Today's Considerations
Yesterday, reference was made to the real meaning of the term “liberation”
as far as the non-dual message is concerned. From the book entitled LIBERATION
in CHAPTER ONE (“Being Trapped in Personality vs. Being
Realized and Free”) the following is shared:
Personality assumption is (1) that which generates the false
belief that personas are real; and (2) that which allows things to be taken
personally.
A "persona" is an assumed social role or a character played by
an actor, the term having been derived from the Latin word for “mask” or
“character.” Personas are all of the false identities which persons think define
“who they are.” In fact, they define everything that one is not.
“Taking anything personally” can only happen when a person
assumes a false identity and when that totally false identity then takes offense at the words or actions of
another. When do personas most take offense? When an assumed identity assumes that
it is being hurt, interfered with, or threatened. What conclusion can be drawn
from knowing that?
All instances of feeling hurt, interfered with, threatened,
fearful, desirous, or miserable originate from assuming false
identities and then wanting to defend or protect those false identities; therefore,
to be free of feeling hurt, interfered with, threatened, fearful, desirous,
miserable, or defensive requires being free of the belief that personas are real and being
totally free of entrapment in personalities and their hidden agendas.
Thousands of personas are assumed by persons: husband,
lover, homeowner, employee, employer, wife, son, ad infinitum; however, as a
result of genetics and environment and other factors, all persons develop one
dominate persona while assuming scores of others. Often, that dominant persona
is overlaid onto (or combined with) all other assumed roles.
Only nine basic personality types exist, and since persons
become most driven by their primary type and most separated from reality by that type and
most absorbed in “self” via that type, then the “journey” to liberation can
begin with an effort to be rid of the influence of the dominate personality
type. Then the secondary types and personas might be abandoned more easily until, in the end, all are forfeited and discarded.
Why Understand Personality Types?
All personality types have hidden agendas.
Subconsciously, they determine every thought and every word and every action taken
by those who assume false personality identifications. Nothing has a
greater influence over every person’s life. Nothing will lead to more chaos and
instability because personality identifications are a key part of the content
of the mind which is the ultimate source of humankind’s problems. Yet only a small
percentage will ever be aware of those facts, and fewer still will ever take
the steps necessary to be liberated from the dominance of personality.
Dictating Behavior
Of course each individual is “unique,” but unless people
understand the way that personality type dictates behavior, then they will
never fully understand why they do the things they do and why they feel the way
they feel. Nor can they understand why others do the things they do and why
they feel the way they feel—which can be quite different from person to
person—depending on personality type. Nor can they ever break free of
unconscious influences.
Personality Formation
Early in life, personality begins to form and is used as one
of the many subconscious coping strategy tools as children try to navigate
through a confusing and disturbing environment in which learned ignorance and
insanity - of one degree or another - are passed along to another generation in a
long chain of such “passings along.” Often, by the age of six, a child’s primary
type (which will drive that person through her or his entire relative existence)
is formed, and the other nine types will begin to show up in varying degrees as
well. The goal of developing personalities and of using false identities and of playing roles is to try to feel safe and to cope with unhealthy family
situations and circumstances (and soon-to-be-imposed unhealthy cultural situations and
circumstances) by developing personality-based strategies.
(Consider: All children with normal brain function figure out that they need to "fake it," to act in a way that parents want them to act in order to avoid punishment and / or to get rewards. Early on children learn that being phony and covering up the way they "really are" is the best way to avoid punishment or get a reward. What in most cases will be a life-long, often subconscious, tendency towards phoniness and deceit and deception and fakery and lying is set early on, and few will ever break free of that pattern. Instead, most will expand that tendency and will not just deceive their parents and other authorities but will eventually practice self-deceit and self-deception and lying to themselves. And none of that is chosen consciously by the child or by that child when it reaches an adult age. It was all taught and learned by way of ignorant and insane programming and conditioning and domestication and acculturation. Unconscious and sleepwalking and sleep-talking and ignorant and crazy parents teach their children to do crazy things and then shout: "Why did you do such a crazy thing?!")
