Burn them all

One of the fascinating things to consider when working with Internal Family Systems is the extent to which other elements of psychological theory and psychotherapy practice overlap with the IFS model. For example, how does Jung’s construct of Self equate with the IFS notion of Self (if at all)? How do the more modern principles of mindfulness-based therapy (a broad church to be sure) relate to the constructs of curiosity, the 8Cs in general, and insight during IFS therapy? In this series of articles, we will look at various psychological constructs and notice how they overlap with IFS theory and indeed how they can be played out in individual interactions.

Game of Thrones fans will be familiar with Aerys Targaryen also known as the Mad King whose refrain of “burn them all” was issued just before he was slain by his own Kings Guard during Robert Baratheon’s sacking of King’s Landing. The King’s Guard (Jamie Lannister) killed his own king for a reason; he had taken a gradual, but ultimately deep and dramatic, slide into madness. His behavioural dysfunction was illustrated by hubris, chaos, cruelty, and lack of vision.

We wonder about the Mad King’s journey and how it might link in with IFS and our Parts. We also wonder about our modern-day Mad Kings and how our Parts might think and feel about them. Thankfully the notion of archetypes and Parts work provides some insight. A couple of definitions to start with.

An archetype can be considered to be a symbolic construct present in the collective unconscious of all human beings which is created, manifested, consolidated and experienced through dreams, myths, and stories. Two primary archetypes are the mother and the father. In Erich Neumann’s classic book, The Great Mother: An Analysis of the Archetype (Princeton University Press, 1955), he analyses dreams, art, mythology and ritual to unpack how feminine energy has been represented throughout history—moon, vessel, earth, goddess, etc. Rather than presenting a one-sided, all-loving, unreservedly positive representation of femininity, Neumann argues for a more balanced (and more complicated) feminine archetype, which both nurtures and destroys. Fathers, too, have their own energetic constructs, but the mother and father are just two examples of an archetype. Carol Pearson (2002) outlines a dozen archetypes which include (but are not limited to) the innocent, the warrior, the lover, and the sage. Additionally, there are many more archetypes than these.

The link between archetypes and Parts has various levels. On the one hand, our Parts, as seen through an IFS lens, can be directly contextualized as personal and individualized internal representations of an archetype. I know in my own system, I have a Magician Part who is able to view seemingly hopeless situations and look underneath the surface to find solutions when they can be hard to find. My Magician Part has much in common with the magician archetype, which is capable of changing the flow of a situation by focusing on what can be achieved rather than being drawn into a downward spiral and focusing on what cannot be achieved.

On the other hand, one of the beautiful aspects of IFS is the permission it provides for us to see our Parts as more nuanced than a pure archetype—more individualistic, idiosyncratic, and customized to our past, present, and future. There is much room for individuality and creativity inside the IFS model so, while an archetypal approach provides a solid psycho-evolutionary platform for thinking about our Parts, IFS provides a lot of flexibility in terms of how we can experience them. Let’s look at one specific archetype highly relevant in our world today—the king—and see where it can go right (demonstrating constructive and supportive energies) and where it can wrong (demonstrating destructive and divisive energies).

In the book King, Warrior, Magician, Lover: Rediscovering the Archetypes of the Mature Masculine (HarperCollins, 1990), Douglas Gillette and Robert Moore talk about evolving masculine energies through the transition of boy psychology into man psychology. They suggest that the ultimate expression of boyhood (the Divine Child) has two inferior qualities from which it originates (we can think of these as burdened Parts or Parts without full access to Self leadership or their full natural qualities). Similarly, they suggest that the ultimate expression of manhood (the King in His Fullness) has two inferior qualities from which it originates. Let’s look at the boyhood dynamic first:

The inferior qualities of the boy are colloquially known as the High Chair Tyrant and the Weakling Prince; the Divine Child is the fully developed superior quality of the boy. While the Divine Child is a significant advancement on the two inferior qualities, he is still a child/boy and has not yet reached full adulthood/manhood. To achieve full growth, the Divine Child must transition into the king. The inferior qualities of the king archetype are known as the Tyrant and the Weakling; the fully developed superior quality of the man is known as the King in His Fullness.

The inferior qualities of the boy, particularly at the High Chair Tyrant, are seen most obviously in the indulged toddler. Like all toddlers, he considers himself to be the centre of the universe, but most toddlers are supported to grow out of that stage and shed their fundamental egocentrism for a more mature outlook. Not so the High Chair Tyrant. Anyone in his environment is only useful to meet his needs. Offerings for this over-indulged toddler are never good enough; they are too hot, too cold, too much, too little, too early, too late, etc. He typically rejects offerings (food, toys, love) and demands something different. If he fails to transcend the natural stages of toddlerhood and approaches adolescence and early adulthood, the High Chair Tyrant expresses arrogance, hubris, irresponsibility, chaos, grandiosity, self-inflation, and pathological narcissism.

