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[gileonnen]

This is a Curious Post.

During the past few months or so, my circles on the internet have come increasingly into contact with the notion of ' plurality' of personae in one body. I've been working to understand what the concept means and why other people feel that it describes them, so this post isn't an 'explain to me what plurals are, I don't know

Comments

[silverdragon262]

Interesting. Plurality isn't something I'd previously been aware of, but I suppose that is merely because it hasn't yet become a topic of vocal interest within my social circles. Until now, I suppose. I have been exploring the linked LJ community, and I have to admit that I feel what I can only describe as skepticism. But I also recognize that something about the concept deeply unsettles me, not in the least the use of the word "system" to describe the physical body. So no doubt I come to this discussion biased.

I hope that was not offensive. I want to be clear about the fact that my aim here is not to invalidate anyone's identity, nor am I trying to be uncivil. I just wanted to be honest, and to document my reaction to something new to me.

[gileonnen]

*nods* I think that documentation is a useful thing to provide, and you were very careful to couch your sentiments in language that took full responsibility for your own feelings. I'm grateful that you're here, listening, and I'm grateful that you're able to express yourself so cogently in the face of a new experience.

[silverdragon262]

Thank you for making this post. I will be reading with interest, because no matter my feelings on plurality I would like to understand it as much as possible.

I also want to comment on something you said a bit further up and to someone else--about the online roleplaying environment. Another bias I bring to this conversation, I think, is that I have participated in that environment quite heavily over the years. As you no doubt know, it's common for RPers to speak of their characters as though they are people and also as though they are, for lack of a better phrase, other personalities in one's "headspace" (RP terminology). I have spoken in this way myself, while at the same time remaining wary of anyone who seemed to honestly believe that their RP characters acted somehow of their own volition. That same wariness is evoked by multiplicity and, in particular, by what I have seen called "soulbonding," which, if I understand correctly, can refer to the inclusion of fictional characters in one's system or group.

[gileonnen]

Thank you for bringing up these contexts! They're also part of how I come to the discussion on multiplicity, and so it's important for me to recognize that I've been encouraged to dismiss such identities out of hand.

[irisbleufic]

Plurality isn't something I'd previously been aware of, but I suppose that is merely because it hasn't yet become a topic of vocal interest within my social circles.

I might as well have made this statement myself, as I've up till this point been reading through this post and its responses in a kind of confounded awe. I've never heard the terms multiple system and singlet before; a web-search has informed me of the existence of the concept of median (neither fully one, nor fully the other). To the best of my knowledge I've never known or interacted with a multiple system (on the best of days, I have enough trouble sustaining contact with individuals who are, to the best of my knowledge, singlets, for more than six to eight hours; after that point, things start to fray, and people are constantly asking me if I'm all right). Running a web-search on this topic is difficult, I'm discovering, as plural and plurality just seem to bring up a lot of linguistics/grammar content. The term singlet is the one that brought up the most useful