You will respect my authoritah

You Will Respect My Authoritah – Cartman/Chickenlover/South Park

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We are conditioned to structure relationships around who gets to be the boss. As children we are programmed to internalize the existing power structure through fear conditioning.

I call these structures around power, authority, and control, the PAC complex. Through my work with people, I've come to believe that it's the fundamental cause of traumatic splitting in the human psyche. A single pairing of stimulus with fear arousal in the nervous system can bring on fear conditioning and permanently change the arousal system. Similar stimuli trigger past trauma and the fear response hi-jacks the frontal lobe of the brain where judgment and rational thought are located. The learned response can override reasoning even in adulthood and cause anxiety, phobias, and panic attacks.

We learn to internalize our own oppression and accept the attitudes and ideas of the PAC complex by making them part of self - these ideas and assumptions become our own. There is a powerful me that can be used to oppress others who are viewed as weak and there is a powerless me that is oppressed by authority figures. Some guy puts on a special hat and expects to be blindly obeyed. ( In Cartman's case it's mirrored sunglasses. See video link chickenlover/South Park).

The PAC Complex, internal and external, keeps us obedient and childlike. Until we free ourselves from it emotional maturity is impossible.

What is your Psychograph?

THE PSYCHOGRAPH AS A TOOL FOR GROWTH

Research has shown that there are many developmental lines – emotional, cognitive, and spiritual, etc. (represented on the horizontal line of the psychograph). These lines grow in complexity as consciousness increases. Consciousness grows by giving up the egocentric position, opening to experience, enlarging perspective, and becoming non-attached to form.

The lines of development grow independently. There can be a disparity between the lines of development. For example, one can have a high level of cognitive development but be emotionally closed and immature.

As consciousness becomes more inclusive, the level becomes more complex (represented on the vertical line of the psychograph). The Impulsive Self is centered on pleasure/pain and reward/punishment. The Opportunistic Self plays a role and follows the rules to attain a specific reward rather than just avoid punishment. The Socialized Self can include the wants and needs of others, the social contract is introjected. The Realizing Self is differentiated, integrated, and unified.
Moral development is empathic and universal and is based on internally derived values.

Often the self is spread out on the vertical axis also. Parts of self are stuck in the lower levels of development and can be triggered by current circumstance. We behave in ways that we could not have predicted and seem contrary to the image we have of our self.
Mark each box in the psychograph that applies: For example, in the moral line of development, there may be parts of self at all four levels of development.

Spiritual line - what is the highest meaning and purpose of my life?
Intrapersonal line - how well do I know myself?
Cognitive line - what am I aware of?
Self-expression - how well can I express my needs, values, and creativity?
Emotional line - how well do I know and express my emotions?
Self-identity line - who am I?
Moral line - what is right?
Psychosexual line - can I be intimate with others?
Interpersonal line - do I interact well with others?
Needs line - what do I need?
Values line - what is important to me?

The completed psychograph can be used to bring awareness to those parts of self we intend to develop. It can also be used to facilitate integration of all aspects of self.

The psychograph is a tool for growth. Periodic re-evaluation using the psychograph can demonstrate the integration, and unification of consciousness made possible by attention and intention.

Click on the graph below for a larger view.

The Impulsive Self - I'm not going to live by their rules

In the movie, Groundhog Day, Phil Connor, played by Bill Murray, is stuck in a time warp repeating Groundhog Day, over and over again. One day he is drinking at a bowling alley with two guys named Gus and Ralph. He asks them,"What would you do if you were stuck in the same place and each day was the same and nothing you did meant anything. Ralph says, "That pretty much sums it up for me.: They all get drunk. Later, Phil asks, What would you do if there was no tomorrow." Gus says, "That would mean there is no consequence, we could do what we want." (See police car video, 3 cheeseburgers)

At the lowest stage of development, the only behavior restraint is fear of punishment from an external source, what you do is only bad if you get caught and have to suffer consequences. Behavior is centered on pleasure/pain and reward/punishment.

One day in a cafe, Rita watches Phil smoke, eat, and pour coffee down his throat right from the pot. She quotes Sir Walter Scott, "The wretch, con-centered on self shall go down unwept, un-honored and unsung."

Phil says, "I suppose you think I'm egocentric. She says, "Egocentric is your defining characteristic."

The Impulsive Self is totally egocentric. Without internal moral development, the Impulsive Self acts on whatever urge comes to mind, without regard for others.

Groundhog Day

Opportunistic Self - playing a role to get what you want

After a while, things get boring for Phil. Without consequence the main drive to growth is an unsatisfactory environment and so he begins to long for the preferred woman. That would be Rita.
The Opportunistic Self plays a role and pretends to go along with the rules to get a specific reward. Phil uses planning, insight, and discrimination to achieve his goal. The focus is on the preferred reward (Rita) rather than just avoiding punishment.
Phil is now willing to alter his behavior and act "as if" to get the reward he seeks. He is capable of understanding the wants and needs of others and he mimicks the required behavior. He is pretending to be "good" and is willing to control his impulses to get what he wants - like a kid in grade school. (See Best Scenes from Groundhog Day on right).
Rita represents Phil's repressed feminine side. Romantic love is based on finding union with the unexpressed and denied half of one's own self. She realizes he is being false with her and rejects him. She accuses him of loving only himself. He says,
"Love myself? I don't even like myself."
Self-centeredness comes from feeling empty - there is no self-love, only defensiveness and self-indulgence. Only when you love yourself, are you able to truly love others.
Phil needs to love himself before he can love Rita.