A Theory : Multiple personality disorder exists for the sake of reincanation.

I find great appeal in the whole concept of reincarnation; young souls, old souls, and having another go-around when you don’t quite get things right.

However, one element I’ve always found troubling is the sheer mathematics of it all. The total population on the plant right now is far greater then the population a few generations ago. Where are all the new souls coming from?

I propose that the development of multiple personalities is the generation of new souls within a single body. Consider the relative growth of recognition of Multiple Personality disorder. Those who suffer from it have been listed as having several, even dozens, of personalities. These individuals are generating starter-souls for soon-to-be-born bodies which will need souls to inhabit them.

In multiple personality disorder, the primary soul begins to divide while still in a host body. The body contains the primary soul, plus new souls that are being generated through the processing and amalgamation of cultural icons, individual influences, etc. When the personalities are relieved from the host, either through death or “recovery” from mental illness, they serve as a foundation for the first whole life of a soul.

These starter souls may not have the benefit of a complete life lived, but they have they have some worldly experience to form that first important layer of the onion-like structure of the soul.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not trying to say that these very young souls are in some way incomplete souls. Were you to develop a checklist of characteristics for a soul, they would possess all of the key qualifications, but in much smaller amounts.

They are “soul-lite”.

What does give rise for concern, however, is our society’s tendency to medicate those who struggle with multiple personalities. I worry that our efforts to cure those who are often quite reluctant to be treated may in fact result in hundred more individuals who struggle with the smaller parts of life because their starter-souls were interrupted in development.

These starter-souls may be medicated into oblivion, with unknowable results. The souls could become crippled, lacking the foundation necessary for starting a journey to enlightenment. They could lack dimension.

They could be destined to be reborn in California.

kat@adchick.com