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."

"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.
