(no subject)

[linnai.livejournal.com]

Hmm. Bit of a controversial question perhaps.

What does anyone know about integration? NOT the forced "everyone needs to be one" sort of integration but spontaneous, natural integration and also temporary intregration or anything of the like.

(While I have heard that most integration is non-permanent anyhow, this isn't quite what I mean but having a hard time figuring out how to communicate the thought better, forgive me)

Comments

[sethrenn.livejournal.com]

I'm more likely to believe a story of spontaneous integration than one which was forced by a doctor or other third party. I've heard of, though never known personally, a very few systems who said they integrated spontaneously and it stuck.

We've also known systems who could temporarily integrate at will if they had to. I think we did that ourselves earlier in life, although it was not pleasant. Perhaps for some groups it can be part of a natural process or cycle-- I think it wasn't natural for us, which is why it was unpleasant and people started to try to break out after a while.

[linnai.livejournal.com]

We're sorting out a lot of... unclearness for us in the last few weeks and it would seem that we had a similar experience. It wasn't natural, it was very unpleasant and it didn't last....

But it wasn't doctor aided...

[sethrenn.livejournal.com]

I think that sometimes, we (speaking for our group) have to fight against the tendency to believe that it would "just be easier" if we were one person, that others would be more accepting of us, even the idea that we ought to be that way solely because "it's more normal." Sometimes we have to fight the tendency to try to squish down or repress others, although we're not nearly as bad about that now as we once were.

During the times when we temporarily integrated, it wasn't doctor-assisted either. Things written in offline diaries during one of those incidents say that we felt we "needed to find out which one was the real me." What always happened was that it would hold together for about six months and then things would start to fall apart. We never kept everyone's individual abilities and talents; in fact, we'd inevitably end up losing most of them. (Other temporarily integrated systems have reported similar things.)

[linnai.livejournal.com]

I think... I understand that...

Wow... thinking about this really hits a nerve...