Your Symphony of Selves

“The information in this book was a wonderful confirmation of what I had felt and known for many years. Therefore, I heartily and happily recommend it to all and everyone. Deep within your psyche are treasures undreamed of.”

Auteur
James Fadiman, Ph.D., with degrees from Harvard and Stanford, was the president of two companies, taught at four universities, is an international seminar leader, and has written textbooks, trade books, and novels. Consulting clients have included IBM, Hewlett-Packard, a Federal Reserve bank, and Foster's Freeze. He is one of the foremost researchers in microdosing studies and is a co-founder of Sophia University. He has been researching healthy multiplicity for over 20 years and lives with his filmmaker wife In Menlo Park, California. Jordan Gruber, J.D., writer, collaborative writer, ghost writer, and editor, has forged and sculpted authoritative volumes in forensic law, financial services, and self-development. A graduate of Binghamton University and the University of Virginia School of Law, he founded the Enlightenment.com website and is now a leading advocate of rebound exercise through the SuperBound Project. He lives in Menlo Park, California, with his wife and family.

Texte du rabat

"Why you are a different you at different times and how that's both normal and healthy. Reveals that each of us is made up of multiple selves, any of which can come to the forefront in different situations. Offers examples of healthy multiple selves from psychology, neuroscience, pop culture, literature, and ancient cultures and traditions. Explores how to harmonize our selves and learn to access whichever one is best for a given situation"--

Résumé
Why you are a different you at different times and how that’s both normal and healthy

• Reveals that each of us is made up of multiple selves, any of which can come to the forefront in different situations

• Offers examples of healthy multiple selves from psychology, neuroscience, pop culture, literature, and ancient cultures and traditions

• Explores how to harmonize our selves and learn to access whichever one is best for a given situation

Offering groundbreaking insight into the dynamic nature of personality, James Fadiman and Jordan Gruber show that each of us is comprised of distinct, autonomous, and inherently valuable “selves.” They also show that honoring each of these selves is a key to improved ways of living, loving, and working.

Explaining that it is normal to have multiple selves, the authors offer insights into why we all are inconsistent at times, allowing us to become more accepting of the different parts of who we and other people are. They explore, through extensive reviews, how the concept of healthy multiple selves has been supported in science, popular culture, spirituality, philosophy, art, literature, and ancient traditions and cite well-known people, including David Bowie and Beyoncé, who describe accessing another self at a pivotal point in their lives to resolve a pressing challenge.

Instead of seeing the existence of many selves as a flaw or pathology, the authors reveal that the healthiest people, mentally and emotionally, are those that have naturally learned to appreciate and work in harmony with their own symphony of selves. They identify “the Single Self Assumption” as the prime reason why the benefits of having multiple selves has been ignored. This assumption holds that we each are or ought to be a single consistent self, yet we all recognize, in reality, that we are different in different situations.

Offering a pragmatic approach, the authors show how you can prepare for situations by shifting to the appropriate self, rather than being “switched” or “triggered” into a sub-optimal part of who you are. They also show how recognizing your selves provides increased access to skills, talent, and creativity; enhanced energy; and improved healing and pain management. Appreciating your diverse selves will give you more empathy toward yourself and others. By harmonizing your symphony of selves, you can learn to be “in the right mind at the right time” more often.

Échantillon de lecture
**Chapter 1. What This Is About and What We Hope to Accomplish

All human beings, including those who are healthiest and most successful, are composed of more than one self. When things are going well, each plays its rightful role as part of a harmonious symphony. We really are different people--or have different minds, parts, or personalities--in different moments and in different contexts.

This is not a new observation; it goes back thousands of years. And it is not difficult to understand, at least not in its basic form. Instead, it is extremely useful and beneficial. By appreciating this about ourselves and others, many things in our lives begin to make more sense.

Please consider the following questions:

• Have you ever argued with yourself? Who were you arguing with? Who was the other voice, or other voices? If you have ever argued with yourself and changed sides, who did that? Have you ever been by yourself or with your old friends and done something truly wild and crazy--something you would never do around your parents, children, co-workers, or boss? Who was it that acted that way? Was that same part of you embarrassed later on?

• Have you ever gotten so inebriated that you said or did things that you would normally never do, or caused physical or psychological damage to yourself or someone else? Who did that? Who got the hangover? And who eventually felt the shame or regret?

• Have you ever been so stressed that you did something you told yourself you would never do? Once you did it--or perhaps even while you were doing it--did another part of you already know you were making a big mistake?

Acknowledging these different parts of ourselves is what this book is all about. To say, for example that people merely have different “moods” at different times misses our main thrust: the selves that comprise us are actual, real, independent, and innately valuable parts of who we are.

In addition to addressing questions like these, we will offer many examples from ordinary day-to-day life, some of which will likely remind you of similar experiences in your own life. We will also make frequent reference to popular culture: books, movies, music, and cartoons. Finally, we will discuss the thoughts of a wide range of thinkers, writers, scientists, and artists who have grappled with this issue throughout history.

The collected and synthesized information we are providing here might at first puzzle you or disturb your equilibrium, or even up-end your theory of yourself and others. But it will likely change how you view and understand yourself (your selves) and others (their selves).

As you read, we are hopeful you will do at least two things:

• Begin to let go of the ways you tend to characterize who you are as a single, unitary, monolithic self; and

• Begin to accept and appreciate your own selves and the selves of others. These things--relatively easy to do--often provide immediate benefits (as will be described).

Most of our ideas are easy to understand, and may feel very familiar to you. They seem to make sense to most people once, based on their own life experiences, they bring them to awareness. For many, the prospect of living a better life--consciously noticing and working with what we are describing--proves an enticing possibility.

How the Single Self Assumption Limits Optimal Human Functioning

The difficult part--the problem we all face--is that this way of looking at things is so rarely discussed that most people simply are not aware of it. A veil seems to exist tha…