Fragmentation of the Psyche

[Jabberwocky]

If you are an observant person you will notice that most people operate in a state that I'd characterize as highly fragmented. It's like there are many people operating the psyche at any given time. You can attribute this to brain damage if your are more materially oriented and I'd certainly agree with you that this plays a role but that isn't the whole story if you are aligned with various spiritual principles. I'm curious to learn what brings about this fragmentation of the psyche. What behaviors specifically contribute to this? Perhaps some of you have insights.

 

[mr peabody]

This excerpt from Stan Grof's "The Adventure of Self-Discovery: Dimensions of Consciousness and New Perspectives in Psychotherapy and Inner Exploration" may go at least some way to explaining it.

Modern research clearly indicates that human beings have a strange paradoxical nature. In the context traditionally explored by mechanistic science, it seems appropriate to think about people as separate Newtonian objects - complex biological machines made of cells, tissues, and organs. However, recent discoveries confirm the claims of perennial philosophy and the great mystical traditions that humans can also function as infinite fields of consciousness, transcending the limitations of time, space and linear causality. This image has its subatomic parallel in the famous particle-wave paradox in relation to matter and light described by Niels Bohr's principle of complementarity.

These two complementary aspects of human nature are connected experientially with two different modes of consciousness. The first of these can be referred to as "hylotropic" consciousness, which translates as matter-oriented consciousness. The name is derived from the Greek hyle = matter, and trepein = to move forward. It is the state of mind that we experience in everyday life and that Western psychiatry considers as the only one that is normal and legitimate - one that correctly reflects the objective reality of the world.

In the hylotropic mode of consciousness, and individual experiences himself or herself as a solid physical entity with definite boundaries and with a limited sensory range. The world appears to be made of separate material objects and has distinctly Newtonian characteristics: Time is linear, space is three-dimensional, and all events seem to be governed by chains of cause and effect. Experiences in this mode support systematically a number of basic assumptions about the world, such as: matter is solid; two objects cannot occupy the same space; past events are irretrievably lost; future events are not experientially available; one cannot be in more than one place at a time; one can exist only in one temporal framework at a time; a whole is larger than a part; or something cannot be true and untrue at the same time.

In contrast to the narrow and restricted hylotropic mode, the "holotropic" variety involves the experience of oneself as a potentially unlimited field of consciousness that has access to all aspects of reality without the mediation of senses. Holotropic literally translates as aiming for totality or moving toward wholeness (from the Greek holos = whole and trepin = moving in the direction of). Experiences in this state of mind offer many interesting alternatives to the Newtonian world of matter with linear time and three-dimensional space.

They support systematically a set of assumptions which are diametrically different from those characterizing the hylotropic mode: The solidity and discontinuity of matter is an illusion generated by a particular orchestration of events in consciousness; time and space are ultimately arbitrary; the same space can be simultaneously occupied by many objects; the past and the future are always available and can be brought experientially into the present moment; one can experience oneself in several places at the same time; it is possible to experience simultaneously more than one temporal framework; being a part is not incompatible with being the whole; something can be true and untrue at the same time; form and emptiness of existence and nonexistence are interchangeable; and others.

In the human psyche, these two modes seem to be in a dynamic interplay. The hylotropic consciousness seems to be attracted by elements of the holotropic mode and, vice versa, the holotropic forms show a tendency to manifest in everyday consciousness. An average, "healthy" individual has a sufficiently developed system of psychological defenses to protect him or her from holotropic intrusions. Psychopathological symptoms of psychogenic origin can be seen as an interface amalgam or hybrid between the elements of the two modes, interpreted as distortion of the consensual Newtonian image of reality. They thus reflect a situation in which the holotropic and hylotropic elements compete for the experiential field. This occurs when the defense system has been weakened (by psychedelics, for example), or the holotropic gestault is particularly strong.

It is important to realize that in the hylotropic mode it is possible to experience only the present moment and the present location ("here and now") in the phenomenal world of consensual reality, as it changes from one second to another. This is all we can ever experience while in the hylotropic mode of consciousness. In addition, the nature and scope of the segment of the material world that we can perceive depends critically on the physical characteristics of the Newtonian world and on the properties of the sensory organs. In contrast, and individual in the holotropic mode has, potentially, experiential access to all the remaining aspects of the phenomenal world in the present, past, and future, as well as the subtle and causal realms and the Absolute.

Some of these holotropic experiences - when they emerge into full consciousness - are interpreted by the subject in possessive terms from the position of the body-ego: My childhood, my birth, my embryonic development, my conception, the memory from the life of my human or animal ancestors, my past life, or an episode from my future. Others take the form of an encounter with something that is clearly other than body-ego or its extension. This could be exemplified by an experience of telepathic connection with another person or an animal, animalistic communication with plants or even elements of inanimate nature, and encounter with extraterrestrial entities or intelligence. The third possibility is full experiential identification with various aspects of the world without possessive interpretation. Here belong, for example, mediumistic experiences, identification with animals and plants, experiences of inorganic objects or processes, collective and racial memories in the sense of Carl Gustav Jung, and others.

