It must be understood that man consists of two parts: essence and personality. Essence in man is what is his own. Personality in man is what is “not his own.” “Not his own” means what has come from outside, what he has learned, or reflects, all traces of exterior impressions left in the memory and in the sensations, all words and movements that have been learned, all feelings created by imitation – all this is “not his own,” all this is personality.
… A small child has no personality as yet. He is what he really is. He is essence. His desires, tastes, likes, dislikes, express his being such as it is.
But as soon as so-called “education” begins, personality begins to grow. Personality is created partly by the intentional influences of other people, that is, by “education,” and partly by involuntary imitation of them by the child itself.
In the creation of personality a great part is also played by “resistance” to people around him and by attempts to conceal from them something that is “his own,” or “real.”
Essence is the truth in man; personality is the false. … As personality grows, essence manifests itself more and more rarely and more and more feebly and it very often happens that essence stops in its growth at a very early age and grows no further. It happens very often that the essence of a grown-up man, even that of a very intellectual and … highly “educated” man, stops on the level of a child of five or six. This means that everything we see in this man is in reality “not his own.” What is his own in man, that is, his essence, is usually only manifested in his instincts and in his simplest emotions. There are cases, however, when a man’s essence grows in parallel with his personality. Such cases represent very rare exceptions especially in the circumstances of cultured life. Essence has more chances of development in men who live nearer to nature in difficult conditions of constant struggle and danger.
… Culture creates personality and is at the same time the product and the result of personality. We do not realize that the whole of our life, all we call civilization, all we call science, philosophy, art, and politics, is created by people’s personality, that is, by what is “not their own” in them
The element that is “not his own” differs from what is man’s “own” by the fact that it can be lost, altered, or taken away by artificial means.
… In Eastern schools ways and means are known … to separate man’s personality from his essence. For this purpose they sometimes use hypnosis … if personality and essence are separated by one or another means, two beings are found who speak in different voices, have completely different tastes, aims, and interests, and one of these two beings often proves to be on the level of a small child. … And it happens that a man full of the most varied and exalted ideas, full of sympathies and antipathies, love, hatred, attachments, patriotism, habits, tastes, desires, convictions, suddenly proves quite empty, without thoughts, without feelings, without convictions, without views. Everything that has agitated him before now leaves him completely indifferent. Sometimes he sees the artificiality and the imaginary character of his usual moods or his high-sounding words, sometimes he simply forgets them as though they had never existed. Things for which he was ready to sacrifice his life now appear to him ridiculous and meaningless and unworthy of his attention. All that he can find in himself is a small number of instinctive inclinations and tastes. He is fond of sweets, he likes warmth, he dislikes cold, he dislikes the thought of work, or on the contrary he likes the idea of physical movement. And that is all.
… As a rule a man’s essence is either primitive, savage, and childish, or else simply stupid. The development of essence depends on work on oneself.
… n order to enable essence to grow up, it is first of all necessary to weaken the constant pressure of personality upon it, because the obstacles to the growth of essence are contained in personality.
