Personality Destruction

[snowqueen]

"We are what we pretend to be."

I admire what you're attempting to do. I don't think the effects can last, though.

I think you are probably right in a way, Anticitizen. but it is also unlikely that he will not be changed. An interesting experiment nonetheless! I did something very similar in my 20s but without the rigour. I think this is lot more interesting than taking mind-altering drugs but with potentially greater insights to be gained. But also potential dangers - who is the experimenter in the end?

For me the problem in the end was that I had started this project without first having any real idea of my identity and personality so I guess I could neither track changes or reliably determine either positive or negative effects. In terms of the effect on me in the long term I would say that it helped me develop social skills but took me away from being able to understand and meet my own needs.

 

[XIII]

what mask are you wearing now..?
when you have finished, and all the masks lie discarded on the floor, what then?
will you sift through them to find the best one, take pieces of each?
and will you keep that mask for the rest of your life?

there's nothing radically intelligent about mimicry - humans are mimic machines; we all emulate our idols.

personality is not fixed - it's a base template, yes, but it evolves like our bodies over time.
there is no apex of personality - no summit to reach. it's a continual progression from birth to death.

the problem with having "no morality or fixed value-system" is evident.. what's to stop you from breaking the law?
could you use antinomianism as a defense in court?
read "the gates of janus" by ian brady - there is one example of moral relativism taken to the extreme.

I've read it. He's an interesting but generally mediocre thinker. Why would I want something to ''stop me'' from breaking the law? I do want I want, taking the consequences into account. If an action is to my benefit, breaks the law, and won't result in extreme and undesired consequences... then?

During my antionmianism experiments I am careful not to do anything that will get me put in prison.

As to your questions regarding integration, here's a repost from another, specialised forum. References to NLP etc. (which I don't practice) are only included because of who I was writing this to.

Transcending Current Identity Via Full Exploration of The Medium in Which it is Expressed

The process of exploring and manipulating a level of behavior and perception extensively facilitates its transcendence. The individual ceases to identify himself with his previous representation in that medium, consequently forcing the expression of his self into a higher, more inclusive medium.

Reichian Facial Expression exercises involve making as many expressions as possible at regular intervals. The student practitioner becomes familiarised with the structural components and effect of each expression, and has access to them all. The entire system of facial expression is available to him, so he ceases to strongly identify with any pattern of expression. It becomes apparent that his self is beyond the system, so his need for self-expression is forced to manifest in more inclusive, higher mediums.

NLP allows the student access to explore and manipulate, among other things, meaning and emotion. He can change what an event means in his life-narrative, have access to multiple plot-lines simultaneously, and alter his experience at will. He becomes familiarised with the structural components of meaning and emotion. If he explores extensively enough, he will cease to identify with any expression of who he is within the mediums with which NLP deals, such as emotion and meaning. Emotion and meaning are, as a result, understood to be limited and impersonal systems. The student cannot find his self in the system because he has access to multiple meanings and can structure new ones at will. His self-concept and its expression is consequently forced into higher, more inclusive mediums/realms.

My personality change experiment facilitates extensive exploration of the medium for expression of the self represented by the word ''personality''. I become more familiar with the structural components of personality and the entire, overarching life-narrative with each new personality I emulate. I am no longer able to identify with the patterns which previously represented ''me'' through the medium of personality and standard experience. Thus, what was previously the highest, most inclusive medium for expression of the self is revealed to be a limited system within which no stable 'self' can be found. Many selves are available at will, so the self-concept, and its expression, is forced into higher, more inclusive realms.



The outer black ring represents personality. The inner rings represent more limited mediums of expression. A typical person experiences life as the relationships between finite points on the outer ring (the medium of personality) and other finite points on the inner rings (more limited mediums of expression. Exploring all 3 rings forces the self-concept to move beyond them. Too many points (behavioral patterns, personalities, meanings) are available for any to be identified with. What happens then?

Provided that the student has been able to retain functional sanity, his perception and experience expands. What he is can no longer be found in the realms of normal perception (3 is an arbitrary number- don't take it literally), so his self-concept and self-expression- his experience- is forced into the seemingly boundless, cosmic realms beyond personality (the space around the outer ring). The old self is transcended, and an aeonic, transpersonal, and cosmic self is accessed. It seems as though some kind of God has been directly experienced, as though life itself has been merged with, as though the individual has become an avatar for the expression of Angels and Demons.

