The Value of Personas
- James Kelly
- Dec 4, 2017
- 6 min read
(Pssst! If you are new to the blog, try starting here!)
I’ve been brooding on this for a while and now it’s time to make this into a full-fledged blog post. This is the first time I’ll touch on the Social Realm (SoR) so let’s go ahead and jump into it.
SR Thoughts
I think “Split” was one of the greatest movies of my generation. It touches on a concept that I’ve always thought about but never managed to put into precise words.
What if…schizophrenia, multiple personality disorder/dissociative identity disorder, etc. are all disorders of an ability that humans have that they aren’t capitalizing on consciously yet?
Yes, sadly, these disorder victims are suffering from a malfunction of innate survival mechanisms; however, splitting up our time, energy, and consciousness between different identities is a (un)conscious utilization of these same mechanisms.
Work vs. home life, business vs. pleasure, public vs. personal, etc. – we are constantly encouraged to split ourselves in order to maintain our own and others’ sanity.
So instead of looking at this phenomenon from a negative perspective, let’s make this wonderful ability of ours work for us.
Science-y Parts
Persona – a role or character adopted by an author or an actor (dictionary.com)
Role theory is a perspective in sociology and in social psychology that considers most of everyday activity to be the acting out of socially defined categories (e.g., mother, manager, teacher). Each role is a set of rights, duties, expectations, norms and behaviors that a person has to face and fulfill. The model is based on the observation that people behave in a predictable way, and that an individual’s behavior is context specific, based on social position and other factors. The theatre is a metaphor often used to describe role theory. (wiki)
Role conflict is a conflict among the roles corresponding to two or more statuses, for example, teenagers who have to deal with pregnancy (statuses: teenager, mother).
One criticism of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs (the ‘schema’ so to speak for self-actualization) is that it doesn’t account for the needs of individuals in different cultures in terms of how it values the steps towards self-actualization. Maslow acknowledges this by saying, “the hierarchies are interrelated rather than sharply separated“.
An example of this would be the tatemae/honne (建前・本音) in Japanese culture – a public ‘persona’ is ‘tatemae’ and your private one is where you show your ‘honne’.
Therefore, the model still works in treating ExD, however it needs to be approached from an ExD sufferer’s perspective. The Hunger posts talked about the first need being hydration and sustenance – as Maslow labels “Physiological Needs”. Personas jump in the pyramid up to the esteem level (right below self actualization) yet it’s a very fundamental one to address early on as we go on down this rabbit hole that is ExD.
Spiritual Bits
The sciences currently can’t agree on if the ‘soul’ exists or not, but philosophy and spirituality across multiple theologies acknowledge that the concept of the soul is relevant.
I strongly believe that the soul is everything that your 3D vessel is NOT, therefore it is the most important part of the whole system – the soul is the ‘will’ of the actor, or even the director.
My understanding of how I view personas in my life will stem from both the Science and this perspective.
Thoughts Continued
Soul> ‘Self’ (ID,Ego, Super-Ego) > Personas
Soul = Me (separate from vessel)
____
I = Private ‘Self’ (created through soul searching + vessel experiences); direct contact with Soul; Main Self
BJ = Intimate ‘Self’ (e.g. when around Family, Close friends, Significant Other(s)); final evaluation of ‘how to feel’ determined by Private Self -> superseded/trumped by Soul; Secondary Self
____
James = Work, General Public/Social Media ‘self’
Zextalix = Online, Gaming ‘self’
Match | Maker = DJ, Music Producer, Underground Music Culture Aggregator
Snowfield Rhapsody/Rhapzodic = Blogger, Vlogger, Writer
Boss = LLC Owner
Excluding the soul and ‘selves’, I have five personas as of right now.
Before recently I didn’t know that though.
Shit, fresh out of college I confused my DJ Persona from my Main Self for a very long time. The idea was that I was just being a cooler version of myself because it was still ‘me’ behind the decks doing the DJ. The problem with this is if you don’t actually progress your main self while your personas are progressing, then you may start to feel that your Main Self is inferior. Then, referring to these personas becomes more and more comfortable over time until the Main Self starts to become neglected.
