Mental States

Yes, they make perfect sense. State IV is where I usually am, too.

Hi Paul,

This could well be influenced by our Degree in Horticulture, but one of us sees State I as being like a pine cone. Each of the different microsporophylls (leaves making up the cone) hiding a seed (secret?), with each leaf of the cone being needed to work together to create the greatest chance of survival. So to her it looks like co-operation, but still some compartmentalisation.

State II we interpret as being the chaos which comes with a memory flood, extreme trigger etc. With State III being when the trigger goes so far that there is almost a shutting down of the system and the silence is overwhelming.

I'd like to work towards having something similar to Sate IV consistently.

Interesting work... in some ways it became a bit of an ink blot diagram of how each of us interprets what you have drawn. We've also probably gone well outside of what you intended, so I hope we didn't cause any offense.

Take care...

Oh yes, these are wonderful Paul! I too am quite visual and love trying to diagram my mind.

State I reminds me of the parts existing in their own little realities, like nodules in a blackberry (the fruit not the phone lol). State II is what happens after co-consciousness begins--everything all at once, overwhelming. And State III is Enso, the Zen Circle of Enlightenment. "A circle like vast space, lacking nothing and nothing in excess."

A monk asked Master Isan for a gatha expressing enlightenment. Isan refused saying, "It is right in front of your face, why should I express it in brush and ink?" The monk then asked Kyozan, another master, for something concrete. Kyozan drew a circle on a piece of paper, and said, "Thinking about this is and then understanding it is second best; not thinking about it and understanding it is third best." (He did not say what is first best.)

State IV reminds me of my own mind, states I, II and III all happening simultaneously.

This is fascinating reading everyone's interpretations! Thanks again for bringing us together with your blog Paul. It helps alleviate some of the aloneness...

Yes, I can definitely relate to these. I'm not sure how to describe HOW I can, but I do. I never thought about state IV before, but God, does that make sense!

Hi Paul,

Well the states do make sense, from what has been shared. If we were to make a similar drawing expressing our life it would be one, with some of all of the others shaded into some of the areas. As so many of the inners go through good and bad times even if it is not immediately obvious.

For us we experience our consciousness being spreak out in our abdomen, not our mind. It reminded us of an explanation of how a ant's awareness is spread out over parts of its body, and not fixed in the brain, though we would affirm that we believe that it is our mind. Not sure if I am saying the right words. But that is how we experience our selves.

Kate

After reading the comments, I thought I might as well pop in with what the drawings meant for me --

State I: All parts fairly compartmentalized but present, with no one part on override or running the body exclusively ... confusing and potentially problematic due to the potential for quick and sudden switching ... I think of this as everyone on "standby"

State II: Overall system anxiety/arousal, with confusion and a lot of internal "noise"

State III: One part running the body so intensely and/or effectively that we are not aware at that point of being multiple; the others are very far in the background,whether suppressed or protected or further dissociated for purposes of functioning. This can be either a very positive or a very negative state, depending upon who's "out"

State IV: One part running the body, with co-conscious awareness of the experience of other parts, and some "noise" of distress from those parts, who are participating in the experience though not running the body

I definitely can see it that way too, David. It seems I see those pictures different ways on different days...hmm... They really are Rorschach-esque and very cool. Thanks again for sharing them with us, Paul.

Here is what I saw when I originally looked at the pictures, before reading the comments:

Stage I - state of disorientation, like before dissociation or during/after a stressful event or trigger
Stage II – dissociation or extreme stress; overwhelming
Stage III – alter or ego state control
Stage IV – core control; control/main personality

It seems like we all look at this differently. That's very interesting to me.

My interpretation:

I: seems very organized - like the mind the way it is meant to be with all the parts there, working together and at the same time. Each layer is accessable.

II: is extremely disorganized. More than one part is coming through but they aren't communicating very well.

III: is a shut-down. To me it's like when I am just going through the motions, getting through something without feeling anything or any connection to the past.

IV: feels like when I'm aware of something under the surface that I am refusing to see. It feels like denial.

I would love to hear your interpretation.