The idea that a person consists of a gestalt is an idea that's been present in Jungs ideas (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Jung), such as the Shadow Self (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Jung#The_shadow) and the Anima & Animus (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Jung#Anima_and_Animus). It is also present in Freud's Id, Ego, and Superego (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ego). You can also find this idea in some religious systems. The christian god is a gestalt entity consisting of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. They are all, however, supposed to be the same person. A lot of these theories only sometimes acknowledge the concept of liminal communication between these pieces, at least, without extensive work.
That should be differentiated from a system in which the persons in a body aren't conflicting subpersons in a gestalt person's collective "self". As he points out, there is a simplification, and down the line the people become more and more simplified, perhaps to a single emotion or motivation. Some systems don't operate this way, and the members are as complex as anyone in a single body. They are separate beings, in a single location. Although these terms are subjective, the differences can be very real in a practical sense. Of course, since people are content to allow themselves to be shaped by the limitations placed upon them, by society, and the psychiatric profession, it doesn't always happen. In other systems, fragments, or subpersons are allowed to grow and develop themselves so they are no longer simplified "parts" of some nebulous "whole". Still other systems, however, may operate within this paradigm, even while considering themselves entirely separate beings, for reasons all their own.
There's a lot of room for movement.
I wouldn't know whether or not you guys are multiple. Even if I had the secret to all multiplicity, I could only work from the information that you present, which is, by the very nature of our communication, grossly inadequate.
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timeasmymeasure
Gestalt Entities
Date: 2005-08-18 09:05 pm (UTC)That should be differentiated from a system in which the persons in a body aren't conflicting subpersons in a gestalt person's collective "self". As he points out, there is a simplification, and down the line the people become more and more simplified, perhaps to a single emotion or motivation. Some systems don't operate this way, and the members are as complex as anyone in a single body. They are separate beings, in a single location. Although these terms are subjective, the differences can be very real in a practical sense. Of course, since people are content to allow themselves to be shaped by the limitations placed upon them, by society, and the psychiatric profession, it doesn't always happen. In other systems, fragments, or subpersons are allowed to grow and develop themselves so they are no longer simplified "parts" of some nebulous "whole". Still other systems, however, may operate within this paradigm, even while considering themselves entirely separate beings, for reasons all their own.
There's a lot of room for movement.
I wouldn't know whether or not you guys are multiple. Even if I had the secret to all multiplicity, I could only work from the information that you present, which is, by the very nature of our communication, grossly inadequate.
--Me