Median plurality
Oct. 23rd, 2013 11:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fuzzyjayling posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
plural_magicContinuing on from yesterday's topic (Shallow Co-fronting), this is another plural topic that can affect your magical work as well as your daily life. Many people don't realise that this applies to them, and understanding it can open up a whole new world of possibilities.
What is "median"? Well, you can read a lot more about it here, including pretty graphs, but the short version is that it's somewhere between plural and singlet (one term for someone who is not plural/median/etc). If you've ever heard someone talk about "putting on their game face", or showing one side of themselves to one group, and another side to another... that's the same sort of idea. Rather than several separate people, this is one person made up of separate people. To quote a very helpful line from Astraea's FAQ that I linked to above,
If you ever had one of those colour-shifting pens from the 80s and 90s, think of that too. Press a button and a different ink comes out.
If you find yourself getting into "modes", where you almost feel like you're a different person even though you know you're not, then this may be a useful avenue of exploration for you.
I'll just give an example of myself, being median. (And yes! Median, plural, and other ways of being are not mutually-exclusive. Plural system members may also be median or plural, and so on.) I have identified several of my aspects and assigned them names, for which I'll give pseudonyms:
J: This is the side of me that is into magic, fae, rituals, belief that anything might be possible.
K: This side of me is all about computers. When in this mode, I feel more as if my mental space and mental model are within the computer in a symbolic way. When I am thinking of how to write code, it is a nearly visual or tactile exercise inside.
E: This side of me is very down to earth and this-world. There's little more than an acknowledgement of the idea that some part of me believes in magic or extraordinary things. She's focused on practical things like doing taxes, food, dealing with people at work, etc.
L: This is sort of a synthesis of K and E -- mostly emotionless and fairly ruthlessly pursuing truth and reason. She tends to come out if I get into an argument, because it's practical to get to the bottom of the argument without reference to emotional distractors.
All of these are essentially me. They aren't separate people. And yet when I'm in one of these modes, everything changes. I can shift from J to E, and I literally stop believing in magic in a visceral way. Sometimes I even feel ridiculous that I recently did believe in magic.
Amusingly, E was once so strong that I actually had trouble staying in touch with my other-space, and Dove and Sparrow, because I no longer fully believed in them. That's improved a little over time.
And now we get to the part where I discuss how this affects magic work. :) Of course given what I wrote above, the applications are really obvious. If you aren't in the right mode, you can throw off your whole ability to do magic. J breathes magic, but if I were suddenly E in the middle of a ritual, I could hardly finish it, let alone working it effectively.
Outside of magic, you might also find that you are in the wrong mode or aspect when you want to be doing something, and you just can't get the interest in it that you just had. When you have a strong conflict between aspect reactions (again, like J and E) then it can also cause problems with what you're doing, especially if you flip back and forth as you try to centre.
My sweetie read the shallow co-fronting post and gave me some interesting ideas in this regard.
One is that this thing I talk about in that post is a lot like being median: everyone is present and everyone is taking up the same space. And it goes further: everyone is the same mind and sense of self. But you may still have conflicts, like when someone argues with themselves over a course of action.
The second is that my suggestions on switching in that post may actually be applicable to a median situation, too. Her idea was basically that, when presented with a topic or situation that is attractive to a particular aspect, it may be easier to switch to it. In my aspect list above, you might say that the quickest way for me to move from J to K would be to sit down to work on some coding. I quickly find a "flow" and stop worrying about anything else. You'll have to identify these aspects in yourself, and work out what might attract them.
A third thought is that being median is somewhat like being part of a group mind. When everyone is in harmony, it's like thinking as one mind. When you're not there, it can be like several people tugging a boat in different directions. Sometimes that can give you insight, and sometimes it can be a headache, like in a ritual:
J: Woooo magic!
K: How could I make this ritual more efficient?
E: What would people think if they saw me doing this?
L: Fascinating.
Synthesising those aspects can be really empowering, as when I'm writing these posts. I feel almost as though I'm in a trance, sometimes. But I am seriously considering magic, its practical applications, the quickest and most understandable paths to spreading the knowledge and its understanding, and a sort of didactic teaching tone.
