Playing Singlet Is Bad For Your Health

Disclaimer: This entry does not encourage coming out as plural in the current climate.

Unfortunately, society is hardly favourable to plural systems conducting themselves as such, and most systems find themselves in situations in which they must pretend not to be plural to avoid the social repercussions of being visibly plural. In some jurisdictions, the penalties are worse.

I think that it is unnatural and unnecessarily stifling for several independent conscious entities to pretend to be one. It is reminiscent of autistics being forced to act ‘neurotypical’ for society’s benefit, when putting on such an act is tiring and difficult for them. It takes a significant amount of energy for anyone to pretend to be something that he is not, and for a large group of people to pretend to be one is incredibly exhausting. It is for us, most certainly.

I believe that pretending to be nonplural can actually be harmful, in several ways, to systems that are forced to do it.

Emotional and psychological difficulties

Interacting socially as a closet plural system
By their very nature, members of plural groups have their own styles of social interaction. Some people here are more gregarious; some others are reticent and distant. Some of us wear our hearts on our sleeves, like Hesperus; others hold their emotions in, like Noël and M.D. A nonplural social role, by its very definition, demands a certain level of consistency that groups of people cannot provide without compromising their natures to a great degree.

People will naturally have their own interests, as well. When we are openly ourselves, we can simply express our interests without worrying that we will contradict ourselves if we discuss our likes and dislikes, or if those interests fit into our ‘nonplural persona’. There are things that Kerry is interested in, but I really couldn’t care less about, and vice versa. There are things that nearly move me to tears, but leave people like Hesperus and Darwin cold.

Because of this, it may be difficult for plural groups to make meaningful friendships with those who are not aware of them. It would probably be easier for plural groups who have one or two regular frontrunners, but it’s harder for larger systems who have a large selection of frontrunners, like ours. We have found that it has been relatively difficult for us to make close friendships with people that we met offline with a nonplural identity because of our fear of social repercussions. We are simply too different from one another for us to present a ‘singlet’ role with much depth.

Therapy
In a therapeutic context, feigning a nonplural act does not aid the therapeutic process; rather, it hinders it by forcing the system in question to ‘consolidate’ their feelings and reactions as that of one person, rather than a collection of individuals who may have specific needs. Some individuals may struggle with depression, but others might not. Different people process the same emotional stimuli differently. For example, a traumatic incident may cause Hesperus to cry, Kerry to rage, and M.D. to brood. They may also interpret the cause of their hurt differently—some people tend to blame themselves for traumas, but others blame society or family.

Occupational and practical difficulties

Differing abilities
Large plural systems may have people with different abilities. Ours is one of them. Some of us can do things that others cannot; for instance, Kerry is adept at graphic design, whereas Hesperus and Sean are not. I internalize written material better than some other members of our system, and Sean and Kerry handle social situations with more aplomb than some of our more awkward system members. All these skills are not trivial, and were we to be openly plural, it would be less difficult for us to tell someone that ‘we cannot do this; Hesperus is not about.’ When we are hiding our plurality, it is difficult to explain sudden ‘losses’ and ‘gains’ in skills. Were one of us employed in a discipline that made use of one system-member’s skills, it would be exceedingly inconvenient to the employer to hear that we had suddenly ‘lost’ a skill!

Practical skills
Our ‘life skills’ vary from individual to individual. There is a baseline that we all meet, but some of us are better at certain tasks than others. Noel tends to have an easier time processing visual stimuli when cleaning, so he is a better choice to do such things than, say, Hesperus or Carmen. Some of us can cook better than others, as well, like Kerry. I, for my part, cannot cook at all.

Ideological, spiritual and philosophical difficulties

Large groups of people will not share the exact same ideologies or philosophies. Because we cannot be openly plural around most people we see every day, we keep our discussion of political, religious and philosophical issues at a minimum, besides issues that we have a broad consensus on, which makes us appear less profound, but it also minimizes the risk of our contradicting ourselves.

Most of us have widely varying views regarding religion, philosophy and politics. There are areas in which most of us agree, but disagreement is commonest when discussing subtler issues.