“Structure of Being” Model of Personality & Identity

• The “structure of being” is an inner contruct created by a self/identity to house/shelter itself and allow it to grow and develop. The “structure of being” manifests itself in our physical world through one’s personality. Even though we can’t physically see the someone’s “structure of being,” it reveals itself through our interactions.

• We create structures of being (SOB) throughout our lives. As we age, we outgrow old structures and move on. We build new SOBs to accommodate our ever-developing self/identity. As we learn to both develop new SOBs and maintain them, many people decide to keep multiple SOBs, and in a sense, have “multiple personalities.” We do this because it’s easier to manage multiple SOBs than one giant “complex of being.” Instead of developing one massive personality to handle all aspects of our being/life, we portion them into something manageable. By creating and maintaining multiple SOBs, we technically develop multiple personalities, since our personalities are an expression of a SOB. This explains why someone can seem boring at work, but the life of a party. They’re still the same selfe/identity, they’re just occupying a different SOB, and therfore expressing a uniquely separate personality from what you’ve experienced.

• How does this visualization

1. The difference between simple SOBs and complex SOBs

2. What happens to old/unused SOBs

3. How are different aspects of self/identity visualized on an SOB (ex. Mental illness would be visualized as an unstable and negleted building).

4. The destruction of an SOB, whether intentionally or accidental, and how it affects not only the safety of one’s self/identity, but also one’s ability to express themself

5. If it’s possible for one self/identity to maintain and occuply multiple SOBs, is it possible for multiple unique selves/identities to occupy that same SOB? How would this shared SOB express itself in the world, and what would that imply about the unique individual selves sharing the same personality? If unique selves share an SOB, do they lose their individuality?

6. What people seem to think multiple personalities is, e.g. Unctrollable and eradict episodes of personality change and mental blackouts where you don’t remember what you’ve been doing, is not multiple personalities (i.e. Multiple SOBs) but rather multiple selves/identities that exist within one body

7. What does it look/feel like when someone invites you into their SOB? What does it look/feel like if someone forces their way in without your permission?