multiplicity_archives | (no subject)

I'm sorry to add in yet another question, but this has been something I've been wondering about for a while, and am curious to see if and how people here experience it...

Usually when I'm awake, my thoughts are heavily preoccupied either by just me musing about things, or music. Music, actually, seems to dominate my mind, blocking out almost everything but my thoughts... it's only a problem if I'm trying to listen or pay attention, like in class... the music can get really, really distracting. My inner voice is androgynous and ambiguous... it doesn't seem to have a particular age or gender to it.

Where am I going with this... anyway... I find that sometimes when I really force myself to relax - like when I'm trying to sleep - I can sometimes get the music to shut off, or at least turn down... and I'll start to hear voices. they tend to be pretty random... the only thing that has been remarkable about it, to me, is that all the voices are very distinct, unlike my inner voice... they are specifically connected to certain ages and genders... they sound just like any voice you might hear. I could be wrong but they don't seem quite like hallucinations to me... for one, they are distinctly -inside- my head. I would never mistake them for a voice anywhere outside my body. I thought it might be sleep paralysis, but that would mean the voices would have to be hallucinations... plus, usually when this is going on, I can move around just fine. usually I have to be pretty still, though, or my concentration will get thrown off and the music will come back on. I've described it before as almost like walking through a crowd and catching mostly just snippets or impressions of people talking... groups of guys, children laughing, etc. every once in a while I'll hear a distinct sentence or something like that. a couple times it has been what sounded like a young boy. there have been some others I can't quite remember...

I guess my question is, do you think there is an explanation for this? Has anyone experienced something similar? I'm not sure if this is related or not, but in the context of multiplicity, do you ever actually "hear" the others, and are the voices distinct? Whatever else you'd like to add, any questions, anything's greatly appreciated... I don't talk about this too much in public, as you tend to get rather strange looks when you start to say you hear voices in any way.