Most of us are supported through discipline, responsible love, social shaping from our peers, and parental limitations in terms of energy, attention, or finances. These help boys drop the delusions of omnipotence associated with toddlerhood and move into more mature outlooks. In IFS language, as we grow and mature and are subjected to the usual vicissitudes of life, our Parts are challenged and can hopefully generate enough curiosity to figure out what needs to change. They then access the courage, creativity, patience, and persistence to make the necessary changes. But occasionally the High Chair Tyrant’s environment provides just the right (or wrong) set of circumstances, like surplus material wealth, unwarranted praise, and absence of constructive criticism, discipline, and responsible love. As he moves toward adolescence and adulthood, the High Chair Tyrant can be enabled by this environment to double down. He learns to reinforce his grandiosity and self-importance, and he transitions into an adult form of the Tyrant. Sometimes these people become powerful CEO’s or highly influential people in the community. Sometimes they even become politicians or presidents…

No one likes a tyrant, except perhaps for those bullies who benefit from his abuses. Most of us have experienced their energy and misuse of power in some way—the manager at work who unnecessarily throws their weight around, the local politician who excludes minority groups, the business rival who lies and cheats his way into a strong position. What can be done when we are faced with tyrant energy in our lives?

The first thing, of course, is to generate some curiosity and do the U-Turn. Where is my own tyrant energy? How am I Parts-led rather than Self-led? What might I be doing to contribute to the situation? Having said this, one of the overarching features of tyrant energy is that it sometimes just requires good men to do nothing. We have all seen individuals, fully functioning organizations, and even entire countries facilitate tyrant energy. These situations require clarity, courage, persistence, and compassion for all those who jumped on the bandwagon led by their wounded Parts.

The paradox is that ultimately the king serves his people. As such, he is an interchangeable human pawn which, when worn out, is simply replaced by a new one. If this power is managed well, the mortal king is a channel for the king energy. But if he has been unable to develop fully into his kingliness, the tables may be turned, and he can be possessed by the king energy, deforming himself into a Tyrant King. This is neither good for a king nor his people.

In the ancient world, under-developed kings who presided over unsuccessful military campaigns or unfavorable weather conditions that caused famine would be ritually killed and replaced. So, let us make no mistake, when the Tyrant King is unable to successfully attend to his two primary functions— instilling order and providing fertility in the kingdom—he will be replaced, by democracy or by violence. Indeed, sometimes he will be replaced at the hand of others. For example, Jamie Lannister killed Aerys Targaryen, and France’s Louis the XVI was found guilty of high treason and beheaded by his former subjects. And sometimes his demise is executed by his own hand. Hitler killed himself in a bunker in the waning days of World War II, with the Russian Army closing in on Berlin.

In extreme moments of chaos, we can turn to our protective Parts for guidance or support. We can also reach out to our vulnerable Parts to provide them with compassion and care. Either way, we are checking in, providing space, generating Self energy, and demonstrating Self leadership. These qualities all combine and constellate in our internal system (the microcosm) to compassionately tend to the needs of our own wounded Parts. This then provides a counter-energy in the greater macrocosm to balance and work against the various Mad Kings who are currently seated on their thrones, who would burn us all if they had the chance.

Having tended to our own Parts, we then wonder how we might we deal with the Parts of the Mad King. This is a very difficult situation, because the Mad King in the grip of tyrant energy is hypersensitive to criticism, enraged, threatening, obsessed with power, and cruel. Compassion seems counter-intuitive, until we remember the second inferior quality of the King archetype: The Weakling. Underneath his rage and bluster, the Tyrant King feels worthless, vulnerable, and weak. He is desperate for adoration and worship. At the bottom of it all, he is terrified of being nothing, of psychological annihilation.

It takes strength to be in the presence of the Mad King and to avoid being sucked into his abyss of fear. Strength in the form of courage, confidence, compassion (indeed all the characteristics of Self energy) need to be sourced. But mostly it takes clarity. Clarity to call the situation for what it is. Clarity to do the right thing when the Mad King is burning down the kingdom. Clarity to understand the dynamics involved and to see the truth of what drives these dynamics.

The reign of the Mad King will pass. It always does. But tending to our own Parts during his reign is vital. Moreover, lending Self energy to the cultural collective in this process can be enormously healing.

REFRENCES:
– Moore, R. & Gillette, D. (1990). King, Warrior, Magician, Lover: Rediscovering the archetypes of the mature masculine. Harper Collins: New York.
– Neumann, E. (1955). The great mother: an analysis of the archetype. Pantheon Books.
– Pearson, C.S. & Marr, H.K., (2002). Introduction to archetypes. Centre for applications of psychological type: Florida.