“Voice Dialogue is a method intended for training in Self-Awareness and transformation of consciousness but equally valid as an important therapeutic tool.”
In this technique the facilitator engages in a conversation with the subject and her or his different selves.*
Voice Dialogue in essence is about communication with the various parts of our personality.* The idea that we have different selves is not new and is described for example in the work of Jung. This idea that we have many different selves is central to Voice Dialogue. It gives us the opportunity to get to know ourselves in all dimensions and to relate with these parts. We get a personal and intimate experience of our inner world.
At the same time it is exciting to have the experience of exploring ourselves. When engaging a subpersonality ideally there is no interference of other parts, such as the critical, the embarrassed, the repressive protector or controller. Each subpersonal
The Nature of Consciousness
In approaching a definition of consciousness, we start with the basic idea that consciousness is not an entityit is a process. What we will be defining, therefore, is not consciousness but the evolution of consciousness.
Consciousness is a process that must be lived out an evolutionary process that continually changes from one moment to the next. As we refer to consciousness in the coming pages, it will be important to keep this kinetic aspect of the process in mind.
Consciousness evolves on three distinctly different levels. The first is the level of awareness. The second level is the experience of the different selves, subpersonalities, or energy patterns. The third level is the development of an Aware Ego.
That’s why in our consciousness model the term consciousness includes both awareness and the experience of energy.
Sub Personalities
Voice Dialogue is an inclusive method in that it is literally ‘giving a voice’ to the different parts of the personality. Essential to the method is that by experiencing these different parts – energy patterns – in their different positions in the process, by giving them their own voice, is resulting in a growing awareness of these parts.
This increasing Awareness will lead to an increasingly Aware Ego. But in short, the Aware Ego is the position from which you are attached to neither side of a polarity that exists within you – allowing you a free and aware choice between either part.
Next to the process of transformation and growing awareness in the Aware Ego, a similar process of increasing awareness is to be observed in the involved subpersonalities as well. As we have seen in the former chapter a subpersonality occupies its own space, so in Voice Dialogue we invite the part, for example the Controller, and ask where it would like to sit or stand. So our experienced energies that we feel within ourselves are translated into different personality parts.
Because of this you are able to experience the energy that is connected with a certain position in the body. During the dialogue with the facilitator the Controller then becomes aware of itself, its thoughts, feelings and its will.
Introducing Peter and Amy
Meet Peter and Amy. During this course we will follow the exercises that they do. It can help you to start up with your own exercises and clarify the way to do them. They are just there for you whenever you need an example. If you don’t need these examples, just follow your own program.
Peter
Jack is 29 years old, studied polytechnics, and has an ICT job. He is an example to his younger brother mostly because Jack is career driven and his brother is not. They see each other regularly, but Jack finds his brother a bit lazy. Jack is more like his mother, career driven, and his brother has more of the laziness of fathers side. Lately Jack notices that he wants to do more for his personal development. He wants more in life than going back and forth between work and home. Although he likes the type of work, designing web pages, he feels it is time to get more out of life and to spend more quality time with himself and his girlfriend. The guitar that he has, he barely ever touches. He doesn’t allow himself much time for music, and still he has the feeling he wants to spend more time with his instruments. Apart from his guitar he bought a keyboard, and he attended only two classes, which he didn’t finish. He compensates his lack of time in buying more instruments, by now enough to fill half a studio with. For Peter the question remains, why is it so hard to finally organize his time in such a way that he can start spending more time with his girlfriend and his music.
Amy
Amy studies Anthropology, she is 26 years old. She will graduate in a couple of months. And she is very fond of travelling. Up till now it doesn’t work out with her relations. She finds boys too short sighted and not adventurous when it comes to traveling. She has an open mind and wants to continue travelling after her studies. During her studies she has done field work and done research with the Amazon indians. She has become very interested in tribal religions around the world. She shas an older sister and a younger brother. Amy thinks that they are kind and nice but she also finds them a bit boring. Her parents are teachers English and Geography. She doesn’t understand where her openness and wanderlust comes from. She now asks herself if she wants to travel or otherwise has to settle down, but then the picture is not complete yet… She finds that she is a bit stuck in her decisions in what to do.