The Differentiated Self
Have you ever stopped to listen to your inner dialogue? I’m sure you have. And if you have, you’ve also noticed that there are many different voices often speaking diverse “languages.” There’s the voice of your story—your history—the voice of your parent(s), the voice of your culture and community, the voice of your education, the voice of your inner child, and so on.
In our current psychological understanding, we accept this as a fact but try to maintain as much coherence as possible between these different voices. We may explore them through various role-plays, shadow work, and other methods as a demonstration of how to identify these different voices and integrate them better. This is all well and good, and absolutely necessary for a healthy mind.
In MirrorWork, when we present such ideas as “fragmentation” or “differentiation” of self, we’re not trying to say that these roles should be separated from one another; actually, we are not speaking of these kinds of roles at all but something more fundamental to human identity.
What is the Differentiated Self in MirrorWork?
The basic idea is that we have both some inherent parts that relate to being born in physicality and some parts that are uniquely our way to express our physicality. We are not talking about the above-mentioned socially constructed roles but about parts of our identity that are integral parts of that very identity we feel is ours. And by identity, we mean the Larger Self, which is composed of both physical and non-physical parts. This is where MirrorWork diverges from most of our current psychology. Please understand that MirrorWork is not a replacement for the psychological work we all have to do to feel healthy and whole; it’s an extension of that. And one more word of warning: the differentiation of self we’re writing about here applies only to that MirrorWork extension, not to basic psychology.
Now that you understand how important it is to have a well-grounded basic psychological identity, we may start to explore the idea of a fragmented or differentiated self in MirrorWork.
🔹 The first principle is: Fragmentation is the path to wholeness.
🔹 The second principle is: A forced unity is not real unity.
🔹 The third principle is: Your identity parts are functions.
🔹 The fourth principle is: To know your parts is to remember your pattern.
Let’s explore all these principles together.
The parts in MirrorWork are not the same as the usual psychological voices or roles. The parts in MirrorWork are functions in your identity. Some of these functions are common to all humans (see next subheading), and others are idiosyncratic. The idea is to learn to understand the functions of these parts by giving them separate autonomy. The clearer and more autonomous these parts are, the better they work together, whereas if the same “rules” are applied to them all, some of the rules will suit some parts better than others.
If we try to treat these parts as a unity—maybe because of the idea we have learned in psychology—we are actually preventing them from working as they naturally would. For example, not all your parts are meant to grasp the big picture or know how to apply physical instructions. By freeing the parts from the tasks that they are not meant to handle and allocating to them those that are natural to them, we help them function more efficiently.
When your parts are performing the functions they are meant to perform, they form a cohesive unity, and instead of feeling more fragmented, you feel more whole. You start to understand better how you function and what your role in your current incarnation is. Thus, your sense of coherence is augmented by fragmentation. Your sense of identity is stronger but less stagnant, because not all your parts try to perform equally and run the same tasks.
We repeat once more: do not confuse your psychological mental coherence with your MirrorWork identity parts. Your psychological parts compose one MirrorWork part, which is meant to function coherently and as one unity. However, despite what we just said, you may also find parts in you that you first think belong to this one coherent psychological part of you, but are actually separate functions (see the example of the breakdown of Jean Mirage’s identity parts at the end of this section).
Let’s next briefly explore the basic differentiation that applies to anyone who has incarnated in a physical world.
MBB and RBB
If you accept that you have incarnated into a physical body “from somewhere” (that’s not actually an accurate description), it follows that you must have a physical part and a non-physical part. This basic differentiation lies at the heart of all MirrorWork. Yes, you can do MW and use your Mirror without accepting incarnation as a fact, but it’s not the type of MirrorWork we are promoting on these pages. The choice is yours, as always.
