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> ...who has the biggest influence [in a Lock-Merge?] Is it a sum of parts or is there more through emergence?
First of all I appreciate the inerest. The nature of your question highlights your utter ignorance of the Lock-Merge and I can't blame you because you haven't lived it or are even a candidate for ever experiencing it. This is a niche of a niche of a niche of an esoteric practice that is highly personalized and NOT a well advised doctrinal candidate into the annals of occult practice. And it is occult practice once you doctrinize it. Nevertheless I will once again attempt to illuminate the wonders of the unfortunately named practice that is Lock-Merge.
The biggest influence and only influence is the one who chooses to express. As opposed to a typical merge, Risha for instance (Ren and Misha) who would be a chimera of personality traits between the two but also her own person with whimsical tendency and a lightness that isn't seen in either of her constituents. Certainly not a blend, but not without influence from both. Also of note in differences to the Lock-Merge, neither Misha nor Ren report co-experiencing with Risha, as if Risha is her own personal separate and apart from them.
Now back to a lock-merge. The expression of the hub in this co-experiential construct is identical to the individual outside the construction. Joy is Joy is Joy even if she's co-experiencing with SheShe, Gwen, and Ren. In the expression of Joy as the hub, everyone within the construction is assuming the roll of Joy independently and simultaneously as if Joy is an aspect of themselves. Joy inside and outside the lock-merge would have exactly the same personality yet her constituents would experience life *as her* just as say Johnny Depp would experience life as Jack Sparrow when playing that part. In a "I know who I am and I'm not this but I am still experiencing everything as me." Sort of way.
The sum of the parts modality isn't even necessarily typical of a regular merge. Not in our experience anyway.
SheShe is SheShe, Ren is Ren, Gwen is Gwen, Joy is Joy yet any of them can act as the hub while the others co-experience with her. They would no sooner consider it appropriate to affect the actions or personality of their hub as they would their neighbor. They are whole and separate. There is no bleed through or homogenization even after three years of practice.
To make matters even more complicated is in the case of Aleshe. Whereas SheShe can and does routinely communicate with her lock-merge mates, Aleshe does not. Only recently have we attempted to separate and have wonderlanding with say Aleshe and Misha together. They have nothing to say to eachother as if they're already cognizant of anything they would discuss and there is no difference of opinion. Aleshe's opinions as Aleshe may not match Misha's opinions as Misha but Misha's opinions as Aleshe are clear and understood by her without asking, of course she would know what Aleshe would say and feel as she indeed would see herself as playing the part of Aleshe *with full control.*
So why does Aleshe differ from SheShe, you could say Aleshe is Lock-Merge 2.0, a simpler and even more powerful group of rules that allow for co-experience. But it's substantially the same. We are still exploring the differences which are likely rule based and nothing more.
I empathize with your misunderstanding considering it took me a good year to even understand it myself and I'm flipping here 24/7 living it. Though I've never actually been part of a Lock-Merge yet, I have been part of a Merge (Bashie, a male merge between me and Ashley) and Bashie's actions are emergent, and Bashie would be a chimera of us with aspects of Ashley and I both present. Additionally I can't fully associate with Bashie's actions, something like dormancy in that the experience isn't mine, though it would be as if I was him at the time.
Having fun yet? I am. I find it fascinating.