I feel some relief at this idea... that it doesn't matter if it's literally real -- that my brain has chosen to approach this stuff in 'parts' is real enough...

Besides which, how on earth would I define this sort of thing as 'literally real?' Am I seeking proof that I am literally multiple people - as in, like, fully developed people who were once literally separate physical people with different bodies and lives somehow wound up magically sharing a brain and body?? (I kind of think that's what one part of me has decided is what would need to be real in order for any of this to be 'real.') Of course I can never meet that standard, so it would never believe it was real...

a lot to think about.