Those of you who know me longer than just a few posts, know I'm also keeping an eye on what is happening in the spiritual world, notably concerning DID/MPD (Dissociative Identity Disorder/Multiple Personality Disorder).
By no means I'm an objective expert, only an experience expert, but the ideas represented in this article discard some of the more recent findings in the field of psychology and psychiatry.
Personally I think the concept of more 'self's is somewhat false. As mentioned in the article, one could see the self as a pine tree, where the branches represent the personae or alters. With this I would interpret the Buddhist view of the 'no mind' self as the core of every being. It does however also underwrites the notion of the existence of multiplicity. In order to perceive one self, one need to look at the self from an other angle. This would be impossible if the self examines the self. Only by dissociating from the self, one can examine it. Imagine being inside a house, in order to understand the house as a whole, one needs to look at it not only from the inside, but also step outside and see the exterior. Ultimately due to suffering, people suffering from DID posses the 'talent' to eventually study the 'no mind self'. After all, suffering leads to enlightenment, this combined with the ability to critically study one-self might lead to discover the pre-dissociative self and possibly the 'no mind self'. However, in order to reach this stage, one needs to shed Dukkha. (Dukkha arises when individuals cling to others, ideas, and most importantly, themselves as permanent.)
"Birth is dukkha, aging is dukkha, death is dukkha; sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, & despair are dukkha; association with what is not loved is dukkha, separation from what is loved is dukkha, not getting what is wanted is dukkha. In short, the five clinging-aggregates are dukkha."
"And what is the cause by which dukkha comes into play? Craving is the cause by which dukkha comes into play." "And what is the result of dukkha? There are some cases in which a person overcome with pain, his mind exhausted, grieves, mourns, laments, beats his breast, & becomes bewildered. Or one overcome with pain, his mind exhausted, comes to search outside, 'Who knows a way or two to stop this pain?' I tell you, monks, that dukkha results either in bewilderment or in search. This is called the result of dukkha."
Of course a person suffering from a mental illness will without a doubt recognize the last paragraph. However, the unique talent of a dissociating person allows also the exhausted mind to be temporarily silenced. The problem lies in the fact that this state can only achieved on a temporary basis. Thus this state is discarded by modern psychologist as 'black outs' or amnesic periods. But does a conscious state of ultimate inner silence really imply an amnesic period? Time passes as one experiences the inner silence. Yet memory of silence is merely the silence itself, which of course is not an amnesic episode, but an episode of nothingness.
Perhaps the answer to enlightenment might be closer than we think. After all, we all are constructed (in the Zen Buddhist view) in such a way that there is no ultimate essence of self. What makes people who perceive themselves as multiple differ from people who perceive a mere singularity, is the possibility to understand and experience the true self.
Now I do know that the Buddhist view can be very confusing, especially when the terminology used for the various states of selves is confusing for the (Western) mind. I'll attempt to 'translate' the above thoughts to a more Western approach.
We are consisting of a body, a mind and a soul. The body is a vessel in which the mind and soul reside during our lives. The assumption that the body and mind cease to exist after death is very plausible, the mind can not operate without a functioning body, possibly neither without a soul. The soul is our driving force to live. Tortured/tormented persons often display the urge to end life and release itself from the burdens of the mind and/or the body. Dissociating persons can detach themselves from the current state and enter in a detached state. More often than not, this results in the creation or activation of another persona or alter, which in itself is a fragment of the mind. However, it is not unknown that dissociating persons can 'zone out' or enter a seemingly hypnotic state. These states can be without thoughts or impulses. It would be interesting to compare these states with the enlightened state of a monk. Unfortunately there aren't many researches done that give us insight in these states. Especially since the stigma of a mentally ill person is that they can not understand the enlightened state due to a burdened mind. My opinion is that psychological burdens are ideal for enabling the capability to enter other states of consciousness, including just being the soul and therefore have a glimpse in the enlightened state.
I wish I had the opportunity to research this, understanding of the human mind is still in its very infancy and even the basis of all thoughts isn't known. The understanding of 'nothingness' is even more complex, as current ideas exclude this possibility as well as controversy over the existence of DID/MPD. Essentially nothing is known about the neurobiology of dissociative identity disorder.
