F.: Many questions received from visitors to this site over the last seventeen months originated from that which is as far removed from Full Realization as possible: body, mind, and/or personality identification. Questions or comments about “fear of death,” about “the well-being of the body,” about "religious and spiritual concepts and beliefs," and about their desires for “the eternal continuity of the body and mind” have revealed just how absorbed persons are in their false identities. The “self” is always about body-mind-personality, and the body-mind-personality is always about self…self-absorption, self-centeredness, and self-concern.
One therapist who uses the Enneagram method to teach her clients their personality types has been asked by some why they need that awareness. She explains, “Because if you do not abandon the belief that your personality has anything to do with Who You Truly Are—and 95% never will—then it will be the force that will blindly drive you through life, that will determine what you do and how you feel, and that will cause that misery which brought you to this office to continue.”
In fact, it is the phenomenon of personality that sustains the belief in duality and prevents the Realization of the truth of non-duality. All “personal assets and liabilities,” and all notions about the “good qualities and bad qualities of people,” are actually dealing with nothing more than personality traits which are always dualistic by definition. Thus, the Advaita teachings always include certain pointers about personality (along with an invitation to abandon all belief in personality—and personas—while abandoning body and mind identification as well).
While in Europe recently, much discussion was overheard as people talked about the content of a report released from the United Kingdom that studied “the reasons that women over 40 have sleepless nights.” In the order of importance, the results showed their lack of sleep resulted from the following fears:
1. Children's future - 55 %
2. Health risks - 45%
3. Financial difficulties - 43 %
4. Breast cancer - 36 %
5. Rising crime - 27 %
6. Immigration - 19 %
7. Threat of terrorism - 12 %
8. Menopause - 12 %
9. Losing their partner - 11%
So what do each of those really deal with?
1. Fears about "Children's future" deal with BODY AND MIND AND PERSONALITY IDENTIFICATION: (Reproduction is a BODY function. “The Mother,” which automatically becomes “The Super Mother” once the role is assumed as an identity, cannot exist without children, so MIND and PERSONAS are also involved.)
2. Fears about "Health risks" deal with BODY IDENTIFICATION
3. Fears about "Financial difficulties" deal with PERSONALITY IDENTIFICATION AND MIND IDENTIFICATION
4. Fears about "Breast cancer" deal with BODY IDENTIFICATION
5. Fears about "Rising crime" deal with BODY IDENTIFICATION
6. Fears about "Immigration" deal with BODY AND MIND IDENTIFICATION
7. Fears about the "Threat of terrorism" deal with BODY IDENTIFICATION
8. Concerns about "Menopause" deal with BODY AND MIND IDENTIFICATION
9. Fears about "Losing their partner" deal with PERSONALITY AND MIND IDENTIFICATION
So much for “True Love,” partners. (You can visit the October 2005 archives for more on what "True Love Is Not.") The women surveyed admitted that they are five times more concerned about losing their children than about losing their partners, four times more concerned about losing money than about losing their partners, and three times more concerned about problems with their breasts than about losing their partners. And if men answered honestly the same types of questions in an anonymous survey, the priorities of men would be just as focused on body-mind-personality “issues” and therefore just as “self”-centered as the women interviewed in the study cited above.
Belief in one’s personality/personas results in not knowing Who/What You Truly Are. That, in turn, results in the dualities revealed above…and all duality then results in delusional fears and unmet desires. And of course all fears and desires result in dis-ease. While Realization cannot guarantee that the Realized (living out an AS IF existence) will never witness any relative existence happenings that will provide opportunities to observe feelings as they rise and fall, the absence of Realization will guarantee that persons will be absorbed in the types of emotionally-intoxicating issues that are causing the women surveyed to lose sleep and to have their relative existence dominated by preoccupation with fears and desires. The same applies to men. Worry and fear and desire are merely the toll to be paid when body-mind-personality identification exists.
During that same recent trip to Europe, a travel partner had scheduled a visit with Russ Hudson (of the Riso-Hudson Enneagram Institute http://www.enneagraminstitute.com/). That provided an opportunity to discuss with Russ the role that the nine personality types play in fostering fears and desires in personas (and thereby preventing true happiness from happening among those driven by their various personality types).
Yes, personality typing amounts to nothing more than another set of concepts, but since Advaitans employ thorns to remove thorns—concepts used to eventually remove all concepts—use of the Enneagram methodology can stimulate the Realization process among protégés. Too, it was observed during certain satsanga sessions in the past that the pointers offered to one personality type about her/his basic desires and basic fears were ignored as irrelevant by those present whose personalities were among the other eight types and who had different fears and desires that were driving them. Thus, a new series begins today in which the basic fears and the basic desires of each of the nine personality types will be discussed.
By the end of this series, each site visitor should have discovered the single most basic fear and the single most basic desire that is driving him or her, that is interfering with realization and happiness, and that is supporting the attachment to personality identification. To identify the source of the dis-ease is the first step to eliminating that source and the dis-ease.
By comparison, the colon cancer that had manifested in this space was not addressed and removed until its presence and nature were diagnosed and understood. Freedom from cancer followed understanding the exact nature of the problem…it did not precede that understanding. So it is with personality and the fears and desires that personality identification generate: freedom from the relative effects of fears and desires cannot happen until persons are aware of the illusions surrounding their personality type, are aware of the effects, and are freed of the false beliefs about personality that will otherwise drive all of their relative existence behaviors and “feelings.” Please enter the silence of contemplation.
