Personality is destiny (100 suggestions for shaping a healthy personality)

Author: Lai Shouhua
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-07-01
Features:
2. "Know Thyself"—The Recognition and Establishment of Individual Personality
The Oracle at Delphi in ancient Greece proclaimed, "Know thyself." Socrates was considered the wisest man of his time. He did not understand the meaning of this oracle and began questioning people in the city-state. Through numerous conversations with them, he found that most were arrogant, domineering, and believed themselves to be omniscient, yet in reality, they possessed shallow knowledge and could not withstand his inquiries. Socrates finally understood the meaning of the Delphi oracle: he could fully recognize his own ignorance, and "knowing one's own ignorance" was where his wisdom lay. For thousands of years, "Know thyself" has been a famous philosophical proposition, constantly brought up by people. Coincidentally, Montaigne also said, "The most important thing in the world is to know oneself." In psychology, "Know thyself" is also a very difficult proposition. Human scientific experiments, including psychological experiments, often use various animals as subjects. Humans are accustomed to using this experimental approach to examine others, treating them as their own experimental subjects. Many advancements in scientific civilization have also been achieved through this objective experimentation. Regarding the objective world, we can sharpen our eyes and observe with microscopes thousands or even tens of thousands of times magnified; but what about ourselves? How many people can truly objectively examine themselves? So, how should one truly know oneself? The renowned religious thinker and philosopher Ivan Illich believed that one can know oneself both from above and from below. "Knowing oneself from above means recognizing oneself through the light of one's own being, from the divine source within; knowing oneself from below means recognizing oneself through the darkness of one's own being, from the spontaneous demonic source within one's subconscious." He argued that humans possess a dual contradiction, being both animalistic and divine. On one hand, humans crave nobility; on the other, they descend into degradation. Thus, humans both imagine freedom and descend into a tragic world, even risking eternal damnation. "The consciousness of individual personality illuminates humanity. It is humanity's highest nature and also its highest mission. Even if a person is severely oppressed, enduring hardships; even if they are plagued by illness and face an early death; even if they exist only in a possibility or potential, the most important thing is never to lose their individual personality. Once a person loses their individual personality, they become indistinguishable from other things in the world, losing their own uniqueness." For an individual, personality is more important than life. Only by possessing a sound individual personality and achieving freedom on it can one become