=kit032.txt

KIT 32 - Our Many Faceted Personalities

"When a glimpse of our image is caught in man, When heaven and
earth are sought in man, Then what is there in the world that is
not in man?  If only one explores him, there is a lot in man."
(HIK, Collected Sayings)

"The whole universe has contributed to the way humanity thinks
today. If the planet had no intelligence, it could not have
intelligent beings on it. The collective working of many minds as
one single idea, and the activity of the whole world in a certain
direction are governed by the intelligence of the planet."
PIR-O-MURSHID INAYAT KHAN

Perhaps the secret of fostering personal growth is in realizing
that our personalities are structured into multiple personae
illustrated in an oversimplified way by the Dr. Jekyll and Mr.
Hyde story. An apt example could be the potential pending
varieties of mutations within a seed, needing just the right
catalyst (in cell biology, an enzyme) to prime the desired mode
into actuation.

Secondly, one needs to bear in mind that we exist and function at
several levels which one might designate as the multiple dormant
tiers of our being, also awaiting the flash of our awareness to
spring into activity. It is our ignorance of these potential
dimensions of our being that lock us into our inadequate self
images in which we get straight-jacketed. The catalyst priming
these many splendored potentials is the act of intelligence rather
than that of consciousness. By that I mean self generated self
awareness, rather than the kind of experience based on observation
and the interpretation of the data observed. It is self discovery
instead of experience.

The reason why introspection is so deceptive is that we split
ourselves into two purely fictitious parts: the observer and the
observed. This split sets up an artificial boundary within our
wholeness which is just in the mind but does not exist in reality.
No wonder that if we so proceed, we can never discover our
potentialities nor identify with them and allow them to unfurl.
Instead, we remain hemmed into our assessment of the input from
our face in the mirror or our performance in life (successful or
unsuccessful), or our disenchantment in our personality, or our
inadequate self image, or our uneasiness about our ponderous
conscience, or our lack of sparkle. But is it not the role that we
are called upon to play in our lives that draws our attention to
certain idiosyncrasies rather than others and thus makes us
discover them in ourselves?

For example, being in a situation of service will bring out the
serviceable persona in us - being a father or mother, the
affectionate and responsible persona - being a business man, the
alert and well organized persona - having to fight even if for
justice, the aggressive persona - a lover, the caring, perhaps the
passionate persona in us - a musician or artist, the sensitive
inventive persona - a spiritual teacher or seeker, the ecstatic,
idyllic persona, etc. We have all of these personae in us. When
succumbing to temptation, circumstances will trigger off, almost
compulsively, the Dr. Jekyll latent in all of us; if inspired,
elevated, the Mr. Hyde.

In addition, the role one assumes as one meets or speaks to
different people may cause one to switch surprisingly from one of
those latent persona within oneself to another persona in sudden
leaps and bounds. The same person, so gentle with a child, may
behave aggressively whenever faced with his/her neighbor, then
prove convivial with a friend. The good samaritan may act meanly
to a relative. The same person, solicitous with a person he/she is
looking to for a favor, may prove hostile to a person who depends
upon him/her. Besides, one's attitude toward the same person may
undergo amazing reverses: the lover's passion may turn to
treachery; respect may sour to contempt. An actor or actress may
discover a variety of very different persona in his/her
personality in accordance with the role played. Moreover, he/she
may find it easier to depict a clearly distinctive character than
a rich composite personality because the greatest of human arts
consists in integrating the multiple and extremely varied
potential persona within our inheritance, which is precisely what
Jung means by the integration of personality.

Then there are those who put on an act, for example, turning the
charm on or looking fierce, or putting on their downtrodden look
whenever they know they are observed. This, then, is the real
mask, an artifice which may make it difficult for them ever to
display or discover or manifest their true being. We are primed by
our awareness of our potentials and spurred by the challenge of
the environment. The balance between these depends upon the extent
to which we adapt to the environment or to which we act upon the
environment.

This is where our free will comes in. Irrespective of what the
outer circumstances wreak upon us, we may choose the brand of
personality amongst the infinite variety of potential
personalities latent within us. What is more, we may mutate the
qualities inherited. Creativity of the personality is comparable
to composing variations on a theme which we may fluctuate
inventively. Here lies our choice. To operate a choice, one would
have thought that one would have to know our latent personae and
therefore, self discovery seems a prior imperative. But our choice
lies in choosing the role we want to play. Then the challenge we
take upon ourselves will release the appropriate latent quality
which we thus discover. Surprisingly, we enjoy more freedom in
choosing the role we wish than most of us realize. If indeed
spirituality lures us forward in the evolutionary process, then we
progress by discovering our freedom and using it.

So much for our cosmic dimension but how about our transcendental
one?  Here the bounty at our disposal is infinite!  We are
normally only using a minute fraction of our potentials at the
higher levels of our being. What is the difference between our
cosmic dimension and our transcendental?  They are like the
latitudinal and longitudinal vectors in our navigational
reckoning. They are interdependent, not two distinct realities.
The reason for underlining the word transcendent is because, if
one says one inherits from the whole universe, one tends to assume
that we are referring to the physical cosmos: the fabric of the
stars, of the galaxies, the radiation of the Big Bang, the
orderliness of a crystal's molecules, or the disruption of the
harmony of the spheres in a solar or galactic storm, or the
voracity of a wolf, the diligence of a bee, the playfulness of a
monkey or the sensitivity of a butterfly. But we also inherit the
planning, the thinking of the universe, the creativity, the
ecstasy, the psyche of the universe, the will, in fact, what we
mean by the soul of the universe. And by the words 'soul of the
universe,' what we are designating is what we mean when we
discover the traces of it as our divine inheritance.

Note, that in order to discover the more transcendent dimensions
of one's being, observing the body and personality and even one's
consciousness objectively, without identification, as Buddha
taught, will cause one to shift one's self awareness and sense of
identity higher up the scale of values or spheres of existence.
But this is so only if one observes 'detachment' (anata), by not
identifying with the object of one's act of consciousness or with
one's consciousness. To identify would allow the activity of
intelligence to take over from the act of consciousness. Such is
the method that will lead us to discover our divine inheritance.
    
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