TOMORROW: The most basic fear and the most basic desire of “Personality Type Ones—The Perfectionists”
One therapist who uses the Enneagram method to teach her clients their personality types has been asked by some why they need that awareness. She explains, “Because if you do not abandon the belief that your personality has anything to do with Who You Truly Are—and 95% never will—then it will be the force that will blindly drive you through life, that will determine what you do and how you feel, and that will cause that misery which brought you to this office to continue.”
In fact, it is the phenomenon of personality that sustains the belief in duality and prevents the Realization of the truth of non-duality. All “personal assets and liabilities,” and all notions about the “good qualities and bad qualities of people,” are actually dealing with nothing more than personality traits which are always dualistic by definition. Thus, the Advaita teachings always include certain pointers about personality (along with an invitation to abandon all belief in personality—and personas—while abandoning body and mind identification as well).
While in Europe recently, much discussion was overheard as people talked about the content of a report released from the United Kingdom that studied “the reasons that women over 40 have sleepless nights.” In the order of importance, the results showed their lack of sleep resulted from the following fears:
1. Children's future - 55 %
2. Health risks - 45%
3. Financial difficulties - 43 %
4. Breast cancer - 36 %
5. Rising crime - 27 %
6. Immigration - 19 %
7. Threat of terrorism - 12 %
8. Menopause - 12 %
9. Losing their partner - 11%
So what do each of those really deal with?
1. Fears about "Children's future" deal with BODY AND MIND AND PERSONALITY IDENTIFICATION: (Reproduction is a BODY function. “The Mother,” which automatically becomes “The Super Mother” once the role is assumed as an identity, cannot exist without children, so MIND and PERSONAS are also involved.)
2. Fears about "Health risks" deal with BODY IDENTIFICATION
3. Fears about "Financial difficulties" deal with PERSONALITY IDENTIFICATION AND MIND IDENTIFICATION
4. Fears about "Breast cancer" deal with BODY IDENTIFICATION
5. Fears about "Rising crime" deal with BODY IDENTIFICATION
6. Fears about "Immigration" deal with BODY AND MIND IDENTIFICATION
7. Fears about the "Threat of terrorism" deal with BODY IDENTIFICATION
8. Concerns about "Menopause" deal with BODY AND MIND IDENTIFICATION
9. Fears about "Losing their partner" deal with PERSONALITY AND MIND IDENTIFICATION
So much for “True Love,” partners. (You can visit the October 2005 archives for more on what "True Love Is Not.") The women surveyed admitted that they are five times more concerned about losing their children than about losing their partners, four times more concerned about losing money than about losing their partners, and three times more concerned about problems with their breasts than about losing their partners. And if men answered honestly the same types of questions in an anonymous survey, the priorities of men would be just as focused on body-mind-personality “issues” and therefore just as “self”-centered as the women interviewed in the study cited above.
Belief in one’s personality/personas results in not knowing Who/What You Truly Are. That, in turn, results in the dualities revealed above…and all duality then results in delusional fears and unmet desires. And of course all fears and desires result in dis-ease. While Realization cannot guarantee that the Realized (living out an AS IF existence) will never witness any relative existence happenings that will provide opportunities to observe feelings as they rise and fall, the absence of Realization will guarantee that persons will be absorbed in the types of emotionally-intoxicating issues that are causing the women surveyed to lose sleep and to have their relative existence dominated by preoccupation with fears and desires. The same applies to men. Worry and fear and desire are merely the toll to be paid when body-mind-personality identification exists.
During that same recent trip to Europe, a travel partner had scheduled a visit with Russ Hudson (of the Riso-Hudson Enneagram Institute http://www.enneagraminstitute.com/). That provided an opportunity to discuss with Russ the role that the nine personality types play in fostering fears and desires in personas (and thereby preventing true happiness from happening among those driven by their various personality types).
Yes, personality typing amounts to nothing more than another set of concepts, but since Advaitans employ thorns to remove thorns—concepts used to eventually remove all concepts—use of the Enneagram methodology can stimulate the Realization process among protégés. Too, it was observed during certain satsanga sessions in the past that the pointers offered to one personality type about her/his basic desires and basic fears were ignored as irrelevant by those present whose personalities were among the other eight types and who had different fears and desires that were driving them. Thus, a new series begins today in which the basic fears and the basic desires of each of the nine personality types will be discussed.
By the end of this series, each site visitor should have discovered the single most basic fear and the single most basic desire that is driving him or her, that is interfering with realization and happiness, and that is supporting the attachment to personality identification. To identify the source of the dis-ease is the first step to eliminating that source and the dis-ease.
By comparison, the colon cancer that had manifested in this space was not addressed and removed until its presence and nature were diagnosed and understood. Freedom from cancer followed understanding the exact nature of the problem…it did not precede that understanding. So it is with personality and the fears and desires that personality identification generate: freedom from the relative effects of fears and desires cannot happen until persons are aware of the illusions surrounding their personality type, are aware of the effects, and are freed of the false beliefs about personality that will otherwise drive all of their relative existence behaviors and “feelings.” Please enter the silence of contemplation.
TOMORROW: The most basic fear and the most basic desire of “Personality Type Ones—The Perfectionists”