 

[Emptty]

Before about 9 years old the psyche isn't really integrated into a singular self at all, I really feel some people integrate their different aspects more completely than others do.

It is known for sure any severe trauma around that age can prevent integration completely (causing conditions like DID with totally independent fragments) and trauma after that age can destabilize the self (causing fragments more like what you describe, sometimes as a part of PTSD or personality disorders). I don't see why to a certain degree inherent differences in personality could also affect whether a person integrates completely or stays mildly fragmented into adulthood.

I'm afraid I don't have a lot of non-materialistic insight into this and I apologize for that but I'll be following this thread, as someone with DID and fragments that actually do function as entirely independent individuals I find the idea of spiritual fragmentation & plurality interesting.

Edit: Actually in thinking a bit more about this I want to posit the idea that it's only natural people live fragmented lives if they don't make a conscious effort not to. Humans are inclined to do whatever makes life simplest and being fully integrated if anything is a difficult and complex way to live.

There is a reason trauma causes lack of integration or regression into an un-integrated state and it's not entirely a matter of the physical changes it causes to the brain. It's also a matter of the fact having multiple selves allows one to compartmentalize, it let's one avoid unpleasant things by giving them to another self instead of the core. It allows them to specialize certain fragments to be really good at particular tasks so the core expends less energy. Overall it can actually make one more functional in a way.

I recognize this is still a very materialistic view but I think it is a fitting explanation for why so many people seem fragmented to some degree. Having all the responsibilities of life fall on a singular self makes them much more difficult to juggle so it's natural for people to unconsciously be just fragmented enough to simplify their life.

 

[Foreigner]

The human psyche is not necessarily one integrated thing, not without conscious effort to bring all aspects into the whole. I do believe we have just one subconscious though, always. It's the conscious aspects that are unaware of the subconscious aspects.

Unless you're asking about multiple personalities, which is an extreme version of dissociation.

 

[-=SS=-]

I would go as far as to say humans are naturally dichotomized, as opposed to being fragmented, with the 'persona' or puppet out front and an awareness watching the spectacle from within (and lamenting after the fact at what a fool they were). That and we don't have a singular ego but rather a whole collection of different egos, patterns of behavior, gestalts, and various internal (and sometimes external) voices/thoughts influencing and prompting certain actions.

We're essentially complex robots, with this strange thing called awareness.

 

[Jabberwocky]

Some really great replies. Thanks all for sharing. My experience with breath work certainly confirms that the breath can help heal this fragmentation. This fragmentation manifests itself along many orthogonal axes of experience. Everyone is processing their own insights multidimensionally. Stan Grof really gets this, but it is not the whole story. If you are experiencing this fragmentation in your psyche you are well advised to begin to integrate this through the breath for healing. It's the most direct way to retrieve these fragmented aspects of being into wholeness. I am learning about the true nature of the sub-conscious in all this. Multiple-personalities is basically the paradigm we all operate in. It is the ability to witness this from a neutral reference point that many lack. Again, the breath can help to reconnect us to these fragmented pieces it really helps to study the relationship of breath to your experience.

 

[Ovidio]

I liken this idea of fragmentation, thought, and consciousness to a moving bus filled with people and a single driver. Sometimes a person will get on the bus, while, at others times, a person will get off. It is the driver who controls the bus and who allows people to leave or to get on. He determines where this bus is going. It’s a busy bus route and is often quite loud. Whenever the bus passes by a beautiful landmark, the passengers will hush and appreciate all that is there, even the people on the bus who would normally not be the types to observe the simple beauty of things in life. All along the way, the driver will put himself in the position of these people and feel the seemingly endless discussion as it plays out.


Up the back of the bus often sits a naughty little kid who is making fun of the other people, while up the front is a thoughtful, conscientious student who is reading a book and discussing it with the driver. The thoughtful, conscientious student is always the first to get on and the last to leave the bus, since he has the furthest to travel along this journey. This is the bus driver’s favourite passenger, and the driver enjoys hearing about this child’s books each day.


Somewhere towards the middle of the bus is a young adult male sitting next to a pretty girl who is around the same age. These two have just met and are discussing the trip, the landmarks, and all that is being seen along the way on this journey. If the guy plays his cards right, he might just get off the bus with this girl, where together they will appreciate the site which she had originally got on the bus to be able to travel to. The both of them are just exploring the area, observing and enjoying all that there is to be. But getting off the bus together will allow them to have some company which they have secretly both been yearning for.


