Yeah, that's a function. However, the question is what would happen if you made a fool of yourself?

Bill: That's not my question. My question is «Are those words which convey function as opposed to words which convey behavior?'

Well, those words mainly convey behavior, but the functional implications are tied to the behavior pretty well.

Bill: What are some words that do convey functions?

OK. For example: «If I made a fool of myself, then I would lose income because my clients would go away.» The part's behavior is protecting you from making a fool of yourself because it's afraid that you will lose your friends and your business associates and your clients. The function is to keep your friends.

Bill: So it's the «then» part of an «if, … then» statement?

That's one way to think about it. There are many ways of getting the function. It's just not as simple as you want it to be. The function is what you get; behavior is how you get it.

Lucy: I'm on my list again. A part that rationalizes objected and then said «It doesn't matter.»

Ask it if its objection is really important… .

Lucy: Nah. I've got another part that doesn't want to give me what I want, because I've already got so much it isn't fair. That is its reason.

I didn't ask you to find out reasons. What is the function of your having a part like that? That's the important question. We don't want to know the part's reasons.

Lucy: OK. I'll have to look at it again.

What kind of part is it?

Lucy: A bad part; I don't want it.

No, No, NO! There are no bad parts. We have all good parts. The only question is, " What kind of good are they doing?»

Lucy: It's making sure that I deserve the things that I get.

And rightfully so. OK. So that's its function, and its concern is that if you get this too easily, you won't appreciate it. Then you build in having to do certain things that make you deserving of the outcome you want to have.

Nancy: I can take care of all the objections and concerns, but then I'm getting a message that I need another new part—an ally—to help do all that.

Fine. However, I think it probably would be better if you found an ally that's already in there. You don't need to build a whole new ally–Just go in and find some other part that can already do what you need.

It's too much work to build two new parts in the same day.

Nancy: One part's concern is to be sure that I would be able to notice other people's disapproval.

What is the function of the part that wants you to do this?

Nancy: Well, it would be the part that is concerned with my failing.

It's not concerned with whether you fail or not; it's concerned about whether people disapprove of you or not.

Nancy: Well, yeah. The two are connected.

Certainly. If you fail, people may disapprove of you. But what it's concerned with is people's opinion of you.

Nancy: Yeah, and it's also related to getting some things that I want.

OK. That part is concerned that if they disapprove of you, then they won't give you a job, or they won't give you something else. Are you telling me that you don't believe you have the sensory experience to tell when you are behaving in a way that people disapprove of? I want a literal answer to that question. Do you, or do you not, have that much sensory experience? …

Nancy: I guess I do.

OK. Just go and get the part that does that, and say «Hey, part, I need your help over here. We're building George, a part who's going to do X, but George needs to have sensory experience about this, and you know how to have sensory experience. I want you to connect with this new part if we decide to build it.» The new part doesn't have to have every quality. If you already have parts with certain qualities, you just get those parts to help out.

When you have all the functions and concerns of all the parts that object, then go on to redesign the fantasy so that all those concerns are satisfied. Check with every single part to make sure that each one is satisfied that this is a representation of an outcome that includes all the things they are concerned about and whatever it is that you want the new part to do. You make a new fantasy in which all the objections don't need to exist.

So in Teri's case the new fantasy must include the new part having responsibility for making sure she distinguishes between the way she is now and the way she was when she was «crazy» so that she can tell the difference. As long as she can tell the difference, the part that doesn't want her to go crazy won't object.

If there's a part that's afraid you are going to make a fool of yourself, then you have to build in the ability to have the sensory experience to notice when that happens. Without that you won't know, and those other parts are always going to be afraid that if you do certain things, you'll make a fool of yourself. You have to have feedback loops to satisfy those parts. If Bill writes, then he's got to be able to have ways of becoming somebody else and reading his writing in order to find out whether his response is «That's stupid!» or «Hey, that's pretty interesting.»

Whatever concerns your parts have, you build safeguards into the fantasy so that you have a representation of what the world of experience would be like if you had a new part that functioned to get the outcome that includes all the concerns the other parts have. We not only want to build a good part, we want to build a graceful part as well, a part that can do what it does and not step on any other part's toes.

Now, if you have all the objections and outcomes, go ahead and build the new fantasy. First do it dissociated, and then do the whole thing again from the inside. Revise that fantasy until no part objects… .

If it's possible for you to make up a fantasy of yourself doing something and then step inside it and have the experience of doing it, you have already made all of the necessary adjustments at the unconscious level—in terms of strategies, in terms of representational systems, in terms of everything relevant—for that part to know how to generate the behavior and behave in accordance with what you want to accomplish.

A music teacher once told me «If you can hear something inside, then you can play it outside. The trouble is learning how true that is.» Another person that I took music lessons from said «When you can hear it on the inside, then do it with your mouth. And if you can do it with your mouth, then you can do it with your hands.» What was behind that is the understanding that in order to make a fantasy, you have to do everything mental that needs to be done in order to actually do it in experience. For instance, in a detailed fantasy you see somebody and tell him a joke and he laughs. As you did that, you had to go through all the necessary strategies to develop the joke: the creativity, the gestures, the talking—all of those behaviors are functioning in a detailed fantasy.

Step six is much more metaphorical than we usually are, and it demands some congruence on your part. You ask your unconscious resources to analyze that fantasy and to pull from it the essential ingredients. What you want your unconscious to do is something it does all the time anyway. You want it to take those first memories that you started with—the times in your past when you had actually done the behavior or something similar—and the fantasy that worked, and all the underlying structures, and you want it to give all that entity. That is how you randomly got all your parts anyway. Your unconscious can do that for you; it does it all the time. Those of you who are TA therapists and have TA parts, who do you think made them? You made them.

So you go inside and you say «Look, either one of two things is the case: either my unconscious mind is in charge of building parts, or I have some part in there that builds parts. Whichever it is, I want you to build this one and to give it entity. You don't do this step until you have a well–formed fantasy that no part objects to. When you've modified the fantasy so that every part is satisfied, then you do this step. You have your unconscious or some part of you give it entity so that it will function on its own.