On Being Multiple
Apr. 11th, 2004 09:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
omimouseWell, since we've had various folks (both online and off) mention that they're interested in knowing more, here we go.
Sharing the front seat can be an interesting experience. It means that we both know what's going on, true, but when emotions run high, we have very different responses. Naomi has finally stopped curling into a little ball whenever she thinks that people are upset with her, but she still tends towards being concilliatory. Astrid, OTOH, tends towards belting someone upside the head, verbally or otherwise.
We've also had to fix an approproate standard of reaction. I.e., Astrid is not allowed to go kill various people. Why? Because it's illegal in this country. Naomi was raised in the culture of the US and the Netherlands, and considers herself to be culturally Dutch. Astrid, however, has an entirely different set of cultural standards for acceptable and even legal behaviour. Since she doesn't want the body to get locked up, she agrees to abide by American law. This was a requirement for being permitted to share or take over the front seat.
The front seat is difficult to describe. We're both usually using the senses. One of us is the foremost in the seat. That person has primary control of where we go, what we say, what we eat, how we speak and move, and what what we do. The person who is . . . hindmost (We are not a Puppeteer!) can interact with the other person, frequently including suggestions and requests for what we're going to be doing. Such interaction takes place rapidly enough that it does not typically slow us down all that much. 'Switching' is our term for one person moving into the foremost position while the other moves back. Rapid switching is one of our signs of extreme stress, or extreme arousal. In either case, the emotion must be truly strong to provoke the response of rapid switching.
We are also capable of sharing the foremost position. Again, this is usually indicitive of severe emotional extremes, both positive and negative. We also share the foremost position when we are conducting formal ritual, which is not something we do lightly or often.
One of the things we discovered we could do was split who is using which senses. Naomi loves various salads. Astrid is a die-hard carnivore. When Naomi wants a salad, but Astrid wants to be foremost, Naomi gets the tastebuds and sense of smell all to herself. Astrid will simply avoid informational input from those organs while Naomi is eating greens. Having one of the two of us shut out all input from all but one of the senses can be very useful. It means that (for example) Astrid can ignore scent, sight, taste, and touch to concentrate on hearing. Hearing is much clearer without distractions from the other senses.
On that note, our stomach has taken the spinal cord hostage. Food would probably be a good idea.
Sharing the front seat can be an interesting experience. It means that we both know what's going on, true, but when emotions run high, we have very different responses. Naomi has finally stopped curling into a little ball whenever she thinks that people are upset with her, but she still tends towards being concilliatory. Astrid, OTOH, tends towards belting someone upside the head, verbally or otherwise.
We've also had to fix an approproate standard of reaction. I.e., Astrid is not allowed to go kill various people. Why? Because it's illegal in this country. Naomi was raised in the culture of the US and the Netherlands, and considers herself to be culturally Dutch. Astrid, however, has an entirely different set of cultural standards for acceptable and even legal behaviour. Since she doesn't want the body to get locked up, she agrees to abide by American law. This was a requirement for being permitted to share or take over the front seat.
The front seat is difficult to describe. We're both usually using the senses. One of us is the foremost in the seat. That person has primary control of where we go, what we say, what we eat, how we speak and move, and what what we do. The person who is . . . hindmost (We are not a Puppeteer!) can interact with the other person, frequently including suggestions and requests for what we're going to be doing. Such interaction takes place rapidly enough that it does not typically slow us down all that much. 'Switching' is our term for one person moving into the foremost position while the other moves back. Rapid switching is one of our signs of extreme stress, or extreme arousal. In either case, the emotion must be truly strong to provoke the response of rapid switching.
We are also capable of sharing the foremost position. Again, this is usually indicitive of severe emotional extremes, both positive and negative. We also share the foremost position when we are conducting formal ritual, which is not something we do lightly or often.
One of the things we discovered we could do was split who is using which senses. Naomi loves various salads. Astrid is a die-hard carnivore. When Naomi wants a salad, but Astrid wants to be foremost, Naomi gets the tastebuds and sense of smell all to herself. Astrid will simply avoid informational input from those organs while Naomi is eating greens. Having one of the two of us shut out all input from all but one of the senses can be very useful. It means that (for example) Astrid can ignore scent, sight, taste, and touch to concentrate on hearing. Hearing is much clearer without distractions from the other senses.
On that note, our stomach has taken the spinal cord hostage. Food would probably be a good idea.
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Date: 2004-04-16 09:00 am (UTC)