There are a number of other people on the bus whom the driver will hear at random intervals, and he can choose whether to listen to them or not. Some of these passengers are from other countries, and the driver will often not understand what is being said, due in the most part to some foreign accent which he cannot yet decipher. He doesn’t dwell on this though, he just lets it pass over him while he continues to discuss the book with the clever kid at the front of the bus. The clever kid brings a different book each week; sometimes it is non-fiction, while at other times it is a fictional novel.


All of the people on the bus have their place there at any one given point in time, some with positive aspects, some with negative aspects. This is how life is, and it constantly changes as the bus progresses through its stops. The challenge for the driver is to let the people whom he does not wish to listen to stay on the bus. One day he might hear one of the people whom he does not usually listen to say something which is insightful or useful to him, while at other times he may choose to let the thought go. But since he is a driver, he must usually just let them be who they are, where they are.


At times, the driver will look in the rearview mirror to see what the naughty kid is doing. He chooses when to look, when to listen, and when to ignore this young and rebellious child. Sometimes this naughty kid will be doing something silly like throwing things out of the window at the other vehicles passing by. But the driver often won’t say anything as he can see some humour in it from when he was a child. You see, the driver was once a naughty little kid, but he has since grown to be a thoughtful, kind and caring man. It is this level of empathy and understanding which allows the driver to just let the naughty kid be naughty, thus allowing him explore that rebellious element of his former self, relating to and feeling this as it occurs. At times, though, the driver will have to tell the kid to sit down and be quiet, most importantly, choosing this time wisely as he cannot spend all of his time paying attention to the naughty child, or the bus will crash.


There is a university professor who sits on a seat towards the back of the bus, on the opposite side of the bus to the naughty child. He is a quiet, calculated man who is always gazing out the window, making sense of all that is and all that isn’t. He often asks himself, “what does it mean?” as the bus continues along its way. The bus driver will sometimes listen to the professor speaking to himself quietly, teasing out the historical significance of everything which he sees. As a university professor, this man is trying to be as objective about his experience on the bus as possible. However, he will often look around the inside of the bus and try to make sense of all of the people on the bus and what they are doing. The professor is quite imaginative and, if he cannot work out what these passengers’ places are in the world, he will make up stories about them, thereby embracing the subjectivity of experience. Always, though, he will reason through to conclusion. Sometimes the driver will hear the professor thoughtfully reasoning and making his way to conclusions, at which point he often thinks to himself “how profound”.


At the end of the journey each day, the bus driver will clean the bus and reflect about how the trip went, before locking up the bus and moving on to the next day and a new bus trip.

 

[herbavore]

In the hylotropic mode of consciousness, and individual experiences himself or herself as a solid physical entity with definite boundaries and with a limited sensory range. The world appears to be made of separate material objects and has distinctly Newtonian characteristics: Time is linear, space is three-dimensional, and all events seem to be governed by chains of cause and effect. Experiences in this mode support systematically a number of basic assumptions about the world, such as: matter is solid; two objects cannot occupy the same space; past events are irretrievably lost; future events are not experientially available; one cannot be in more than one place at a time; one can exist only in one temporal framework at a time; a whole is larger than a part; or something cannot be true and untrue at the same time.

In contrast to the narrow and restricted hylotropic mode, the "holotropic" variety involves the experience of oneself as a potentially unlimited field of consciousness that has access to all aspects of reality without the mediation of senses. Holotropic literally translates as aiming for totality or moving toward wholeness (from the Greek holos = whole and trepin = moving in the direction of). Experiences in this state of mind offer many interesting alternatives to the Newtonian world of matter with linear time and three-dimensional space.

Monet Refuses the Operation

Doctor, you say there are no halos
Around the streetlights in Paris
and what I see is an aberration
caused by old age, an affliction.
I tell you it has taken me all my life
to arrive at the vision of gas lamps as angels,
to soften and blur and finally banish
the edges you regret I don’t see,
to learn that the line I called the horizon
does not exist and sky and water,
so long apart, are the same state of being.
Fifty-four years before I could see
Rouen cathedral is built
of parallel shafts of sun;
and now you want to restore
my youthful errors: fixed
notions of top and bottom,
the illusion of three dimensional space,
wisteria separate from the bridge it covers.
What can I say to convince you
the Houses of Parliament dissolve
night after night to become
the fluid dream of the Thames?
I will not return to a universe
of objects that don’t know each other,
as if islands were not the lost children
of one great continent. The world
is flux, and light becomes what it touches,
becomes water, lilies on water,
above and below water,
becomes lilac and mauve and yellow
and white and cerulean lamps,
small fists passing sunlight
so quickly to one another
that it would take long, streaming hair
inside my brush to catch it.
To paint with the speed of light!
Our weighted shapes, these verticals,
burn to mix with air
and change our bones, skin, clothes
to gases. Doctor,
if you could only see
how heaven pulls the earth into its arms
and how infinitely the heart expands
to claim this world, blue vapor without end.

Lisel Mueller

 

[vortech]

You gotta unify your channels, (woah)man

 

[Xorkoth]

That was beautiful herby.