The Spiritual Self Schema (3-S) Development Program

goals, but, unless we are mindful what road we are traveling we could
find that we are thinking, feeling, and behaving in ways that are at odds
with our highest ideals. Let's look at a few examples:
Pat has been smoking a pack of cigarettes each day for many years
and now wants to quit having come to believe that addiction to any
mind altering substance is harmful to himself and ultimately to his
family and society. However, he is likely to have a very elaborate
and well-rehearsed 'I am a smoker' or 'I am an addict' self-schema.
This self-schema will include complex cognitive scripts and
behavioral action sequences that lead to highly automated cigarette
smoking. Even with the help of nicotine-replacement therapy, he
may find that he still craves cigarettes and is unable to stop
smoking. His inability to stop is not because he is weak-willed. On
the contrary, his 'I am a smoker' self-schema has become connected
to so many cognitive, emotional, and physiological links in his
schematic self-system that almost anything can trigger the
automated smoking behavior. Desperately wanting to stop smoking,
Pat reaches for a cigarette, wondering why he is lighting it, and
telling himself "I'm a smoker, that's just who I am, no use fighting
it." We will examine the smoker's self-schema and what the smoker
can do about it in detail in a separate section.
Let's look at other examples of self-schemas that cause people to
suffer and that may lead to behaviors that are harmful to self and
others.
Self-schemas that usually develop in childhood, like "I'm bad,
worthless, or unlovable" or "I'm stupid or incompetent" set into
motion extremely negative emotions and harmful behaviors
throughout the individual's life, and no amount of reassurance
from others seems to have any lasting impact. Such individuals
may attempt to hide what they believe to be the fact of their
'badness' or 'stupidity' with additional self-schemas, some of which
may be extremely destructive to self and/or others. They may even
attempt to hide it from themselves, perhaps by creating self-schemas
for perfectionism. However, this self-schema will inevitably become
activated, perhaps in some contexts more than others, and it will
trigger a chain reaction of thoughts, feelings, perceptions, and
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