TODAY’S CONSIDERATIONS
If one has a sickness with symptoms which are common to both a cold and the flu, the doctor will have to ask questions and enter into an inventory to determine the exact sickness which is causing a patient to suffer. If one has a cold but is treated for the flu, the results will be nil.
If one has the flu which has deteriorated into a respiratory infection and is given medicine to try to ease the symptoms of a cold virus, the results will be nil.
The same applies to one suffering from the Ultimate Sickness. Some try to treat it with dogma. Maharaj used that approach for a time. Some try to treat it with spiritual exercises. Maharaj tried that for a time. And a few, as happened with Maharaj, witness the results and see that neither dogma nor spirituality address the Ultimate Sickness because it is a psychological, mind sickness.
Once a proper diagnosis is reached and the wise one understands that a person is suffering from the Ultimate Sickness - a mind sickness - then a treatment plan can be offered to address the mind issues.
The sages for ages has discussed the fact that personality identification is a contributing factor to the Ultimate Sickness.
As is the case with "the cold vs. the flu vs. the flu accompanied by an infection conundrum," once the sickness has been properly understood, then the proper treatment can be offered, and (as the sages have long known), the personality identification part must be understood and then addressed.
Personality types and styles subconsciously determine thoughts and words and actions. (Talk about the masses being totally "powerless"!) That is, the false roles which are assumed and have their own agendas and their basic fear and their basic desire drive persons to think a certain way, to talk a certain way, to feel (or emote) a certain way, and to behave a certain way; moreover, there is no choosing thoughts and words and actions when personas are in control.
Thus, this series, explaining the nine basic personality types which everyone has to one degree or another and then explaining what the effects are of the types which are manifesting to a high degree.
So far, while discussing the relative effects of the nine basic personality styles or types, the focus has been on the Personality Type One Perfectionist and the Type Two Rescuer / Helper / Love Seeker and the Type Three Performer / Applause Seeker / Image Maker / Image Maintainer.
To continue, the focus today will be on the consequences of being highly influenced by the agenda of the Personality Type Four. From the book LIBERATION (Attaining Freedom from Personality via Realization):
The Relative Effects of Personality: Fears, Desires and Interrupted Happiness (continued)
The following pointer was offered in response to a question regarding personality-driven fears and desires: “. . . Fear and desire are the sources of anger, and anger is the source of all hostility. Hostility becomes the source of all harm,” relatively speaking, of course.
To be free of the anxiety of fears as well as the frustration of unmet desires, one must be free of identification with personality. Next, the basic fear and the basic desire of Personality Type Four—“The Romantic / Individualist”—will be discussed.
Russ Hudson pointed out the following about Personality Type Fours:
BASIC FEAR AND BASIC DESIRE
The Type Four’s BASIC FEAR is the fear of having no identity
The Type Four’s BASIC DESIRE is to find authenticity
THE IMPACT OF THAT PERSONALITY TYPE ON THE RELATIVE EXISTENCE
In their need to understand themselves, Fours developed a related desire to be understood by others. Since most “others” do not understand themselves, how could they ever understand the Fours? They won’t, so the Four's frustrated desire to find “Self” and to be understood leaves him / her feeling depressed...yet stubborn about continuing to try to have those desires met.
The result is that, eventually, Fours tend to withdraw and to isolate and to become depressed as they remain misunderstood and as they fail to find the answer to "Who Am I, Really?” or "Who / What Am I not?"
WHY PERSONALITY TYPE FOUR INTERRUPTS HAPPINESS
Because of their frustrations, Fours can eventually suffer dark moods, a variety of perceived hurts, the angst of unmet expectations, a constant fear of abandonment as a result of not being understood, and an uncomfortable sensation of longing as a result of knowing that “something is missing” but not having a clue what that is.
In Advaita terms, the desire of the pre-realization Type Four could be described as an inner yearning to find authenticity (or to find out what THAT is which is actually beyond any “self-ness” or "Self-ness.”) Yet all yearning, wanting, and desiring interrupt any opportunity for consistent happiness to happen in the relative existence.
Next, by focusing on their “quest,” Fours generate relative-existence problems as a result of their self-absorption. They obsess on finding the answer to “Who am I?” which often prevents their asking, “Also, what about you?” Fours, since they disintegrate to the Type Two personality if stressed or pious, can behave as a Two and become jealous, self-righteous, and critical or can feel hurt as a result of feeling “rejected.”
Their pre-realization state leaves them frustrated as they know that they cannot answer accurately the question “Who Am I, Really?” That leaves them searching but not finding, and that—in turn—leaves them dark, moody, empty, resentful, and longing. Depression and withdrawal and isolation often follow.
FREEDOM FROM PERSONALITY TYPE FOUR EFFECTS VIA REALIZATION
Some claim that Fours have an advantage in moving along the “path” to realization because of their innate drive to search for identity and to uncover what “self” is not and what “Self” is. If they succeed in their quest and attain "Full Realization," they can live out an AS IF existence with greater ease than most . . . the silence, the solitude, and the lack of need being quite comfortable for Fours, relatively speaking.
Post-realization, the earlier drive to find themselves ends, so the basic, unmet desire ends and the basic, illusory fear disappears as they understand their “true identity,” namely, THAT. For the remainder of the manifestation, then, the AS IF existence of realized Fours is no longer driven by personality but functions naturally under the auspices of the intuitive sense.
The inner resource and the natural drives move "realized Fours" through the remainder of their manifestation, as happens with all types . . . post-realization. Learned ignorance and supernatural thinking disappear and natural living begins.
Always having been interested in their feelings—but too often driven by their emotions when not realized—the realized Fours can witness their feelings as they rise and fall but can be free of the emotional intoxication that identification with body and mind and personality had generated in their pre-realization days.
As opposed to the isolation that was previously experienced—along with its misery and self-absorption—both the sense of feeling separated and the sensation of experiencing the aloneness end as the all-oneness is understood after realization.
Though seclusion no longer happens unconsciously, solitude does happen, consciously.
Then, the silence of private periods of tranquility can be enjoyed with peace as opposed to earlier times of withdrawal that were marked with anxiety or depression. The same outcome awaits all who would be free of the influence of personality and who discard their personas, their false identities, their roles.
To be continued.
Please enter into the silence of contemplation.
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