Personality transcends mere genetic endowments. The distinct personal variations between identical twins affirms that genetic code alone does not engender personality. While genetic code forms the essential elements of our physical being — heart, lungs, limbs, skin, brain, and perhaps some innate ego orientations — personality is a transcendent quality that sets humans apart from all other life forms. There was no evolutionary necessity for the emergence of personality.
We are each unique persons — unique personalities. The term personality, as it is commonly used, refers more to persona — the outward manifestations of an individual: lively, quiet, aggressive, or retiring. These are manifestations of psychological types. The term “personality,” as Jung and others have used it, goes beyond psychological types or behavioral attributes.
Jung’s model of psychological types refers to eight modes of conscious experience. A person with a one-sided inclination towards any type may exhibit a persona reflecting that type — energetic or reflective for example. Persona, the social mask, showcases the ego’s type orientations.
In the process of individuation — Jung’s term for the journey towards a fuller expression of one’s unique personality — this one-sidedness diminishes. The full expression of unique personality requires integrating all eight types of orientations. A one-sided persona hinders the individuation process and the emergence of the whole unique personality.
The persona is always identical with a typical attitude dominated by a single psychological function, for example, by thinking, feeling, or intuition. This one-sidedness necessarily result tin the relative repression of the other functions. In consequence, the persona is an obstacle to the individual’s development. The dissolution of the persona is therefor an indispensable condition for individuation. (CW 7, 487)
Persona & Personality
We inhabit two figurative worlds simultaneously — the material world of our social culture and a more numinous world embedded in the cosmos. Our social culture often prioritizes our ego identity and its persona — what author David Brooks calls “resume virtues.” Achievements like being a doctor, a loyal worker, a brilliant scientist, a billionaire, starting a successful business, or gaining fame as an accomplished performer are among the many examples of resume virtues. In this social “world,” what we do or have done tends to be preeminently valued.
But then there are what Brooks calls the “eulogy values” — the values that speak to who we are becoming as persons — the intangible qualities of character, soul, and authenticity. These are the attributes connected to the numinous world of the cosmos — to the infinite. These are also the attributes associated with individuation — the growth and development of the greater personality.
The meaning and purpose of the process [of individuation] is the realization, in all aspects, of the personality originally hidden away in the embryonic germ-plasm; the production and unfolding of the original, potential wholeness. (CW 7, 186)
The fabric of our character, the depth and breadth of our soul, and the unification of unique personality — these are the attributes that are preeminently important and have enduring value beyond life in this world. They arrive through a central connection with “the infinite” — a divine radiance that Jung called the “Self.”
I have called this center the Self . . . it might equally be called the “god within us.” The beginning of our whole psychic life seems to be inextricably rooted in this point, and all our highest and ultimate purposes seem to be striving towards it. (CW 7, 399)
If we neglect the infinite, distracted by the more ego-centric attributes of our ego identity and persona, we have missed the greater purpose of our lives.
The decisive question for man is: Is he related to something infinite or not? That is the telling question of his life. Only if we know that the thing which truly matters is the infinite can we avoid fixing our interest upon futilities, and upon all kinds of goals which are not of real importance. . . . In the final analysis, we count for something only because of the essential we embody, and if we do not embody that, life is wasted. — C.G.Jung Memories, Dreams, Reflections ch.XI, “On Life after Death”
Individuation is a process of becoming whole — unifying and integrating the diverse parts of ourselves that are forever competing for attention — spiritual longings versus finite aims; the love of ideas versus empathy for others; deeply held values versus self-aggrandizing purposes. These “tensions of opposites” are the raw materials for the process of individuation. With individuation, the personality incrementally embraces and integrates these opposing orientations. It is a natural process that feels increasingly liberating.
Just as the great personality acts upon society to liberate, to redeem, to transform, and to heal, so the birth of personality in oneself has a therapeutic effect. It is as if a river that had run to waste in sluggish side-streams and marshes suddenly found its way back to its proper bed, or as if a stone lying on a germinating seed were lifted away so that the shoot could begin its natural growth (CW 17, §317).
With the unification of the whole personality, self-conscious awareness grows.