That’s the point when you start questioning the ‘you’ that you see in the mirror.
People with low self-esteem often need respect from others; they may feel the need to seek fame or glory. However, fame or glory will not help the person to build their self-esteem until they accept who they are internally. Psychological imbalances such as depression can hinder the person from obtaining a higher level of self-esteem or self-respect. (wiki)
Geez…wish I would have realized this earlier while I was in Japan…
Point is though:
Most if not all depressive orders come from a conflict involving the main self.
ExD stems from the conflict between the soul and the constructed ‘self’.
The healthier “I” is, the easier ExD is to deal with.
-The soul controls everything.
-The Private Self is the self that is there when you are alone. It is the voice that talks to the soul (also the one that people warn you not to listen to); it is your inner monologue that voices the thoughts you don’t need to immediately need to act upon.
-The Intimate Self is the one that you only show the most important people in your life. Showing someone this side means that you value them significantly more than just a(n) (mutual) acquaintance or stranger.
-The Private Self will be autonomously pinged with images of how things are working out as the Intimate Self; the Private Self will weigh in only when it feels its values are being violated (more on Values in a future blog).
-A ‘self’ is then created as needed when the social circle expands beyond the intimate; this is where the subsequent personas come into play.
-Persona issues are usually picked up on by the Intimate/Private selves; the soul intervenes if these two selves fail to solve the issue.
-Negative self-delusion starts when all answers are sought from the personas rather than the soul.
Now that my personas have been laid bare, go ahead and write down your personas.
Everyone has at least three (Soul, Private, Intimate) but see if there are any others you have (in)advertently created.
Make two columns with one labeled “Now” and the other “Ideal” – and write a brief description of ‘who’ these personas are and what their ‘ideal’ version be.
And then leave it there.
No need to think too deeply on it since this can get into dark territories you may not want to traverse without professional guidance. Just have it down as a reference for when I post on ‘Values’.
Since my own Spiritual Awakening I’ve come to learn that most people are born biased towards one particular realm where there will receive the majority of their ‘enlightenments’ from.
Along with that realization, the Seven Chakras also seem to correlate more towards specific realms; in essence, I have learned that I was born biased towards the Social Realm and as a result my strongest and most active chakra is the throat.
Concerned with communication and self-expression, it also relates to the thyroid, ears, nose and throat, teeth, and neck (which are always the first areas to ‘act up’ when things aren’t going right for me). The physical release points are the neck and shoulders fingers and toes (the others also have their own).
Check and see if any of your personas vibe with any of the seven chakra points –
You might be surprised at what you find.
SR
(Side Notes:
One point I do want to make about the Social Realm (SoR) is that it deals with concepts that are unique to humans; therefore, social constructs that are born from basic, instinctual, and animalistic emotions will correspond moreso with the SoR instead of the Emotional Realm.
A direct example would be anger vs. indignation – raw ‘anger’ would naturally be an ER response while ‘indignation’ happens after unfair social treatment is perceived. ‘Face’ is another social system that has concepts derived from emotions (i.e. pride, dignity, virtue, shame, embarrassment); understanding how these are different than raw emotions will help in the understanding of ‘personas’.
Deluding yourself enough to the point of making your delusions become reality IS the placebo effect (it also explains the saying “fake it until you make it”).
Personas are technically MR + SoR concepts -> if the soul does not separate these personas from the ‘Main Self’ then one will start ‘losing themselves’. A very common example would be a man that constantly talks about his job and himself at his job because he hasn’t taken the time to refine his Main Self.
End Side Note)
Checklist:
-Nourishing the body nourishes the soul
-We are not our ‘vessels’ – our vessels experience as life happens; our souls interpret
-We should not forget the actor for the character(s) they portray
References:
“…if hate can affect DNA and produce children victims…and if love can counteract the effects of hate…then can love affect DNA and produce children of love?”
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