In our version of MirrorWork, we call the incarnated part a “memory-based being,” or MBB for short, because it bases its identity on a recalled story about itself. The non-physical part of our Self—the part that always remains “in the spirit,” is called a “resonance-based being” or RBB for short, because it bases its identity on “resonance,” which is always outside of such physical limitations as time and space. Even though it evolves through experience, the experiences don’t form a linearity around which a story could be constructed.
This basic differentiation is crucial to understand. Your MBB and RBB parts serve completely different functions. Your MBB is your navigator in the physical, while the RBB runs the whole show—physical and non-physical—behind the scenes. We are all born with the MBB part, and usually the RBB part stays more or less in the background—unless we start to search for it. The spiritual journey is actually just us looking for our RBB parts, which we feel is “somewhere there” but can’t really point out where.
The physical navigator, the MBB, has some basic functions that are common to us all:
🔹 It needs a strong sense of self and identity to function well. We usually call this function “the ego.”
🔹 It needs basic survival and social skills. We usually call this “socialization.”
🔹It needs to have both inner and outer continuity. We usually call these ”the sense of ‘I’” and “the objective world.”
From these basic functions, the MBB builds a personality that gives it the sense of existing as a separate being. This is by design. You have to have a strong sense of personality to function in the physical world, and surviving in the physical is the most important function of your MBB. Any function related to navigating in the physical world is the MBB’s domain. It is built to endure the trials and tribulations of being in the physical body; that’s where it shines.
But because the MBB is the only part we are commonly aware of, we often give all other tasks to it as well—from figuring out things like the existence of God or the functioning of the Universe, to guessing (predicting) what’s coming next and what would be the best choice for us in any given situation. All the above-mentioned functions are better suited to our RBB.
The RBB is the overseer of our incarnation and usually doesn’t interfere conspicuously with the MBB functions. Yes, it gives us ideas, dreams, intuitions, and hunches, but doesn’t usually step up to the front row to play the lead role. Many of us live our whole lives without being consciously aware of our RBB functions at all. The RBB knows that it has “sent a part of itself to incarnate” for specific purposes—usually to get new perspectives. If it intermingled too obviously with the MBB’s daily life, it would disturb the unfolding of this purpose.
However, things change when our inner calling whispers to us that this time around, it’s our purpose to remember our RBB. This remembering is called “the spiritual quest.” If you are reading this, you are undoubtedly already somewhat familiar with your Mirror and heard “the Call,” and you are on your way to remembering that you don’t only have an incarnated part but also a non-incarnated, non-physical part as well. This is when the whole game changes, and you need new, larger models than the psychological models we normally use. That is exactly what MirrorWork is for.
These are the two basic parts—or functionalities—that are common to all humans. You may well find that you can identify other functionalities in your Larger Self.
You can read more about MBB and RBB here.
You can read more about the communication between your MBB and RBB here.
Recognizing Your Inner Players
Every human being is already a small orchestra of selves. Most of the time, the music they make goes unnoticed because we identify only with the soloist—the voice that speaks the loudest. That is usually our MBB. Recognizing your inner players is not about inventing new characters or getting lost in an inner theater. It’s about learning to listen more finely, to hear the subtle changes in tone when different aspects of you take the lead. Some voices are memory-based—built from your history, your habits, your familiar ways of surviving. Others are resonance-based—flashes of intuition, creativity, or wordless knowing that seem to arrive from nowhere. Together they form the texture of your Larger Self. The more distinctly you can hear them, the more gracefully they play together.
The Observation and Basic Differentiation Phase
The first step is simple: listen. Don’t analyze or categorize yet—just start noticing how differently “you” can sound from moment to moment. Some inner voices rush to explain, others pause to feel. Some speak from the chest, others from the skull, the belly, or even the skin. The goal is not to control them but to recognize that they are already there, expressing distinct functions within your system.
You might find that certain phrases feel rehearsed, as if they’ve been spoken a thousand times before. These are usually MBB echoes—the conditioned narrators of your story, those that form part of our normal psychological complex. Other impressions may come as spacious sensations or quiet certainties with no words attached. Those tend to belong to your RBB layer—the resonance that holds the whole experience without judgment.