Many mystics call this realm boundless, infinite, or eternal. Their perspective is limited. They have not realised that the same process that can be applied to the lower mediums of expression can be applied to the much more inclusive, but still limited, mediums of expression beyond them. While its experience tends to reveal that there is no fixed self, I anticipate that it can be explored and manipulated completely enough to be transcended. What lies beyond the highest realms of self-expression and self-concept humans have experienced thus far? What lies beyond those unknown realms? And beyond them?

Men will become Gods, and Gods will transcend themselves.

 

[XIII]

"We are what we pretend to be."

I admire what you're attempting to do. I don't think the effects can last, though.

You're wrong. The effects of some emulations have stayed with me since I finished, and the way I work (percieve, think, behave, interact) has changed dramatically. In a 'good' way? I'm not so sure. Despite my post above, I don't know that I haven't damaged myself.

EDIT: I should write a warning in case anybody is considering experimenting as extensively as I do. The effects have sometimes been dramatic and- at least in the short term- terrifying. If you do what I have, you'll likely have to deal with feelings of disintegration and loss of contact with 'reality' unlike anything previously experienced. I don't recommend that anybody follows in my footsteps, because my sample size is 1 and I haven't even finished the experiment yet. Basically, I don't want anybody going insane and blaming me.

 

[Anticitizen]

Personality type describes a preference that is most likely a result of brain chemistry (i.e., nature) as more or more than any learned or practiced behavior. Furthermore, the preference is often described in terms of energy gain/expenditure For example, extraverts 'draw their energy' from interaction with others, while introverts can find it draining when extraversion is forced (either by themselves or others).

In other words, you can pretend, and maybe keep it up, but I think there's a default that you'll fall back on that's determined more by your brain chemistry, etc.

 

[XIII]

Personality type describes a preference that is most likely a result of brain chemistry (i.e., nature) as more or more than any learned or practiced behavior. Furthermore, the preference is often described in terms of energy gain/expenditure For example, extraverts 'draw their energy' from interaction with others, while introverts can find it draining when extraversion is forced (either by themselves or others).

In other words, you can pretend, and maybe keep it up, but I think there's a default that you'll fall back on that's determined more by your brain chemistry, etc.

Forgive my frankness, but you have no idea what you're talking about. The MBTI sytem has nothing to do with scientific models of neuropsychological function or relationships between genetic/neurological basic function and basic 'personality type'. It's a primitive, but helpful, *linguistic* description of traits which tend to occur together. It is not a structural model upon which valid assumptions can be based. It is, at best, a way of learning a little about yourself and people who approximately share traits with you.

Anyway- research neuroplasticity.

 

[Anticitizen]

The vast majority of psychological theory has so little to do with the science of neurology that the more positivist of scientists are loth to even call psychology a 'science'.

Most of what we know about psychology - period - can be described as "a primitive, but helpful, *linguistic* description of traits which tend to occur together."

By the same token, there is little evidence to link behavior preferences to neuroplastic phenomena; 99% of the time, when neuroplasticity is mentioned, it's in reference to the adaptation of the brain for new purposes (ie, remapping) in cases of injury.

Furthermore, if you want to bring neurology into it... you might as well get lobotomized. I am sure that is the most effective form of personality destruction.

 

[XIII]

As previously explained... it's simply a thread title, not my aim. Anyway, this discussion is completely useless, and of no real relevance. No longer interested.

 

[Mars]

A few questions I pose to you 8 is whether or not your cards manifest identities that work outside your usual perceptive range. Considering new concepts alone can alter the perceptual scope in its own right, what I am wondering is if you are able to create the persona and then allow it loose control over its areas of interest[i.e. body language while maintaining linguistic mannerisms].

Because you are essentially creating very weak constructs that will haunt the recesses of your mind, do you create a doorway for the persona to maintain expression that can be closed.

Also have you noticed if traits from certain cards merge with others and then create a separate persona between the two. I guess this one depends on how rigidly you construct the room for the persona when considering its limitations to your character and its capabilities compared to your own.