>>14149874I tend to think of the mind as layers. Part of this is due to my own experience with fucking around with my own brain and ego, researching schizophrenia and DID and developing tulpas of my own. So this makes perfect sense.
On the lowest level is autonomic functions, and maybe you've heard about yogis or monks who can control their heartbeat, or body temperature in freezing weather. It's possible; I've done it. Though my method was direct communication with my autonomic nervous system; call it a UI for my thalamus and spinal reflexes. Using this, I can do things like contract normally involuntary muscle groups, alter body temperature, shut off senses (don't want to smell shit? don't have to), and especially usefully: increase immune response consciously.
A second layer is trained abilities and instincts. This is interesting because it's conscious, but also embeds itself into the subconscious and will take over if the higher functions are lost. It's why soldiers, even if they're scared to death in battle, can still perform if they're well-trained.
The last layer is a higher processing and related to personality. Something interesting I've noticed is that if someone has DID or a tulpa with a different personality, the lower layers aren't affected. Like I can put another personality "in front" and in charge of this body, and it can still perform complex tasks even though that personality wasn't the one fronting when they were learned. Like driving, or typing, or my tasks at work. This indicates the conscious is just overlaid on top of everything else. Wherever in the brain those skills go, it's not "me" that's remembering it, but something deeper.