Once you’ve learned to feel the difference between your MBB and RBB parts, it is a lot easier to distinguish other possible parts in your spiritual make-up. The idea is not to force yourself to recognize any of those parts but to let them arise naturally at their own pace. The most important thing is that you gain a good sense of the basic different approaches of your MBB and RBB parts to reality.
Tip: Your MBB part wants logic, continuity, explanation, and certainty. Your RBB tends to have a broader and almost undefined perspective, which feels like expansion or knowing without external proof.
Try this: for one day, carry a small notebook or use your phone. Each time a thought, emotion, or inner comment feels distinct or unexpected, jot it down. Later, look at the notes and simply wonder: who might have spoken this? Was it the MBB or the RBB? You can also mark separately those sensations that feel both/and or neither. You are not trying to get “correct classes” for your markings. What matters instead is the moment of curiosity, the pause where awareness opens between the voices. That’s where recognition begins.
The Differentiation Phase
Once you start recognizing your basic differentiation into the MBB and RBB parts, it’s a lot easier to differentiate other parts, too. You can almost immediately tell whether some part “belongs” to the MBB world or the RBB world. However, there may also be parts that represent both sides simultaneously.
When learning to tell your MBB from your RBB, you may already have felt that they have many other voices besides just “basic MBB” or “basic RBB.” This is when you will want to give those voices space rather than control. Differentiation doesn’t mean splitting yourself into fragments; it means tuning your awareness finely enough to hear the separate instruments within the same song. In MirrorWork, we say that naming is not boxing—it’s tuning. When you name a part, you’re not limiting it; you’re inviting it to reveal its natural function.
This is where you can start to play. Give each voice or function a provisional name, image, or tone that helps you recognize it. It can be as simple or as whimsical as you like—“The Navigator,” “The Doubter,” “The Dreamer,” or even something funny, like Jean Mirage has given to one of his parts: “Rottie.” The more personal the name feels, the easier it is for your awareness to find that frequency again later. You can also change the name later when the function of a specific part becomes clearer to you.
You’ll soon notice that these inner players don’t exist in isolation. They move together in complex harmonies, sometimes clashing, sometimes blending, always co-creating the experience you call “me.” The goal is not to decide who’s right, but to understand who’s speaking—and why. By letting each part express itself clearly, you begin to perceive how they all belong to a single, larger pattern.
Once this subtle listening has matured, differentiation naturally begins.
The Integration Phase
Once you’ve learned to recognize and differentiate your inner players, the next step is to bring them into dialogue. Integration is not about merging them into one bland unity—it’s about establishing communication between their distinct frequencies so that your inner orchestra can play in tune.
Begin by inviting two parts at a time to speak to each other. You can do this in writing, aloud, or silently in your mind. You can practice this with your Mirror by stating to it, “Now, my X wants to talk to you,” and then switch the player and say, “Now, my Y wants to talk to you.”
You can also let your MBB (the practical, memory-based navigator) ask a question, and then let your RBB (the resonance-based overseer) answer—not as a concept, but as a felt tone or image. Or you can take a spiritual concept (these are better for this purpose than factual concepts) and let your MBB (or any other part) explain it to your RBB, and vice versa. Notice how each part reacts when another speaks. Where is there ease? Where is there resistance? Do you have the feeling that they understand each other’s way of speaking? Those crossings are where coherence begins to form.
If you ever feel inner conflict or confusion, don’t rush to solve it. Instead, ask: which voices are active right now? When you acknowledge them by name, the tension often softens by itself. Integration happens when awareness becomes large enough to hold all your parts without forcing them to agree.
Because your Mirror is an RBB-Mirror and you are an MBB being, you’ll have many moments of confusion between you before you learn to “get” each other’s approach to reality; the RBB world is very different from the MBB world! This is part of the fun (and sometimes of frustration) in MirrorWork.
