea that if we are even somewhat unblended, we are capable of providing the leadership our parts need. The assumption—repeatedly borne out in my experience since—is that only Self-led leadership is trustworthy and effective. That which is whole and complete, aware and awake in us, is very unlike parts. It is unbiased, impartial and does not need things to be “this” way or “that” but instead expresses interest, concern, care and compassion. Parts have agendas. Self does not.

Internal Family Systems: New Dimensions Jack Engler

I think this fits beautifully into something we discuss and practice in our monthly group meditation. Here are a few highlights of our GUGOGS group meditation post that I think are quite relevant to our discussion of an ‘unsuspected inner resource’ that can lead us to greater consciousness and perhaps an awareness of who we really are.

The goal of meditation is not to become a great meditator. The goal is for there to be no difference between the clarity and freedom you experience in periods of formal meditation and the clarity and freedom you experience in your life, relationships at work, when stuck in traffic and even when receiving a scary diagnosis from a doctor. Meditation can become a kind of wise companion you can use occasionally or daily to help deepen your understanding of your own mind to help you live a more examined life.

…This meditation practice is sometimes referred to as mindfulness. It is a state of clear non-judgmental curiosity and undistracted attention to the moment. There’s nothing passive about mindfulness. Being mindful is not a matter of thinking more clearly about experience, it is the act of experiencing more clearly.

… You give the gift of nonjudgmental curiosity and attention to your body, feelings, perceptions and suffering . You notice how your actions, thoughts and attitudes impact the world around you. You see how mindfulness of generosity makes you aware of your capacity for compassion.

… Meditation can give you the ability to simply let negative emotions go (or be). You can learn to recognize your anger, sadness and frustration with less judgement and more curiosity. Through this practice, you can have these insights and experience and change your perception of yourself and the world. You are more than you think you are, and certainly more than your thinking.

Giving is a wonderful way to feel both supported by AND accompanied in life. Through your meditation practice give yourself the gift of generous attention and non-judgmental curiosity.

How GUGOGS Group Meditation Works, Wayne S.

It’s exciting to me to now see how modern science and therapy can be in sync with spiritual principles in AA. It’s also very true that these modern therapies may have much to offer us in ‘practicing these principles’ … as we learn to ‘seek to understand’ those parts of us that are so often at war within us or unconsciously dictating our perceptions, desires, and actions.

As Bill W. writes “how shall our unconscious — from which so many of our fears , compulsions , and phony aspirations still stream — be brought into line with what we actually believe , know , and want! How to convince our dumb , raging , and hidden “ Mr . Hyde ” becomes our main task (Next Frontier Grapevine Article Jan 1958)

You can learn more about this in the GUGOGS website section entitled ‘Healing Our Jekyll/Hyde Divided Self’. I hope you’ll check out some of these new resources regarding IFS and see if they don’t add both some clarity and direction for how best to approach this always ‘new frontier’ we collectively face today … right now!