Versions of Self ↔️

I’ve written before about some shadows of using “parts” as a self-concept. Valerie Daniel beautifully names another for us to bring out of the shadows: People often use the parts framework to deflect responsibility in the guise of self-awareness. Eg: “A part of me thinks you’re a jerk, but I don’t endorse that (so you can’t get mad at more for saying so).”

I’ve also written about many alternatives (universal energies, negative space of a tunnel entrance/exit, self-organizing system, pollinator, dance-floor anemone-spine / road network, integrated, purposeful self, etc). These will surely have their own shadows too; I’m pointing out so many alternatives to help us develop fluidity, freedom, and playfulness in the way we conceptualize the “self” we hold ourselves to be. 

 Here’s another to add to the list: Versions.

“There’s a version of me that wants to go, and a version that doesn’t”. This feels like an easy shift from ‘parts’ (for those who want to play), but it:

(1) More closely matches the holism of my experience (I don’t feel like I’m split into parts; I feel that there is a holistic me commanding the whole self, enacting the one and only world-experience I know in that moment; if another version of me wants to take over, it’s doing so as a way to create a whole new universe).

(2) More accurately describes how the inner version of ‘me’ I choose also enacts the outer world I inhabit, and

(3) that there's no escaping the responsibility of the present version of me, no matter how fluid or temporary.

So if you're down, play with this framing to see if it can invite us to embrace each version of ourselves as a fully accountable creator of the reality we inhabit—whole, fluid, and alive in the moment.  

And then let's find its limits, and create something new.

With love, Jordan