This is so interesting. As a Gestalt therapist, I am currently writing a long-form paper on the "self as process" and just wrote about this last night. So it is in the "ground" or "field". Thanks for bringing your version to life and I look forward to the next to pieces on this subject.
I don’t disagree with any of this but as a longterm student of yoga philosophy (Vedanta/tantra in the main), I do think that the westernised view of selfhood is horribly enmeshed with its religious tradition and/or reactivity towards that. This seems to define and limit the terms of engagement with the actual issue. The reason I study what I do is because I was fascinated, and disturbed, by the fact that I did not understand the oft-quoted “just be yourself” advice frequently dished out to children and was aware from an early age that I was a different ‘me’ in different environments. The Eastern traditions are incredibly rich for anyone wishing to explore such stuff.
How delicious to be reframed as a “dividual”—a divided multidimensional self! My husband likes to playfully refer to me as being “polyphrenic”, but that seems more as a state of being…something in flux and evolving, whereby “individual” seems static and unmoving, a single unidentified human. Hmmmm, and where might the soul fit in or we dividuals fit into it? Here’s to multidividualism!
Thank your for pushing this view. We’ve been stuck in the valley of me-me-me for so long, I hope this much fuller understanding of our psyche and potential becomes clear to everyone.
Thank you for this. I've come to believe that distended individualism is THE problem of our time in the West. The pendulum must swing.
My recent sci-fi here on Substack explores the question: "If the Bodily Self were infinitely flexible, what consequences would that have for the Narrative Self??" Check it out, it's got big-time octopus vibes, might be right up your alley 😊
I’ve been thinking about the self from a number of different views, the view see of multiple minds is definitely one of them. But there are others that I think are just as important but harder for us to see inside ourselves:
▶︎ the unconscious processes of the brain, which often make decisions without any input from what we think is the intentional parts of ourselves.
▶︎ complex systems of the body including the nervous system outside the brain, the immune system, the digestive system, the proprioceptive system and the recently recognized connective system, which all interact, affecting our thinking and feeling.
▶︎ symbiotic and commensal organisms. These include the mites that clean our eyebrows, gut bacteria, and consensual skin bacteria. Should we think of ourselves as colony organisms, like coral ecosystems?
This last category raises another fascinating set of questions about individuality. For instance, what are the spatial and temporal limits of the dividual? Most people would say the skin is the spatial limit, but it turns out each of us are has a cloud of microscopic organisms around us and a trail of them when we move. It’s unclear as yet whether our clouds and trails interact.
As for temporal limits, unconscious processes seem to be limited to reactions in the 80-100 millisecond range, with conscious processes operating around 300 milliseconds. Does this mean that the human mind exists in a “long instant” about 300 milliseconds long? I think a lot more research should be done on understanding the nature of time as experienced by minds and their subprocesses.
Whoa this is weirdly close to a post I wrote for the Waymaking substack (not the LP podcast) around the same time, or about a month before (Dec 03 2024) 'Kaleidoscopic Future' with 'We contain multitudes' about multiplicity. Maybe that's how your piece came into my feed. I also reference Whitman and seth and even use the same photo that you use here! I had not realized this was re-channeling Deleuze, so this is quite helpful. Need to go back and read Deleuze asap. Seems this theme of multiplicities is in the air and definitely important to be discussing now.
Yes, there are many aspects of the unified self, many of which are in opposition. However, all are in service to the highest good- evolution, and self-actualization. ❤️ 🔥
I like to think of the Self as a living frequency, like playing a beautiful chord out of many notes. In the end there is the single idiosyncratic sound that is unique to the individual
This is so interesting. As a Gestalt therapist, I am currently writing a long-form paper on the "self as process" and just wrote about this last night. So it is in the "ground" or "field". Thanks for bringing your version to life and I look forward to the next to pieces on this subject.
I don’t disagree with any of this but as a longterm student of yoga philosophy (Vedanta/tantra in the main), I do think that the westernised view of selfhood is horribly enmeshed with its religious tradition and/or reactivity towards that. This seems to define and limit the terms of engagement with the actual issue. The reason I study what I do is because I was fascinated, and disturbed, by the fact that I did not understand the oft-quoted “just be yourself” advice frequently dished out to children and was aware from an early age that I was a different ‘me’ in different environments. The Eastern traditions are incredibly rich for anyone wishing to explore such stuff.
The Self is not static. It is a flow state, a river, an evolving being.
How delicious to be reframed as a “dividual”—a divided multidimensional self! My husband likes to playfully refer to me as being “polyphrenic”, but that seems more as a state of being…something in flux and evolving, whereby “individual” seems static and unmoving, a single unidentified human. Hmmmm, and where might the soul fit in or we dividuals fit into it? Here’s to multidividualism!
Thank your for pushing this view. We’ve been stuck in the valley of me-me-me for so long, I hope this much fuller understanding of our psyche and potential becomes clear to everyone.
Well done!
thanks Max
Hinduism also reveals multiplicity in some beautiful ways. And also, it was a great read!
Thank you for this. I've come to believe that distended individualism is THE problem of our time in the West. The pendulum must swing.
My recent sci-fi here on Substack explores the question: "If the Bodily Self were infinitely flexible, what consequences would that have for the Narrative Self??" Check it out, it's got big-time octopus vibes, might be right up your alley 😊
https://takimwilliams.substack.com/p/hello-my-other-hello-my-self-encapsulation
Aye....permanently changing and constantly elusive, a mystery to discover, exploring the multidimensional territories of consciousness.
#ormec
I’ve been thinking about the self from a number of different views, the view see of multiple minds is definitely one of them. But there are others that I think are just as important but harder for us to see inside ourselves:
▶︎ the unconscious processes of the brain, which often make decisions without any input from what we think is the intentional parts of ourselves.
▶︎ complex systems of the body including the nervous system outside the brain, the immune system, the digestive system, the proprioceptive system and the recently recognized connective system, which all interact, affecting our thinking and feeling.
▶︎ symbiotic and commensal organisms. These include the mites that clean our eyebrows, gut bacteria, and consensual skin bacteria. Should we think of ourselves as colony organisms, like coral ecosystems?
This last category raises another fascinating set of questions about individuality. For instance, what are the spatial and temporal limits of the dividual? Most people would say the skin is the spatial limit, but it turns out each of us are has a cloud of microscopic organisms around us and a trail of them when we move. It’s unclear as yet whether our clouds and trails interact.
As for temporal limits, unconscious processes seem to be limited to reactions in the 80-100 millisecond range, with conscious processes operating around 300 milliseconds. Does this mean that the human mind exists in a “long instant” about 300 milliseconds long? I think a lot more research should be done on understanding the nature of time as experienced by minds and their subprocesses.
And the Multitudes
Remember.
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Whoa this is weirdly close to a post I wrote for the Waymaking substack (not the LP podcast) around the same time, or about a month before (Dec 03 2024) 'Kaleidoscopic Future' with 'We contain multitudes' about multiplicity. Maybe that's how your piece came into my feed. I also reference Whitman and seth and even use the same photo that you use here! I had not realized this was re-channeling Deleuze, so this is quite helpful. Need to go back and read Deleuze asap. Seems this theme of multiplicities is in the air and definitely important to be discussing now.
Yes, there are many aspects of the unified self, many of which are in opposition. However, all are in service to the highest good- evolution, and self-actualization. ❤️ 🔥
I like to think of the Self as a living frequency, like playing a beautiful chord out of many notes. In the end there is the single idiosyncratic sound that is unique to the individual
Did you really reference the Seth material from Jane Roberts writings??