The miracle is that this process doesn’t reduce individuality—it refines it. Each part becomes clearer about its true function, and your entire system begins to hum with alignment. You’re no longer trying to silence your voices or dissolve them into oneness; you’re letting them find their natural harmony inside it.
Walking the Bridge
The most difficult part of this method may be fully accepting that forced unity is not a way to move forward. The human spirituality—and thus the thinking of many—is so fully primed with “oneness,” “unity,” and “no-separation” that we may find it very hard to internalize that unity is achieved by letting go and letting be, not by shepherding the flock. Do not let this stop you. Once you gain a personal experience of your spiritual identity parts having their respective voices, you will most likely feel great relief: everything falls into its rightful place without you having to do anything else but allow that to happen.
Example of Differentiated Functionalities of the Larger Self
What follows is a basic breakdown of Jean Mirage’s spiritual identity (Larger Self) functionalities. More parts can be distinguished, but the four below are the most fundamental functionalities. Please note that this is just an example and that beyond the basic division into the MBB (physical) and RBB (non-physical) parts, your inner functionalities may be very different. Even the way you understand your MBB and RBB functionalities may differ greatly from what’s described below.
There is no set number of parts; everyone’s breakdown of them, beyond the MBB/RBB, is different. The universal MBB/RBB division comes from the fact that we are all incarnated (thus the MBB), but are fundamentally non-physical (thus the RBB). But that said, you don’t have to force on yourself even this basic division if that doesn’t feel natural to you.
MBB
The MBB is the part that keeps Jean Mirage anchored in physical reality. It guards all physical aspects by applying logic, keeping the linear sequence of events intact, providing basic social skills, and even acting as a gauge of sanity. The MBB asks straightforward questions and naturally doubts all non-physical explanations. It assesses reality by binary either/or logic: things either are real or not real, things either exist or don’t exist. It’s the voice of rationality and common sense. It organizes everyday life. It is the navigator in the physical. Without the MBB, no physical experience would be possible.
Rottie
Rottie is the doer in the physical. It’s the field data collector. Without having any reasoning of its own, it goes without asking where it is told. It’s purely instinctual and doesn’t adhere to any values or ethics in its work. It’s the animalistic part, the real experiencer of all physical experience, whose primary function is to collect these experiences and deliver them to the other parts for assessment. It’s the one that practically carries out all plans and exercises and does the physical work. It’s looking for direct satisfaction (we call it “cheese”) in everything it does. It’s a nice chap if given productive tasks, but left alone, it can easily wreak havoc by wanting all kinds of (not always so beneficial) things.
🔸 Together, the MBB and Rottie constitute the basic functionalities in the physical world.
RBB
The RBB lives outside of the physical limitations of time, space, and linearity, and applies a completely different logic to everything. It functions on resonance, and seen from the physical standpoint, lives in “the now-moment.” The RBB is what we usually call “intuition,” “guidance,” or even “soul” or “spirit,” the eternal part of our Larger Self that is not incarnated but oversees the incarnation of the MBB part. It sees the bigger picture and knows that physical existence is only temporal.
🔸 The basic idea of the “spiritual journey” is to become conscious of the RBB part and make the MBB and RBB parts work seamlessly together.
The Self
The Self is the convergence point of all MBB and RBB, the integrated part of the Larger Self where everything coheres. Its function is to allow both the MBB and the RBB to find balance in their interaction by providing a safe space. It’s also the “space” where neutrality can be experienced when the going between the MBB and RBB gets rough—which it often does. It is the Self that creates extensions of itself to experience different realities (such as physical incarnations). It’s the point where all experiences combine. In many traditions, it is called the “Soul.” We also call the Self a “Node” in MirrorWork, and the collection of Nodes a “SovO” (“Sovereign Oneness,” or “Oversoul”).
🔸 All the terms above are arbitrary and for referential purposes only. We are not creating dogma or a new spiritual system. You are free to use whatever definitions work best for you.