F.: In regards to “the snake of personality” which is the third of three snakes being discussed, the Sufis identified nine personality types. Each specific type drives persons to behave distinctively, and each type leaves persons without any choice regarding how they “unconsciously” act…and react:
When the non-Realized are driven by their personality types, Type One’s will be perfectionists; Two’s, with their inordinate need to be seen as loving and valuable, will be driven to help others (often to the Two’s own detriment since Two’s gravitate toward needy or exploitative persons); Three’s will be driven to over-perform and over-achieve and to invent and cultivate a false image more than any other type; Four’s will be prone to emotional intoxication and Fives will suffer analysis-paralysis; Sixes will deteriorate to Threes and display the same negative traits as Three’s; Seven’s will ignore responsibilities as they seek adventure; Eight’s will alienate by trying to be the Boss to all; and Nines will be sluggish as a result of their extraordinary laziness. Though persons will spend their lives without even knowing what their dominant (and dominating) personality type is, they will nevertheless be driven by that personality type. And to be “driven”—just as when you’re being driven in a car—means that you are not in control of where you’re going or in charge of what you’re doing. Living under the influence of personality means you have no ability to choose anything. Thus, not only are personas to be discarded if one is to be in touch with reality but one’s personality type is also a “snake” whose influence you must be rid of. In order to discard the snake of personality, persons must first realize that it’s a snake and that it’s driving them through life, leaving them with no ability to make choices at all.
But this snake is of a multi-headed variety, and when you remove one head, another springs up in its place. For example, the ego-state of “The Lover” might dis-appear after a breakup, but immediately “The Victim” shows up. When “The Awful Sinner” is thought to have been abandoned, then “The Religious Extremist” takes its place. When “The Appalling Alcoholic” dis-appears, “The Spiritual Giant of A.A.” rears its even uglier head. Short of Full Realization, if one persona is forfeited, then one (or more) newly-conceived ego-states will be assumed as an identity. That which is called “ego” (the false “I”) can never be fed enough to feel satisfied and content.
A woman said, “The reason no husband can make us happy is that we each really need four husbands, not one. We need one to be a great lover, one to serve as a repairman, one to be the successful breadwinner, and one that can sit down and communicate with us.” It was asked of her, “WHO said that?” She answered, “I don’t know. I read it somewhere along the way.” The response was, “No, WHO said that? Which of your ego-states was talking?” Her reply: “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” The answer was, “So accept some clarification in identifying all the splits in your personality. I heard “The Great Lover” claim that she needs a great lover as a counterpart to sustain that role. I heard “The One with a Sense of Entitlement” claiming that she deserves to have a man provide a house and economic support for her. I heard the ego-state of “Her Royal Highness” saying that she deserves to have men come to her home—the home provided by the breadwinner—and to maintain it for her, to "serve" her you said. No one person can please you because there are too many you’s to try to please. There's no one You that you have become conscious of. That is, you’re driven by so many ego-states that you’ll never be satisfied because your unmet desires and your sense of need are generated by so many false personas. And guess what. The men you meet—if they’re as embroiled in their role-playing as you are—they’ll be the same way. They’ll need at least four women at any given time to try to be satisfied, and even that won’t do the job. Or, they’ll settle for one and be unconscious of the misery that their personas will generate. They’ll have a constant sensation of want, but their ‘minds’ will be plagued with the noise that is used to try to drown out the truth that is fighting to reach the surface of consciousness because they’ll not want to face the truth...the truth of their boredom, of their life-in-death existence, of their denial, of their longing, of their unhappiness, of their lacking a sense of fulfillment. Ego always wants more. The joy of de-accumulation begins when ego ends, when the shift ‘FROM THE I TO THE ABSOLUTE’ happens.
"Are you seeing why ego-states sabotage “relationships” and generate the misery and suffering that always accompany the dissatisfaction of never having all of the wishes, hopes and dreams of all of your ego-states met? So you WANT. You WANT a lover, a handyman, an economic provider and a sustainer. You WANT. You WANT to accumulate. You WANT more. That is always the case with personas: ego-states want and desire and are never fulfilled. How could they be fulfilled? They’re just mirages. Do you think a mirage in the desert can be happy or fulfilled or satisfied? Of course not, and neither can the ones that are being conceived by your 'mind' or assigned by your culture."
Finally, if you want an astronomical divorce rate or if you want “relationships” that are marked with conflict and disappointment, then create a society in which persons are preoccupied with the duality of a concept called “relationships” instead of understanding the unicity. Train persons to believe that “relationship” is not a dualistic concept but is something that is actually possible. Train them to believe that they are two instead of “not two.” Train them to adopt multiple personalities and to be at the mercy of their personality types and the adjacent types and the type they regress into when stressed or “holy.” (The historical record shows that one of the deadliest snakes on the planet is “The Holy Snake.") So if it's chaos that's desired, create a "world" of persons and then sit back and watch how the illusions of personas can actually generate misery and suffering in the relative existence by trapping persons in their multiple, false identities.
Is all of this “relative-existence stuff”? Of course. But the relative existence is what the corrupted consciousness “experiences,” so those who would be happy must first be free. To be free of body identification, mind identification, and personality is the prerequisite for moving through the remainder of the steps that lead to total freedom and toward some degree of happiness, relatively speaking.
If the three snakes discussed over the past few days are not abandoned, then persons cannot enter the next phase—playing their religious and spiritual roles (the third of seven steps along the “path”). And until persons play one or both of those roles for a time, they will not be in a position to transition those roles—those last snakes—and then continue on the “journey” to being in touch with reality/Reality completely. And if they are not in touch with reality, then they cannot be free of the influence of all the snakes dreamed up over the ages by persons who WANT to have power in order to provide the control they WANT. And persons who are not free cannot possibly be happy, their claims to the contrary notwithstanding. Please enter the silence of contemplation.
