System Dynamics
Date First Written: 30 November 2021 ; Date Last Updated: 11 June 2022
Below is a breakdown in general facets of our system's existence. Categories and traits regarding how we exist as a system.
System Type: Our system as we exist fit several categories used within the plural community.
- Multiple System -- A state of having multiplicity. Refers to a specific portion of the plurality spectrum in which there is a marked presence of more than one distinct and separate persons within a system. Those who are a part of our system have a lot of individuality (our own names, ages, genders, opinions, senses of self, personal interests, and so on). This is the way in which we experience our own plurality.
- Diagnosed -- In November 2010 we were diagnosed with Dissociative Disorder Not Otherwise Specified (DDNOS). In the years since we've developed into a system that is no longer re-diagnosable as we have put an end to our dissociative amnesia and have put an end to any distress and impairment, we caused each other due to not working together. Our past once disordered state has shaped who we are today in our strong convictions on cooperation and communication being extremely important to us within our system.
- Functional System -- A state in which a system’s members can live together and not experience distress due to their plurality. An alternative goal in therapy for those who need it. Our system chose the path of living together as a group rather than seeking means to become a singlet. With a lot of personal work, we have learned how to cooperate, communicate, trust, and share with each other and thus going from clinically disordered to not being so.
- Gateway System – A system where it is believed the headspace is another reality, dimension, or place, and the headmates use the body to interact with this world/Earth. Our innerworld functions like another reality in how it exists and operates, and our relationship with our physical human body feels more like something we just step into to interact with the world around this body.
- Parallel System -- A system where it is believed their innerworld is not only, obviously, connected to a human body in this reality, but also happens to be connected to another body in a different reality. For us, along with our innerworld obviously being connected to this human body, our innerworld also has connections to several other perceived realities where another different body exists. (One of the hosts in one of these other bodies is Darter.)
System Structure: Here are some of the variables that make up how we function as a system.
- Tri-Host -- Host is a term used to refer to either a system member who “owns” the body more than any other member. The hosts, as far as our human body, are Ocean Watcher, Sky Singer, and Earth Listener.
- Large Numbers -- Our system is large, well over a hundred residents. Only a small percentage of our system actually front with any regularly, however.
- Nonhuman -- Most of our system are nonhuman. Most of us are nonhuman animals that exist or once exited on Earth. Those left are mostly either mythical or fictional beasts. A small handful are plants. The handful of humans in our system could be better described as "posthuman" as they developed some sense of nonhumanity after being in our system for some time.
- Co-consciousness -- Co-consciousness is a state of being where two or more members of a system are aware of what is going on around their physical body at the same time and are aware of each other’s presence. Our system gained co-consciousness after a lot of work to put an end to our issues of losing time.
- Singlet Persona -- Our system maintains a persona of being singlet around people we are not out to about being plural. This singlet persona is something we often also call our "Mask." It is a persona anyone fronting takes on when around most people and includes things such as going by our body's name, a certain tone of voice and way of speaking, and so on.
Origins: We are a mixed-origin system. While we know for certain that some origins are most certainly at play while others are more hypothesized based on experiences and beliefs. Also, we feel a lot of our plurality is forged from circumstances reverberating off one another in a cascade building up the state of our multiplicity as it is today.
- Neurodivergence -- We believe that our neurodivergence set us up to be predisposed toward plurality if not outright caused our brain to develop that way.
- Soul Pluralism -- We believe our system's body was born with more than one soul in it leading to plurality.
- Trauma-caused Dissociation -- Trauma and other negative factors directly messed with our identity development leading to plurality.
- Trauma-caused Soul-splitting -- Trauma also lead to soul-splitting which lead to plurality.
- Maladaptive daydreaming -> Accidental Thoughtform/Tulpa -- Other negative childhood events pushed us to have maladaptive daydreaming as a means of coping and this lead to the creation of tulpas/thoughtforms due to putting so much focus on certain characters they gained a life of their own.
- Thoughtform/Tulpa Creation -- We took an interest in the topic of thoughtforms/tulpa from the pagan and occult community which lead to the conscious creation of a few individual which added to the complexity of our plurality.
- Wandering Spirits Joining -- We know that our animistic predispositions lead to spiritual practices that includes long-term spirit possession and housing/taking care of spirits of the dead in some instances. While not all of those we've ended up taking in have any interest in fronting, they still now exist as part of our system.
- Unknown -- There are aspects of our plurality that have transpired that do not easily fit into an already listed category and we haven't quite pin-pointed a way of describing those aspects even now.
People We Seem To Attract: We've come to realize that certain types of individuals arrive in our system more often than others. There are a handful of common trends that apply to many of our system.
- Nonhumans -- The most obvious trend is the high likelihood of people who join our system are nonhuman. Because of our animistic practices and religion, we interact with many nonhuman animal spirits who have passed away and sometimes a spirit will chose to stay with us rather than pass on. But even those who we did not first meet because of our religious practices are very often nonhuman.
- Unfulfilled Lives -- A large portion of people in our system, those with past-lives anyway, are those whose lives ended without feeling fully fulfilled in some important way.
- The Outcasts -- Another large portion of people in our system with past-lives, lived lives where they felt alone and adrift without a place or family to call home. They were the outcast in some way; often labeled or considered monstrous or broken by their society.
- Bookworms -- While not as extremely common as the former three, a sizeable number of people who end up being part of our system, regardless of origins, tend to be of a bookish or scholarly-inclined type as far as their interests or even professions tend to align. Even if they didn't read (or, more often, couldn't read due to their nonhuman species) they often have personalities that seem to incline them toward enjoying learning and stories in some form or another.