Quote:
Originally Posted by Ken G
They might say "I was possessed by the devil" to excuse their behavior, but if they really believe it, they must believe that their identity was interrupted by the possession. Perhaps a need, brought on by guilt or incredulousness, can exceed even the need to sense a continuous identity.
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It's an example of the sort of thing I mentioned to
Joe Durnavich earlier, the fact that many people have the experience of being a spectator in their own heads from time to time.
In that situation, the "I" is still there, forming a bridging continuity between "before" and "after", but (apparently) existing outside of the decision-making loop during the events under consideration.
More extreme is the situation I experienced, in which I "found myself" in a consciousness which I experienced as having no continuity with my original persona: I felt that I wasn't "I" any more, and it was the original "me" who was working my body.
And more extreme again is the situation experienced by others, in which their familiar "I" is just
gone: there is no reassuring presence in the body, just an automaton-like response to outside influences, which they observe in some way but seem powerless to modify.
Grant Hutchison