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Martin Lass: S.O.L.A.R.®
Beyond Materiality. Beyond Spirituality.
Toward the Complete Human Being…
One Person: Many Personas
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by Martin Lass |
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Personas
Yesterday, I felt happy, for the most part. But today, after viewing the TV news, I feel sad. An hour ago, I was irritated by a certain person. Now, after a cup of coffee, I feel more amenable to them. Last year, I was very productive. This year, so far, I feel very unproductive. The other night, before bed, I made a resolve to get up early the next morning and do my yoga routine. Morning came, the alarm rang, I rolled over, I shut off the alarm, and I went back to sleep. The other night, I had a date with a lovely young woman and decided that I would like to spend much more time with this person. Now, after a disagreement, I am questioning whether this person if right for me. I bought a new car six months ago and just loved it. Now, after seeing how much gas it guzzles, after having to clean it regularly, and after struggling with the repayments, I am beginning to dislike my new car. Several years ago, I voted for the current CEO of my company. But, now I am thinking, “What WAS I thinking??” Yesterday, I was angry at my son for having broken the remote control. Today, after watching the TV news with my new remote, I reach out to my son and remember how special he is to me. A minute ago, I doubted myself. Now, I am surer of myself. And so on and so forth, every minute of my day…
Every time I have a sensation, an emotion, or a thought, I say “I” sense this, “I” feel this, and “I” think this. But what I sense, feel, and think changes from one moment to the next, one hour to the next, one day to the next, one month to the next, and so forth. Granted, some things stay the same for long periods, but, on the whole, my state of consciousness is in a constant state of flux. Now I’m up; now I’m down. Now I’m sure; now I’m unsure. Now I’m cocky; now I’m cringing. Now I’m angry; now I’m conciliatory. Now I’m dreading something; now I’m excitedly anticipating something else. Now I care; now I couldn’t care less. Now I like; now I dislike. Now I love; now I hate. Now I’m afraid; now I’m courageous.
Yet I call each sensation, feeling, and thought “I,” as though it were one person saying it each time. But is each one of these “I’s” really the same person? Is the person who made a resolve before bed to get up early and do yoga the same person who woke up, shut off the alarm, and went back to sleep? Normally, I would say yes.
But what if these were actually different “people” within me—different personas? What if I am not one person, but many personas in the one body, defined by one name? What if my sense of continuous, unified, waking consciousness is an illusion perpetuated by many unseen factors (which we will discuss in future columns), but reinforced by the fact that all my personas reside in the one body and are called by one name?
Sounds pretty shocking, right? I’ve always thought of myself as one, relatively unified person. And I’ve always considered that I have waking consciousness, self-awareness, and good grip on reality. I don’t like the idea that I might not be one person but many personas. In fact, part of me finds the suggestion insulting. But which part of me finds it insulting? Because another part of me is intrigued by the idea; another part wants to hear more about this seemingly fantastical idea. While another part of me wants to stop reading and go and watch TV. And another part is wondering what’s for dinner. And another part is thinking about an argument I had with my wife an hour ago. And another part of me is planning my work day tomorrow. And another part of me is feeling physically tired after a long day and wants to veg out.
Is it really so shocking an idea, though? If we think about it, we all know that we have “moods.” If we are honest, we will also admit that we have certain traits that others like in us and other traits that others don’t like in us. And that we express certain traits in certain moments and other traits in other moments. And that our behavior changes according to how we feel, physically and emotionally, and according to how we happen to be thinking at any given moment. And that the sides we show others upon first meeting will give way to other sides as we get to know a person and feel more comfortable with them. (Which, by the way, is the basis for infatuation followed by resentment in relationships, among other things.) And that our mood swings and opinion shifts are, to a great extent, influenced by external events.
Given all the preceding, is it such a stretch to suggest that we are not one person but many personas?
Let’s state it clearly now: I am not one person, but many personas in the one body, defined by one name. The driver’s seat of my consciousness is alternately occupied by one persona after another, each one staking their claim to my body and name, each one thinking itself the whole of me, and each one claiming that they have “always” been there. “I’ve always felt such and such,” “I’ve always thought this and that,” “I’ve never liked such and such,” and “I’ve never been one to do this and that,” and so on and so forth, ad infinitum.
If it is true that I am not one person but many personas, how could it possibly have escaped my attention?
In short, it is because, when any one persona is occupying the driver’s seat of my waking consciousness, I am not aware of the other personas in this moment. I am completely identified with the reigning persona. My awareness does not extend beyond this in this moment. All other personas effectively become part of my unconscious. This is what it means to be “asleep” while awake. We talked a little about this in last month’s column when we talked about Presence. (You can find this in the archives.)
In order to “wake up” a little more—in order to expand my consciousness—I would need to be aware of more than one persona at the same time, not just the one currently occupying the driver’s seat of my consciousness. Sometimes, I am aware of more than one persona. Like when I am juggling several thoughts and feelings at once. However, in normal circumstances, juggling too many such thoughts and feelings, particularly if they are conflicting thoughts and feelings, can become overwhelming and very stressful. So, I generally “opt” for one or a few.
This is a matter of self-preservation, which is a strange word to use given that “self” consists of a multitude of personas. In fact, we are talking about the preservation of each persona—the preservation of my fragmented consciousness.
Yet, to expand consciousness—to evolve, transform, align, and unify my consciousness—this is exactly what is required, i.e. to expand my awareness to encompass more than the persona and its immediate cohorts who currently occupy the driver’s seat of my consciousness. And this requires that I somehow bring my conflicting personas into greater alignment and harmony. This is what Healing is all about. But we are getting ahead of ourselves…
Each of my personas represents an emotion, a thought, a sensation, an impulse, a stance, a judgment, a perception, and/or a perspective. Each has its own agenda and associated behaviors.
