Companionship
This world can be a lonely place, especially if you are an abused child. It is nice to have someone else to turn to, who is always there, fully understands what you are going through and who never leaves you. It is really the next best thing to having Jesus in your heart. Alters are in many ways, “The friend who sticks closer than a brother,” and “They are with you always.” “They will never leave you or forsake you.”
Multiple skills and talents
Many multiples report that their various body mates have unique and separate abilities. They have artists, writers, architects, and musicians all within one body. Different personalities may specialize in different school subjects, and some are better at math for instance than others. Often multiples have a staggering number of specialized abilities and talents which would be staggering or even impossible for most singlets.
Adaptability
Because of all the different abilities which multiples have, there is an ability somewhere within them to deal with almost any situation that arises. Similar to the President’s cabinet, they contain a consortium of various experts who can deal with problems as they arise, provided they are adept at switching at will. This is a learned skill, and somewhat difficult to master, but once a multiple learns how to select which person fronts at a given time. Multiplicity suddenly becomes extremely advantageous.
Increased Self Awareness
In order to function as a multiple, one must be extremely aware of their own inner workings. Self exploration is no longer a choice, but a mandate if one is too be able to function. Multiples become forced to journal, keep records of internal and external events, and most of all do a lot of inner questing as they discover hidden parts of themselves.
Fulfilling Inner Life
Because of vast self knowledge and understanding most multiples are aware of other world, usually known as inner worlds Most people have an inner world, but generally neglect it because they have no reason to go there or experiment with that level of awareness. Inner worlds are where head mates have meetings, live their lives, and interact with those on the fringes of their communities who do not usually or ever front, but are never the less present in their minds.
More spiritual awareness
Due to advanced self awareness, some multiples advance on to spiritual questing, and deep understandings of spiritual issues, and practices. Being multiple is a great asset to esoteric practices.
Liabilities of Multiplicity
Not aware of being multiple
Most of the people who have problems with multiplicity do not know they are multiple yet, or they are not fully aware of all their members. Being multiple and not knowing it leaves a lot of unanswered questions. They often have memory lapses, and events they do not recall. They may suddenly awaken during the day, and be unsure of what has transpired before. Without the knowledge that one is multiple and that someone you trust has been directing the body up to now it is very difficult to cope with these problems.
Potential for blackouts
Blackouts are not part of every multiple’s life, nor are they impossible for singlets either. Most of the time though blacking out for a singlet involves a period of unconsciousness, or a catatonic state. For multiples though blacking out or simply falling asleep does not stop the body from continuing to function. Someone else takes over the body and prevents accidents, provided the body is not otherwise disabled. Thus if a blackout is going to happen it’s better if it happens to a multiple.
Most multiples can learn to be co-conscious. That means that two or more of them are awake and present at the same time, one observes and sometimes instructs while the other acts. Switching is easier this way, and no one needs to be kept in the dark of what is going on simply because the other is running things. Many or even all of the housemates can watch at the same time, and can help run the body together as a team. This completely ends that blackout problem.
Scheduling
Some multiples have many members, so it’s hard for everyone to get a turn over the course of a week’s time. Most groups divide the labor and the recreation without much difficulty, but sometimes it’s hard to give the inner children a good slot. Children are cool but letting one run your life for a few hours a week requires a certain amount of faith. Many multiples solve this by keeping inner children in the inner world, but others don’t feel this is fair.
Physical Exhaustion
Being multiple can really make you feel tired. Giving everyone a turn at life, and the extra strain of long hours can add up, plus it seems that it just takes more energy to have more than one person living in a body. Just as your electric bill increases according to the number of occupants, the body uses more energy with more occupants.
Inner Children and Unexpected Guests
Sometimes multiples have one or more people who do not function on the same level as the rest. Inner children for example, usually cannot drive and tend to be less capable of handling things in the workplace. Occasionally there are also adults who rarely front, but might come to the front unbidden under certain circumstances. These people may not be aware of what is going on, and behave differently enough to behave in ways that regular fronts find hard to explain to their friends and co-workers.
That said, I’d like to clarify that the fiction you have seen on TV about multiples having a serial killer inside is just that: fiction. These things just do not happen in real life. The worst situation I’ve ever heard was that one of the alters ate something one of the others was allergic to, so that he got sick and had to go to the hospital once he began to front. That is how real and individual these people are. They often have different food allergies. None of the other head mates are allergic, and so everything was fine for about six hours. Then the one who was allergic came to front and then the throat started swelling shut.
Other than that, occasional apparent amnesia of an event, or a sudden emotional outburst or fear reaction to something that would not bother the regular fronts, can be hard to explain if the multiple isn’t “out” to his friends, but it’s certainly not that serious. These things are completely understandable once one realizes a person is multiple, but as long as myths about multiples outweigh the facts and prejudice is so strong against them, multiples will hide this fact and continue to attempt to explain away these problems in other ways.
Resources and Sources
Author's own Research over a seven year period.
Astraea's Web - Glossary - Last Accessed Nov. 4 AstraeasWeb.net/plural/glossary
Astraea's Web - FAQ- Last Accessed Nov. 4 AstraeasWeb.net/plural/faq
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Kim Mclendon - Kim is a Graphic Artist and owns a full service Advertising Agency, which caters to small local businesses. She has over 25 years ...
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