When the non-Realized are driven by their personality types, Type One’s will be perfectionists; Two’s, with their inordinate need to be seen as loving and valuable, will be driven to help others (often to the Two’s own detriment since Two’s gravitate toward needy or exploitative persons); Three’s will be driven to over-perform and over-achieve and to invent and cultivate a false image more than any other type; Four’s will be prone to emotional intoxication and Fives will suffer analysis-paralysis; Sixes will deteriorate to Threes and display the same negative traits as Three’s; Seven’s will ignore responsibilities as they seek adventure; Eight’s will alienate by trying to be the Boss to all; and Nines will be sluggish as a result of their extraordinary laziness. Though persons will spend their lives without even knowing what their dominant (and dominating) personality type is, they will nevertheless be driven by that personality type. And to be “driven”—just as when you’re being driven in a car—means that you are not in control of where you’re going or in charge of what you’re doing. Living under the influence of personality means you have no ability to choose anything. Thus, not only are personas to be discarded if one is to be in touch with reality but one’s personality type is also a “snake” whose influence you must be rid of. In order to discard the snake of personality, persons must first realize that it’s a snake and that it’s driving them through life, leaving them with no ability to make choices at all.
But this snake is of a multi-headed variety, and when you remove one head, another springs up in its place. For example, the ego-state of “The Lover” might dis-appear after a breakup, but immediately “The Victim” shows up. When “The Awful Sinner” is thought to have been abandoned, then “The Religious Extremist” takes its place. When “The Appalling Alcoholic” dis-appears, “The Spiritual Giant of A.A.” rears its even uglier head. Short of Full Realization, if one persona is forfeited, then one (or more) newly-conceived ego-states will be assumed as an identity. That which is called “ego” (the false “I”) can never be fed enough to feel satisfied and content.
A woman said, “The reason no husband can make us happy is that we each really need four husbands, not one. We need one to be a great lover, one to serve as a repairman, one to be the successful breadwinner, and one that can sit down and communicate with us.” It was asked of her, “WHO said that?” She answered, “I don’t know. I read it somewhere along the way.” The response was, “No, WHO said that? Which of your ego-states was talking?” Her reply: “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” The answer was, “So accept some clarification in identifying all the splits in your personality. I heard “The Great Lover” claim that she needs a great lover as a counterpart to sustain that role. I heard “The One with a Sense of Entitlement” claiming that she deserves to have a man provide a house and economic support for her. I heard the ego-state of “Her Royal Highness” saying that she deserves to have men come to her home—the home provided by the breadwinner—and to maintain it for her, to "serve" her you said. No one person can please you because there are too many you’s to try to please. There's no one You that you have become conscious of. That is, you’re driven by so many ego-states that you’ll never be satisfied because your unmet desires and your sense of need are generated by so many false personas. And guess what. The men you meet—if they’re as embroiled in their role-playing as you are—they’ll be the same way. They’ll need at least four women at any given time to try to be satisfied, and even that won’t do the job. Or, they’ll settle for one and be unconscious of the misery that their personas will generate. They’ll have a constant sensation of want, but their ‘minds’ will be plagued with the noise that is used to try to drown out the truth that is fighting to reach the surface of consciousness because they’ll not want to face the truth...the truth of their boredom, of their life-in-death existence, of their denial, of their longing, of their unhappiness, of their lacking a sense of fulfillment. Ego always wants more. The joy of de-accumulation begins when ego ends, when the shift ‘FROM THE I TO THE ABSOLUTE’ happens.
"Are you seeing why ego-states sabotage “relationships” and generate the misery and suffering that always accompany the dissatisfaction of never having all of the wishes, hopes and dreams of all of your ego-states met? So you WANT. You WANT a lover, a handyman, an economic provider and a sustainer. You WANT. You WANT to accumulate. You WANT more. That is always the case with personas: ego-states want and desire and are never fulfilled. How could they be fulfilled? They’re just mirages. Do you think a mirage in the desert can be happy or fulfilled or satisfied? Of course not, and neither can the ones that are being conceived by your 'mind' or assigned by your culture."
Finally, if you want an astronomical divorce rate or if you want “relationships” that are marked with conflict and disappointment, then create a society in which persons are preoccupied with the duality of a concept called “relationships” instead of understanding the unicity. Train persons to believe that “relationship” is not a dualistic concept but is something that is actually possible. Train them to believe that they are two instead of “not two.” Train them to adopt multiple personalities and to be at the mercy of their personality types and the adjacent types and the type they regress into when stressed or “holy.” (The historical record shows that one of the deadliest snakes on the planet is “The Holy Snake.") So if it's chaos that's desired, create a "world" of persons and then sit back and watch how the illusions of personas can actually generate misery and suffering in the relative existence by trapping persons in their multiple, false identities.
Is all of this “relative-existence stuff”? Of course. But the relative existence is what the corrupted consciousness “experiences,” so those who would be happy must first be free. To be free of body identification, mind identification, and personality is the prerequisite for moving through the remainder of the steps that lead to total freedom and toward some degree of happiness, relatively speaking.
If the three snakes discussed over the past few days are not abandoned, then persons cannot enter the next phase—playing their religious and spiritual roles (the third of seven steps along the “path”). And until persons play one or both of those roles for a time, they will not be in a position to transition those roles—those last snakes—and then continue on the “journey” to being in touch with reality/Reality completely. And if they are not in touch with reality, then they cannot be free of the influence of all the snakes dreamed up over the ages by persons who WANT to have power in order to provide the control they WANT. And persons who are not free cannot possibly be happy, their claims to the contrary notwithstanding. Please enter the silence of contemplation.
