Evolution of Consciusness (Post 5)-Personality & Self

Personality and Self.

In the last post we saw about Personality Consciousness, its inevitability, 

usefulness and as well its negativity.

We will go in to it further.

Gurjieff’s contention is that over time personality is taken for the true self of 

the person.

One might ask, what is wrong with taking the Personality as the True Self?

Or what else is there?

To see what is wrong, first one must see clearly what Personality is.

We have seen that Personality is not an innate quality of a person but

imposed,Learned and cultivated trait. So there is something else behind it.

Now,

Generally one’s basic objective is find a place in a society where one has

security, position, recognition and so on.

In contrast, one may rebel against the society. That is not important for us.

But in both situations one has to cultivate certain psychological traits which 

will be helpful in attaining the objectives.

Composite of psychological traits emerges as a personality.

It is a TOOL likes any other physical tool. Nothing more or less.

It must be treated as a tool only.

If it is not effective, it must be changed.

How it works?

Personality categories, labels everything with well defined purpose and 

motive, everything in it is concrete, nothing is abstract.

It operates through categories and labels to reach the destination.

Categories or Labels do not cause any problem in the physical plane.

A ‘Car’ is car; ‘Hammer’ is a hammer, even Institutions.

There is hardly anything outside the Label.

But, when it comes to human beings, ‘Labels’ and ‘Categories’ creates havoc 

in the relationships.

Let us take an example.

It is hardly possible for anyone to go beyond the labels ‘Wife/Husband’ and 

look at ‘Woman/Man’ behind it, which is a fact.

This fragmented look will invariably create conflicts.

Failure to see the fragmentation is because one is almost entirely enveloped 

by the personality/ego.

That is one can see only Wife/Husband not Woman/Man.

Let us put it differently.

Personality can see ‘Wife/Husband’ as FACT (Concrete) and the ‘Woman/Man’ 

behind it as IDEA (Abstraction)

But,

Self can see ‘Woman/Man’ as FACT (Concrete) and the ‘Wife/Husband’ as 

IDEA (Abstraction).

So personality posses conditioned outlook, where as Self has unconditioned 

outlook.

Anything conditioned can have only partial, biased and prejudiced view .

Anything unconditioned is free, it can see things as they are, it is not tainted 

by any bias or prejudice.

One can test it out with any personal-view (Label).

It is fun, and it won’t make anybody an unbalanced cuckoo; rather it may be 

helpful.

Now,

Personality being a conditioned and limited entity; it can not be taken as self,

 which is all encompassing and unconditioned.

So it is the personality which should protect and serve the self by nurturing 

its essence and raising it to higher truth.

If personality is taken as the self, then the self and its essence are 

compromised.

It is something like a solider sacrificing his life to preserve his weapon.

We will see more of it later.