Map Level 3 – Our Three Inner Layers

How fragmentation happens—and how healing begins when these layers re-align

The Real Self, the Logic Layer, and the Role Mask—and how they split us apart

This framework explains how emotional fragmentation happens—and how we can recognize the split between our Real Self, the Logic Layer, and the Role Mask.

Each “layer” developed to protect us. But over time, they begin to conflict, collapse, or take over.

This map shows what each layer is for, how it feels in the body, and how to return to emotional coherence.

The Three Inner Layers

Layer 1: The Real Self

Your natural emotional system—how you feel when you’re safe, honest, and whole.

It’s also where your personality lives—the traits you were born with, the rhythms and sensitivities that shaped your unique way of being.

Layer 2: The Logic Layer

The voice that tries to make everything make sense—even if it’s not true.

Layer 3: The Role Mask

The performance that helped you survive, but slowly became your identity.

3.1 The Real Self Before the Split 3.2 The Logic: The Rules We Built to Feel Safe 3.3 The Mask: The Performance That Protects Us 3.4 When the Mask Becomes the Identity 3.5 When Self-Improvement Is Just a Role Upgrade 3.5 When Self-Improvement Is Just a Role Upgrade 3.6 The War Between the Layers 3.7 Healing the Split: Coming Back to the Real Self

Let’s Begin →

Comparative Insight Table

How Map Level 3 Aligns With and Expands Existing Theories

Domain	Aligned Theories / Models	How TEG‑Blue Integrates Them	What TEG‑Blue Adds or Clarifies
Psychology	• Freud & Anna Freud – Defense Mechanisms• Winnicott – True vs False Self• Rogers – Organismic Valuing• Jung – The Persona• Internal Family Systems (IFS)• Cognitive Dissonance Theory	• The three layers map directly to inner psychological parts: unfiltered emotion, defense logic, and performed identity.• Explains how defense logic isn’t meant to deceive but to preserve internal coherence.• Links collapse to conflict between emotional truth and social survival.	• Shows how logic isn’t neutral—it’s emotionally motivated.• Adds visual clarity to the moment-by-moment tension between real self, logic narrator, and performed mask.• Introduces “role upgrade” as a subtle trap of self-improvement.
Sociology	• Goffman – Dramaturgical Theory• Role Theory• Bourdieu – Social & Cultural Capital• Symbolic Interactionism	• Mask is shaped by what society rewards—capital, status, conformity.• Shows how the mask absorbs invisible social rules (Map 4, 5, 9).• The role mask is not just internal—it’s a performance shaped by societal scripts.	• TEG‑Blue links emotional fragmentation to social reward systems.• Shows how cultural expectations create inner distortion.• Adds emotional language to sociological theories often framed abstractly.
Neuroscience	• Polyvagal Theory (Porges)• Amygdala / Hippocampus Loop• dlPFC / mPFC Role in Suppression & Perspective• Mirror Neuron Systems	• Raw Self = limbic system + right hemisphere• Logic Layer = dlPFC trying to override emotion• Mask = mPFC + ToM systems performing safety• “War Between Layers” reflects neurobiological overload	• Brings emotional interpretation to brain patterns (e.g. “logic helps us survive, not see clearly”).• Links somatic burnout to cognitive collapse.• Visualizes fragmentation without medicalizing it.
Education / Therapy	• Parts Work (e.g., Schwartz, Janina Fisher)• EMDR / Somatic Trauma Work• Emotion-Focused Therapy• SEL (Social-Emotional Learning)	• Makes it easy to teach students or clients why they act differently in different environments.• Helps name the layers at play in real-time reactions and triggers.	• Offers simple visuals + body-based cues (e.g. clenched jaw, posture collapse) to spot emotional fragmentation.• Adds tools to unblend from mask logic in daily life.

TEG‑Blue Unique Contribution

TEG‑Blue frames the logic layer as an emotional part—not a neutral narrator.

It reveals how our mind builds distorted coherence to survive inner contradiction.

And it shows—visually, emotionally—how healing begins when we stop making the mask make sense.

Explore Next

Map Level 2 – The Ego Persona Construct — Revisit the masks survival created—what this level helps us understand before we see the full inner split.
Map Level 4 – Breaking the False Models of Our Society — See how the internal masks reflect wider cultural distortions that limit our emotional integrity.
Learning Lab — Tools, Guides & Gradient Scales — Use practical tools and visual scales to map fragmentation and realign these inner layers in daily life.

TEG-Blue™ is a place for people who care-about dignity, about repair, about building something better. It’s a map, an invitation, and a growing toolbox, as an evolving commons—supporting emotional clarity, systemic healing, and collective wisdom. Here, healing doesn’t require perfection—just honesty, responsibility, and support.