That was long and somewhat rambly, but hopefully something in there was helpful! If it's interesting, you may also take a look at LivingPlural's median question list.
(Definitions)
What is "median"? Well, you can read a lot more about it here, including pretty graphs, but the short version is that it's somewhere between plural and singlet (one term for someone who is not plural/median/etc). If you've ever heard someone talk about "putting on their game face", or showing one side of themselves to one group, and another side to another... that's the same sort of idea. Rather than several separate people, this is one person made up of separate people. To quote a very helpful line from Astraea's FAQ that I linked to above,
You might say something like "there are many of us, but we are really all Karen" or "aspects of Karen", etc.
If you ever had one of those colour-shifting pens from the 80s and 90s, think of that too. Press a button and a different ink comes out.
If you find yourself getting into "modes", where you almost feel like you're a different person even though you know you're not, then this may be a useful avenue of exploration for you.
I'll just give an example of myself, being median. (And yes! Median, plural, and other ways of being are not mutually-exclusive. Plural system members may also be median or plural, and so on.) I have identified several of my aspects and assigned them names, for which I'll give pseudonyms:
J: This is the side of me that is into magic, fae, rituals, belief that anything might be possible.
K: This side of me is all about computers. When in this mode, I feel more as if my mental space and mental model are within the computer in a symbolic way. When I am thinking of how to write code, it is a nearly visual or tactile exercise inside.
E: This side of me is very down to earth and this-world. There's little more than an acknowledgement of the idea that some part of me believes in magic or extraordinary things. She's focused on practical things like doing taxes, food, dealing with people at work, etc.
L: This is sort of a synthesis of K and E -- mostly emotionless and fairly ruthlessly pursuing truth and reason. She tends to come out if I get into an argument, because it's practical to get to the bottom of the argument without reference to emotional distractors.
All of these are essentially me. They aren't separate people. And yet when I'm in one of these modes, everything changes. I can shift from J to E, and I literally stop believing in magic in a visceral way. Sometimes I even feel ridiculous that I recently did believe in magic.
Amusingly, E was once so strong that I actually had trouble staying in touch with my other-space, and Dove and Sparrow, because I no longer fully believed in them. That's improved a little over time.
And now we get to the part where I discuss how this affects magic work. :) Of course given what I wrote above, the applications are really obvious. If you aren't in the right mode, you can throw off your whole ability to do magic. J breathes magic, but if I were suddenly E in the middle of a ritual, I could hardly finish it, let alone working it effectively.
Outside of magic, you might also find that you are in the wrong mode or aspect when you want to be doing something, and you just can't get the interest in it that you just had. When you have a strong conflict between aspect reactions (again, like J and E) then it can also cause problems with what you're doing, especially if you flip back and forth as you try to centre.
My sweetie read the shallow co-fronting post and gave me some interesting ideas in this regard.
One is that this thing I talk about in that post is a lot like being median: everyone is present and everyone is taking up the same space. And it goes further: everyone is the same mind and sense of self. But you may still have conflicts, like when someone argues with themselves over a course of action.
The second is that my suggestions on switching in that post may actually be applicable to a median situation, too. Her idea was basically that, when presented with a topic or situation that is attractive to a particular aspect, it may be easier to switch to it. In my aspect list above, you might say that the quickest way for me to move from J to K would be to sit down to work on some coding. I quickly find a "flow" and stop worrying about anything else. You'll have to identify these aspects in yourself, and work out what might attract them.
A third thought is that being median is somewhat like being part of a group mind. When everyone is in harmony, it's like thinking as one mind. When you're not there, it can be like several people tugging a boat in different directions. Sometimes that can give you insight, and sometimes it can be a headache, like in a ritual:
J: Woooo magic!
K: How could I make this ritual more efficient?
E: What would people think if they saw me doing this?
L: Fascinating.
Synthesising those aspects can be really empowering, as when I'm writing these posts. I feel almost as though I'm in a trance, sometimes. But I am seriously considering magic, its practical applications, the quickest and most understandable paths to spreading the knowledge and its understanding, and a sort of didactic teaching tone.
That was long and somewhat rambly, but hopefully something in there was helpful! If it's interesting, you may also take a look at LivingPlural's median question list.
(Definitions)