The soul versus the personality (the real self versus the fake self)

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The situation for many modern people is their soul, the real self, inhabits but does not control their personalities. The soul looks out on the world with a feeling of helplessness; in a passive state of despair.

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This situation usually builds-up through the teen years. The personality is in fact substantially innate and hereditary, and there is, even in childhood, a sense that the real self differs from the personality it finds-itself dwelling inside: the personality we are born with being like a suit of clothes that cannot be removed, but only modified; and that within limits.

But in the teen years the personality is often taken over by culture. The soul becomes detached from the world - and to an increasing extent the personality does all the attending, evaluating and responding as-it-were automatically, mechanically - without the soul being involved.

This conditioning is done by all social interactions, but now especially by the Mass Media, which has unprecedented effectiveness in creating and reinforcing a superficial and false personality, indifferent to the real self within.

So far as the rest of the world is concerned, the personality IS the person - the assumption is that the personality merely reflects the real self. But the real self remains, imprisoned - unable to influence the situation...

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Thus, to quote Thoreau, the mass of Men lead lives of quiet desperation, trapped and helpless in a cell guarded by their own personalities - to reach the soul becomes as difficult as communicating with a a prisoner in solitary confinement in a a communist Gulag.

The equivalent of the Gulag is the modern Mass Media - which will operate to filter-out, confuse, muddy, mis-frame and invert any messages directed at the soul. If the soul of a media editor is touched by a communication, his personality will detect the problem, and act swiftly and powerfully to eliminate any risk of further truth getting through from the same source.

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The possibility of communication is rare, and likely to be brief. And for communication to be effective requires that the soul instantly recognizes it is being addressed directly - cutting through, ignoring, all the surrounding falsehood and fakery.

At this the soul will rouse-up and remember - but the personality will notice what has happened, and will certainly try to prevent the prisoner taking over the running of things; so the observable response to genuine communication with the soul may be negative: may trigger argument, obscenity, bad behaviour of many types. This happens precisely because the communication with the soul has been effective, but the soul has little or no power to control things.

So after real communication the soul is punished, the soul is subjected to distorting and subverting propaganda - the regime becomes even harsher - and the outside world tends to interpret the behaviour of the personality as the will of the soul - tends to perceive that they are wasting their time or making matters worse.

Only very subtle signs indicate that real communication has been made, and the soul has been encouraged and strengthened - a flickering look in the eyes, perhaps...

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So, to reach the soul, to strengthen it, to do good; communications need to be uncompromisingly high-toned, directed directly at the soul, and refusing to engage with and ignoring the vast mass of surrounding Mass Media and social conditioning.

To turn aside to respond to the mainstream mass of falsehood, to meet 'the world' halfway, is just to waste time and probably lose the brief opportunity of genuine contact.

Uncompromising address, clear and direct statement, communication from one real self to another real self - eye to eye, mind to mind. That is what is needed above all.

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