The inner voice is the voice of a fuller life, of a wider, more comprehensive consciousness. That is why, in mythology, the birth of the hero or the symbolic rebirth coincides with sunrise, for the growth of personality is synonymous with an increase of self-consciousness. For the same reason most heroes are characterized by solar attributes, and the moment of birth of their greater personality is know as illumination (CW 17, 318).
The unification of unique personality is a primary aim of life. It occurs through perpetually becoming whole. Ancient religious traditions assure us that personality is potentially eternal, inviting us to live beyond our mortal form. It is personality, not the physical form, that is born “in the image of God.” And it is our task to continually unify personality, in this life and the next, to “become perfect as the Father in Heaven is perfect” — to increasingly become more real and centered.
Unifying Personality
How do we engage in this unification process? We can look to Jung’s prodigious work for guidance, with his intent focus on the inner life, dreams, symbols, and synchronicities. At the core of individuation is the influence of the Self, the nucleus of the whole personality.
Many ancient philosophical and religious traditions align with Jung’s psychology, recognizing the Self and differentiating the ego identity from the greater personality.
“When you set out on a journey of revenge, dig two graves.” — Confucius
Revenge is the pursuit of a wounded ego. The persona has been abused and the ego — the “animal man” as Jung referred to it, evolved from the necessities of self-protection — seeks to destroy that which has offended. This primal motivation has been the source of much hostility, conflict, and even horrendous wars. But when the ego identity assumes control, the central personality suffers. To promote the touchy ego’s revenge is to prevent the unifying personality from gaining ascendancy. Two graves are needed — one for the target of revenge, and one for the seeker.
Many of the great personalities in history seem to have understood this. For example, the renowned Roman, Julius Caesar, seemed to stand apart from revenge. He persistently offered forgiveness to those who had offended or betrayed him. He could have followed up with retaliation — he had the means and power — but he chose to stand above and apart from petty resentment. He seemed to have discovered the greater personality who he also was, and Caesar had a compelling drawing power that commanded the respect and loyalty of legions of Roman soldiers.
“Overcome anger with love, overcome evil by good.” — Buddha
The ego/persona identity presents one face to the world. But the “shadow,” the underside of that projection, harbors the opposite. All that the ego and persona disown is alive and well in the shadow. And the shadow may thrust the individual into all kinds of malevolent mischief. The ego/shadow “axis” can be the source of much turmoil — anger, resentment, self-aggrandizement, and self-righteous revenge.
But the transcendent personality, with its central axis in the Self, can be the source of unconventional goodwill. Love — the desire to do good to others — finds a clearing above the turmoil of the ego/shadow axis. As the Christian evangelist Paul observed:
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Relinquishing attachment to the ego allows for the discovery of a new, numinous life. Leo Tolstoy’s realization of his greater personality led to a profound religious conversion.
It is within my power either to serve God or not serve him. Serving him, I add to my own good and the good of the whole world. Not serving him, I forfeit my own good and deprive the world of that good, which was in my power to create.
The Lakota holy man, Black Elk, understood that living in harmony with the infinite brings peace and union with the cosmos.
The first peace, which is most important, is that which comes within the souls of people when they realize their relationship, their oneness, with the universe and all its powers, and when they realize that at the center of the universe dwells the Great Spirit, and that this center is really everywhere, it is within each of us.
And C. G. Jung drew from Lao Tse in recognizing the elevated, illuminating position of personality, centered in the Self.
But in the end, the hero, the leader, the saviour, is one who discovers a new way to greater certainty. Everything could be left undisturbed did not the new way demand to be discovered, and did it not visit humanity with all the plagues of Egypt until it finally is discovered. The undiscovered vein within us is a living part of the psyche; classical Chinese philosophy names this interior way “Tao,” and likens it to a flow of water that moves irresistibly towards its goal. To rest in Tao means fulfillment, wholeness, one’s destination reached, one’s mission done; the beginning, end, and perfect realization of the meaning of existence innate in all things. Personality is Tao (CW 17, §323).
The individuation of one’s unique personality is a central aim of life. Living from the greater personality, with its center in the Self, often delivers peace, meaning, and a connection to the infinite while it gradually unifies many of the disparate attitudes clamoring for attention.
J. G. Johnston is the author of Jung’s Indispensable Compass — Navigating the Dynamics of Psychological Types and The Way — The Religion of Jesus Before Christianity. He is also a co-founder of Life Atlas.