Etzel Cardeņa
Department of Psychology, University of Lund,
Lund, Sweden
The notion that each one of us represents a discrete, single, separate, and unified identity is, historically and culturally speaking, the exception rather than the norm. Alternatives to this view include the Buddhist perspective of a unified self as an illusion; the belief that human personality is porous to influences from spiritual forces (or, in more secular terms, to nonconscious forces); and Gurdjieff's notion that we have many selves that may only achieve integration through continuous self-observation and mindfulness. As we move from explanations to subjective experience, we also encounter myriad variations. Even the Western commonsensical view of a discrete, single identity allows for "clinical" cases in which a single identity may nonetheless have an unaccountable lack of control over speech or the body. More theoretically challenging experiences include the "regular" identity sharing consciousness with another identity or entity, or the alternation of distinct identities within a single body (which, if causing dysfunction, would qualify as dissociative identity disorder, erstwhile known as "multiple personality"). This paper categorizes and discusses various anomalous experiences of self, identity, and personality, emphasizing the similarities and differences among dissociative identity disorder, spirit possession, and mediumship. This presentation will focus on the phenomenology (i.e., "lived" experience) of these phenomena, including purported experiences of psi, as compared with the potential paranormal veridicality of the information obtained during these anomalous experiences.