Personality’s Power over Behavior and Feelings
People of the same primary personality type have the same basic motivations, the
same basic liabilities and assets, and the same basic view of the world in some
fundamentally similar ways. It’s almost “textbook” the way that persons so consistently and unknowingly and subconsciously demonstrate
the exact traits of their primary type. It is amazing to see how infrequently people
choose to do the things they do and how often they are subconsciously predisposed to certain
behavioral patterns. (When you add programming, conditioning, acculturation,
etc. along with the effects of trauma to the mix, “free will” and “choice” become reduced
to the level of theory.)
The Benefits of Knowing and Understanding Your Type
This understanding can provide release, if not comfort, in
knowing that millions of people who share your personality type try to use the same
coping strategy as you and have done exactly what you did when faced with the
same circumstances. But by understanding personality, millions have also been
able to say, “Oh my gosh! So that’s why I do what I do!” and then they have
a chance to become free of the overwhelming influence of personality which has
unconsciously driven them. At some level, “That’s totally insane” can give way
to “That’s perfectly understandable, all things considered.” Blame and guilt
and anger directed at self can end and a shift toward sanity can begin.
In CHAPTER FOURTEEN of LIBERATION (entitled“The Relative Effects of
Personality: How Personality Always [A] Generates Fear and Desire and [B]
Prevents Sustained Happiness”) the following is offered:
All persons (being mentally and emotionally unhealthy as a
result of non-Realization) can exhibit traits of any or all of the nine
personality types. To understand the effects of personality identification can makes clear why persons suffer from the Multiple Personality Disorder and why their relative existence is marked by instability,
chaos, and an inability to sustain any degree of true happiness.
It has been shown that identification with the
body-mind-personality triad (leaving most persons forever trapped
in their dualistic beliefs as a result of personality assignment or assumption and as a result of programming,
conditioning, etc.) will result in persons / personas experiencing the fear of being “corrupt” or “evil” or
“defective”; the fear of not being loved; the fear of being worthless; the fear
of having no identity; the fear of being overwhelmed by “reality”;
the fear associated with the dependence of seeking external
support and guidance from others; the fear of being trapped; the fear of being
deprived or in pain; the fear of being harmed or violated or controlled by
others; the fear of loss and a constant sense of separation; and the fear that
their perceived needs will not being met. All of those will be experienced by
"the non-Realized" who are trapped in their identification with personality.
Too, all persons trapped in personality identification will
be frustrated by their unfulfilled desires . . . desires rooted in their wanting to
be free of their fears. Trapped as they are in their false identity and
duality - and driven by their fears, as all personas are - then all persons at one time
or another can have the desire to be seen as being “good”; can have a desire to
be “loved”; can have a desire to prove how valuable they are; can desire to
understand Who / What They Truly Are; can desire to prove that they are
competent and knowledgeable;
can desire external support and can thereby become dependent
on others for guidance and sustenance; can desire a level of freedom that they
will never find without Realization; can desire to gain control of others; and
will desire freedom from the sense of emptiness and misery that results from
(1) desiring continuity of the physical body, (2) desiring “peace of mind” when
the “mind” is actually the source of their lack of peace, and (3) desiring that
their personality and assumed roles can last eternally.
The reasoning behind the non-dual suggestion that personality
identification should be abandoned should now be obvious. The Original
Understanding preempted the assumption of personas, roles, labels, concepts,
dogma, and – yes - even any rationale for offering teachings. The influence of
personality in regards to the manifesting of perceived fears, unmet desires,
and forestalled happiness should be clear.
To be continued.
Please enter the silence of contemplation.
[NOTE:
The four most recent posts follow. You may access all of the posts in
this series and in the previous series and several thousand other posts
as well by clicking on the links in the "Recent Posts and Archives" section.]
