Multiple Personality Disorder and The Holographic Universe

Thanks to the television series The United States of Tara, more people than possibly ever before are aware of Multiple Personality Disorder, or MPD.

p. 75 of Michael Talbot's The Holographic Universe in the chapter The Holographic Model and Psychology states:
"...One of the most telling statistics regarding multiples is that 97 percent of them have had a history of severe childhood trauma, often in the form of monstrous psychological, physical, and sexual abuse. This has led many researchers to conclude that becoming a multiple is the psyche's way of coping with extraordinary and soul-crushing pain. By dividing up into one or more personalities the psyche is able to parcel out the pain, in a way, and have several personalities bear what would be too much for just one personality to withstand.
In this sense becoming a multiple may be the ultimate example of what Bohm means by fragmentation. It is interesting to note that when the psyche fragments itself, it does not become a collection of broken and jagged-edged shards, but a colleciton of smaller wholes, complete and self-sustaining with their own traits, motives, and desires. Although these wholes are not identical copies of the original personality, they are related to the dynamics of the original personality, and this in itself suggests that some kind of holographic process is involved.
Bohm's assertion that fragmentation always eventually proves destructive is also apparent in the syndrome. Although becoming a multiple allows a person to survive an otherwise unendurable childhood, it brings with it a host of unpleasant side effects. These may include depression, anxiety and panic attacks, phobias, heart and respiratory problems, unexplained nausea, migrainelike headaches, tendencies toward self-mutilation, and many other mental and physical disorders. Startlingly, but regular as clockwork, most multiples are diagnosed when they are between the ages of twenty-eight and thirty-five, a "coincidence" that suggests that some inner alarm system may be going off at that age, warning them that it is imperative they are diagnosed and thus obtain the help they need. This idea seems borne out by the fact that multiples who reach their forties before they are diagnosed frequently report having the sense that if they did not seek help soon, any chance of recovery would be lost..."

Now I'm sure you are wondering what MPD has to do with holograms. The holographic model referenced here is a model of the nature of reality, experience, and the universe itself. It's a very interesting book that has loads of scientific evidence to back up its claims. As always, take everything with a grain of salt, check the credentials, and remain open to the information changing your entire understanding of reality. After all, people once scoffed at the idea of a spherical earth.

p. 76
"Another unusual feature of MPD is that each of a multiple's personalities possessses a different brain-wave pattern. This is surprising, for as Frank Putnam, a National Institutes of Health psychiatrist who has studied this phenomenon, points out, normally a person's brain-wave pattern does not change even in states of extreme emotion. Brain-wave patterns are not the only thing that varies from personality to personality. Blood flow patterns, muscle tone, heart rate, posture, and even allergies can all change as a multiple shifts rom one self to the next.
Since brain-wave patterns are not confined to any single neuron or group of neurons, but are a global property of the brain, this too suggests taht some kind of holographic process may be at work. Just as a multiple-image hologram can store and project dozens of whole scenes, perhaps the brain hologram can store and call forth a similar multitude of whole personalities. In other words, perhaps what we call "self" is also a hologram, and when the brain of a multiple clicks from one holographic self to the next, these slide-projectorlike shuttlings are reflected in the global changes that take place in brain-wave activity as well as in the body in general. The physiological changes that occur as a multiple shifts from one personality to the next also have profound implications for the relationship between mind and health, and will be discussed at greater length in the next chapter."

Now if we look at teachings of "mystery schools" with this scientific information, some conclusions may be proposed. Not least of all, in my humble opinion, is that the idea of separation within the personal human experience is a mirror of the idea of separation between people, and the destructive and painful effects are also mirrored on a grander level when ideas such as fear are practiced.
To redo a classic quote:
"You laugh because you perceive me as different; I smile because we are one."
Namaste.