Dear Jack:

Here is what I have for you so far, and this is preliminary:

The Id, aka “inner child” is the psychic part of Jack that existed since conception and which carries the enduring history of millions years of evolution. This is ANIMALISTIC JACK who, like amoeba, moves toward pleasure and comfort and away from displeasure and discomfort. There is absolutely nothing you can do to change your Id, your inner child. He will always move toward pleasure and away from displeasure. At best you can teach him to endure temporary discomfort for future greater-than-now comfort. JUMPIN’ JACK FLASH is also your Id, the creative part, expanding on the strict moving-toward-pleasure-and-away-from displeasure Animalistic Abe. Jumpin Jack Flash is an evolutionary step beyond Animalistic Abe, evolved to the point of being creative. Wanting to show his creativity: “Look at me! See what I can do!”

The SuperEgo is the psychic part in humans whose job is to get along with other humans as we are social animals. Unfortunately in most people, the superego becomes a monster that attacks its host. Instead of it being enough to say: “Jack, wait your turn in line” it says: “I am going to beat you with this whip because you are taking space in this line” Instead of just saying: “You are not mechanically inclined at this point so let us develop your intellectual abilities, good job at it, by the way!” It says: “You are a failure for not being mechanically inclined, and… here is that whip. I am going to beat you up for not being mechanically inclined!”

The parts of you Jack to follow were born out of your efforts to try to please the monster on one end and your efforts to try to shrink the monster on the other. PIOUS PETE, born out of a couple thousand years of Christian history is telling you: “Monster is correct: you are inadequate, bad, sinful, no good (and don’t bother trying to be good by deeds because what you think and feel is bad, so no use trying to act good), and therefore submit to the monster (superego/ monster= god) and the god will be as good to you as a god can be (save your soul for another time, that is after death).

Poor ANALYTICAL ALAN tries his very best to figure out a way out of his badness, find just the right arguments to present to the monster. RUMINATOR RON gives Analytical Alan all the time Analytical Alan needs and more, to come up with that argument. NEUROTIC NORMAN is suffering because of the continuous failure of Analytical Alan and Ruminator Ron to come up with an argument that will put the monster to rest and render him impotent. PLEASE NO PRESSURE PERCY is Neurotic Norman under pressure, not good. Obviously everything is worse under pressure, the whippings by the monster are increased, blood is shed… it is a mess.

LLAMA JACK, WISE JACK, and CHAIRMAN CHUCK include healthy elements in you (as are Analytical Alan and Ruminator Ron but they are both misguided and keep working hard based on misunderstanding, so they are going nowhere) but they are trying to WORK WITH the Monster. Problem is the monster is a son of a bitch and always will be. The monster needs to be eliminated, the superego re-made to what it was meant to be: get along with others, just get along, not blood shedding.

anita