Not only this, but each of my personas is aligned to a greater or lesser degree to other personas of “like mind.” And each is also at odds to a greater or lesser degree with still other personas with conflicting perspectives.
But I don’t generally see this. If I did—if I were to see all my conflicting personas all at once—I would certainly go mad, because the truth of the matter is beyond my current capacity to deal with. Which is why the situation of personas exists to begin with, i.e. to protect me from seeing more truth than I can deal with at any one time. It helps to regulate my evolution and expansion of consciousness to a rate that I can deal with. However, again, we are getting ahead of ourselves…
When a group of personas is aligned with the persona currently holding the reigns of my waking consciousness, this corresponds to roles I play, masks I put on, “hats” I wear, and more complex behavior patterns. And all of this happens automatically, without my input and mostly without my consciousness, despite my persona’s illusions to the contrary. My personas react to external influences and internal automatic impulses. This is their nature, as we will see.
The Larger Perspective on Personas
Let’s look at the idea of personas from a larger perspective. When we talk about the descent of consciousness from unity into duality, from the Light into darkness, from
Spirit into Matter, from wholeness into fragmentation, from healing into wounding, from wisdom into ignorance, and so forth, we are actually talking about personas.
Conversely, when we talk about the ascent of consciousness from duality back to unity, from darkness back to the Light, from Matter back to Spirit, from fragmentation back to wholeness, from wounding to healing, and from ignorance into wisdom, we are actually talking about bringing personas back together into greater alignment and unity.
My personas are the pieces of me, my life, and the world around me. Why are they pieces of the world around me? Because the world around me is a perfect mirror of all that I am, whether I acknowledge this or not. (We will discuss this topic in a future column.)
My personas are like inner sons and daughters—offspring of my consciousness as a whole. As such, they are literally scattered, diffused, polarized Light—pieces of frozen Light, so to speak. I say “frozen,” because my personas are designed to try to preserve themselves and to resist change, which, as we have already indicated, serves me by regulating my rate of evolution of consciousness. They are frozen Light in the same way that science regards matter as frozen energy.
Each persona has a charge (read: stance, judgment, perception, perspective), which not only gives it movement in the dualistic, material world by creating attractions and repulsions, but it also keeps the persona captive and fixed in its existence. If I were to dissolve a persona’s charge, it would become free again, reuniting with the Light from which it came. How can I do this? Simply, by dissolving its stance, its judgment, its perception, its perspective, and allowing it to become part of a larger perspective, a larger Truth. Again, this is what Healing means. (We will discuss exactly how to do this in future columns.)
Earthly Nature
Let’s call my collection of personas “Earthly Nature.”
My Earthly Nature corresponds to personality, meaning the collection of my fragmented personas or lost, wayward, and rebellious inner sons and daughters—the scattered pieces of me, my life, and the world around me.
Although my Earthly Nature has been designed and is sustained by higher consciousness (another topic altogether), it has no free will or self-imbued consciousness, but simply reacts to internal and external circumstances, events, and stimuli, like a robot, albeit an extremely complex one. The complexity of my Earthly Nature can lead me into mistaking its automatic reactions for conscious actions. (Incidentally, most non-human animals consist only of an Earthly Nature.)
My Earthly Nature is dualistic in perception and manifestation and is designed to live and operate in the dualistic material world. (We will discuss exactly what we mean by “dualistic in perception” in future columns.) It has no interest in unity, higher consciousness, or in anything higher than itself. If fact, it will vehemently deny and reject that there exists anything higher than itself, this tendency being one of the bases of atheism.
My Earthly Nature’s primary goals are survival, safety, security, comfort, and pleasure. This serves my physical existence, of course. Its driving forces are pain, pleasure, guilt, and fear. It lives in the continual replaying of the past (memory) and in the constant projection of the future (imagination).
Nevertheless, apart from serving my physical existence, my Earthly Nature serves a higher Purpose, and I could not spiritually or materially transform or evolve without it. It encompasses and mirrors my lessons, challenges, charges, issues, and wounds in any given lifetime, but in forms able to be manifested in the dualistic material world. In this way, my Earthly Nature provides a mirror in which I can see these lessons, challenges, charges, issues, and wounds, deal with them, and so awaken further to my true Nature as Truth, Light, Love, and Oneness.
My Earthly Nature is comprised of three parts: Physical Nature, Emotional Nature, and Mental Nature. These correspond to exactly what they say, i.e. my physical being, my emotional being, and my mental being.
These three parts—Physical Nature, Emotional Nature, and Mental Nature—are the three areas in which most of us live, work, play, and sleep. We will discuss these Natures in detail in the next column.
Exercise
For now, though, I invite you to explore and ponder the idea of personas with the following exercise: Listen to your own voice, and every time you say “I”, to yourself or to others, ask yourself,
“Which part of me is speaking?”
You can also combine this with the exercise from the previous column, i.e. attending to your breath during your daily activities.
Simply see where this leads you. It is not a test; it is an exploration of self.
Truth, Light, Love, and Oneness,
Martin Lass – S.O.L.A.R.® First Facilitator
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Martin Lass,
The first S.O.L.A.R.® Emissary, Astrologer, Author
& Musician
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The first S.O.L.A.R.® Emissary is Martin Lass. His background includes over twenty years spent studying in two separate mystery schools, each with a direct lineage extending back into antiquity—one school coming through Egyptian traditions and the other from a hidden Central Asian tradition combined with the Sufi Way.
He is also a professional astrologer, astrological/spiritual counselor, accredited practitioner of various healing modalities, musician, composer, and published author.)
S.O.L.A.R.®
Beyond Materiality. Beyond Spirituality.
Toward the Complete Human Being…
www.solarjourney.org
info@solarjourney.org
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