Observations placeholder
North Whitehead, Alfred – On Personality and multiple personality
Identifier
025781
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
A description of the experience
PART II Discussions and Applications
Chapter III - The Order Of Nature
Section XI
In the case of single cells, of vegetation, and of the lower forms of animal life, we have no ground for conjecturing living personality. But in the case of the higher animals there is central direction, which suggests that in their case each animal body harbours a living person, or living persons. Our own self-consciousness is direct awareness of ourselves as such persons. There are limits to such unified control, which indicate dissociation of personality, multiple personalities in successive alternations, and even multiple personalities in joint possession. This last case belongs to the pathology of religion, and in primitive times has been interpreted as demoniac possession.