It's been nice for me to spend some time out of the liberal bubbles of San Francisco and New York City. First, in Hudson Valley which is still pretty blue but less bubbly than NYC and then traveling around the world. It's true that traveling can help broaden one's perspective.

There's an archetype that I've encountered amongst human beings who identify as American and Liberal (and also wannabe American Liberals who inhabit many American media-influenced developing countries). This archetype tends to hold, with great aggression and assertion, that all Conservatives/Republicans are "racist". Note that this is not the case with all American Liberals, but this Archetype definitely makes itself seen on the Left in polarized political conversations. When this archetype expresses angrily that all Republicans are "racist", there's a certain amount of disgust that an attuned listener can spot in their expression.

I often wonder what how this archetype responds when it encounters evidence of possible "racism" within the being it inhabits. Because it's inevitable that'll happen, no? How could we not be "racist"? On account of living and growing in differing societies all around the world that then melt together in this great pot that is the US (& the world at large), we each carry racial biases. I honestly don't know how it's possible to not carry these biases for most of us, leave aside the supremely Enlightened (rare, if not zero).

Note here the intentional differentiation between the human Being and the Archetype. As humans, we have varied archetypes that inhabit our consciousness. Some of these archetypes are simple conditioned ways of being we have picked up from our societal upbringing. Some are complex mythical archetypes that are present in our subconscious. Almost every framework of understanding self (be it psychological or woo-woo or in-between) allows humans to see what archetypes form their personality. I find that the languaging of "Archetype" best represents these varied behavioral patterns that make up a human being. Personality traits that seem to neatly clump up into groups. Recognizing these Archetypes within us also gives us the leverage to no longer Be the Archetype but consciously choose another way of Being.

For eg, this particular Archetype (let's call it the "Liberal Racist Siren") is a variant of the Protector. The Protector is an archetype I encountered first in Internal Family Systems. The Protector emerges when the pain of childhood wounding is too much to bear and creates a neat layer of numbing in the Psyche obfuscating the Pain and hiding it underneath the covers. The Protector is the one that reactively responds with "I'm great and you?" when presented with an inquiry as to how the Being is feeling, even though there might be Pain underneath the surface, that the Protector is always afraid of revealing because it's core assumption is that other humans exist to cause the Wound more pain. The Protector holds Rage for Boundaries that were crossed in the Past. The Protector spews out Rage to "protect" the Being against perceived attacks. Sometimes the perception here can be fallacious just like a stray, abandoned, sick kitten that hisses and spits at humans who try to clean it, deworm it and find it a good, warm home.

The Protector when turned inwards becomes the Self-Critic. When it's not playing the outwards Raging Siren or the inwards Self-Critic, the Protector is the Defender, a frozen ossified state of being at high alert for attacks.

The American Liberal who angrily proclaims the "racism" of "all Republicans" (note the "all") will turn into a Defender when they encounter possible evidence of their own "racism". Because how could they be something that they absolutely loathe?! The atrocity!

Spoiler alert: If you loathe something, your Shadow (which is within you) absolutely that same thing. It's the split within your Psyche and your inability to see your Shadow (you're not alone in that) that births the Disgust and Loathing. If you are connected to (that specific part of) your Shadow, your experience of Loathing and Disgust alchemizes into steady, accepting, resolute Action. Action that is rooted in Dharma and a karmic sense of what needs to be channeled through you. It's no longer about you but you are the vessel for the action to flow through.

In the best case scenario, the Defense of the Protector may soften into Self-Criticism when the Being is sufficiently distanced from the source of that evidence.

All in all, succumbing to the urges of the Protector archetype create a miserable existence, in my opinion. Neither spewing Rage, nor being ossified in Defense nor turning into a Self-Critic are peaceful ways of being. This last piece might be extra scary to read if you are one of those men who has made the most of your Self-Critic by using it to set achievable, trackable goals with "scary consequences" for you if you don't meet them. If that's you, I'll let you know that there's a way to "grow" without being Self-Critical.

The fast one that the Protector pulls on us is to convince that it's acting to Protect us. Whereas, its actually a delayed response to *past* transgressions of our Boundaries and as such the actions tend to not be conscious – conscious in the sense of being fully rooted in the Present and devoid of projections. Know that these actions might still serve you in the moment. For eg, if you need to extricate yourself from an abusive relationship. But the forceful impetus with which the Protector extricates you from an abusive relationship will convert into the forceful impetus with which your Wound carries you into another abusive relationship unless you bring the power of your Conscious Self to equilibrate the swinging of this pendulum.