Planes of Consciousness Theory

Continuing on the subject of how my mind functions, when I was 19 years old (2003), despite not having the words to understand my mind or how it interacted with other people, I came up with a theory I called the Plains[sic] of Consciousness Theory. On reading it now that I know I'm Autistic, I think I was trying to explain, in the only way I knew how, the Autism Spectrum and my interactions with neurotypical people and other neurodivergent people.

Working on the premise that everyone can disconnect their mind from their body (dissociation), I firmly believed that people's minds dwelled in a plane of consciousness where minds could meet. Those most similar to your mind lived on the plane nearest your own.

Working from this theory, I postulated that people with similar minds that worked differently would sit on planes close to yours and that you could cross the borders between them. Those with edges touching your plane were people that you were the most likely to understand and get along with.

Working on a circular theory, I also felt that those across from you on this spectrum, being opposites, would more likely be interesting to you, and you would get along with them, but that the planes nearest your polar opposite would not get along with you. In 2003, opposites attracted was something I always heard in TV shows and books, so my theory was based on this as fact.

I postulated that those who dwelled in the same plan of consciousness as your own that were most similar to you would be at odds with you (in the vein that you would see the flaws of yourself within that person, and it would be painful to you). However, you would get along with the ones at the opposite end of your plane well.

I think the best part of this theory is how I posited these different planes of consciousness interacted with one another in the plane of reality.

In the vein that we can separate our minds from our physical bodies, I believed that our bodies were the vessels in which these minds would meet in the plane of reality. I believed that some people were not aware of this separation of self from the body (neurotypicals) and could not choose to dwell in their plane of consciousness (disassociate) but only in the plane of reality. Others knew of these planes of consciousness but chose not to visit them (masking neurodivergents).

At the time, I assumed that everyone's mind worked like mine, and so they were all unhappy with the plane of reality. I truly felt sorry for the neurotypical people that didn't understand there were different planes of existence to dwell on and were stuck in this horrible world.

Knowing I am Autistic and my brain structure is entirely different than neurotypicals, it still comes as a constant shock that people are happy with this noisy, chaotic, nonsense world in which we live.

My creativity comes from my dissociated state; I can't imagine surviving in a world cut off from that. Although the neurotypical world feels that the way my mind functions is disordered, I have so many beautiful strengths that stem from my mind that neurotypicals don't have: rich imagination, appreciation of small details, fascination with the way sound/music interacts to open my mind to a different space, an ability to push past pain, and the freedom to examine the world from many angles.

As someone who suffers from constant chronic pain, it's one of the greatest gifts I was given that I can escape reality and move freely inside the world of my mind. I'm not sure how I would have survived to this point in my life without dissociation.