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Commentary par Dupre
TEACHING FOR THE ADHERENT
CONCERNING THE INDIVIDUAL
The theorem is admitted without controversy, Man does have a personality. Yet, when we
examine the meaning of the word personality, we see that it is of a very complex
character.
Personality is the character presented by an individual. This character may be good or
bad, so there could be good or bad personalities, compound or complex ones. If
we limit our observations to the visual and verifiable field, we shall define personality
as the sum total (ensemble) of the human being’s manifestations.
It is the character proper of every being, together with their conscious individuality.
This actual personality would be composed of three kinds of manifestations:
֎ Physical manifestations
֎ Animic, psychical or moral manifestations, and
֎ Spiritual or mental manifestations.
The physical manifestations are those that we see and that are perceptible to
our senses. Thus, we observe a person’s appearance: they may be tall or short, dark,
blond or white. We observe their gestures, stances, movements, gait, voice, the sound
of their steps. All these are as many indications that make us recognize one person
from another. There are also gestures, languages, kinds of behaviour and types that
are common to a certain community {collective}. In this way, in the Occident, you
can tell that a person has lived in the Orient by their gestures alone.
The psychical manifestations of the human being are more difficult to grasp, for we
should already have learned how to deduce from the impressions that we get when we
are close to people so as to draw conclusions regarding their psychical personality.
A person may have a strong or weak soul, may be active or passive, may be easily
impressionable or impressive. We note the feelings that this person has in their
everyday dealings with others, if they feel Love, Goodness, Brotherhood, etc. or again
if they harbour resentments, that is, if they feel hate, if they are evil or
antagonistic.
A visible psychical expression is usually revealed in a person’s features, which may
express joy, fury, sadness, enthusiasm, indifference, fear,
composure, daring, etc.
The spiritual manifestations of a human being are even more difficult to observe,
for these require the study of the individual in question and a spiritual relation
(rapport) with them. They may be affirmative or negative - by this,
I mean to describe a quality or defect of judgment of the human spirit.
There are persons who see everything favourably and others who see everything dark,
bad and impossible. Some are materialists and make use of their spiritual faculties
to serve negation of the spirit. Some are spiritualists. Others observe and draw
conclusions only from what they see, feel or think. Others still, they do not observe
at all. Some have a lively intelligence others do not. Some express themselves with
ease others cannot. Some have a quick understanding, others are slow-witted. Some have
a strong memory, others do not. There are intelligent, stupid, wise and foolish, etc.
persons.
Personality is thus complex and different because humankind, just as everything created,
is subject to a law that is named “the Law of Dissimilarity”. The reason of the
existence of this law is antagonism that gives rise to efforts of movement in Matter
and of opposition in the Psyche and the Spirit so as to attain the
knowledge of Truth.
The discovery of this Law (O.V.M. discovered that dissimilarity is a Law) results in the
possibility of spiritual, psychical and physical evolution through judgment that makes
a selection of what is good and adapts it or appropriates it and renders the
collaboration of various spiritual virtues possible, as also spiritual unions and
physical practices.
Sympathy or antipathy exists among men and women because of the Law of Dissimilarity.
And the diversity of conceptions among individuals, which is the source of progress of
Civilization and the process towards perfection, is due to
the Law of Dissimilarity.
Personality is manifested in a greater or lesser degree and is more or less strong.
In fact, you must have surely observed that some persons have a definitely good or
bad character, whereas others just follow everyone else’s opinions.
Moreover, personality and the state of the individual depend on experience.
Experience is the setting of the senses into action for acquisition and thus getting to
know the things that have been observed and examined. You form and then have a certain
opinion because you yourself know it and because in the course of your life you have
had good or bad experience of it. This experience will grow further. Then, with this
experience - that is, the practical or experimental knowledge - of the laws of Nature,
you will be ready and on the way to making your personality
proceed towards perfection.
It is the experience of life and not instruction that is the vehicle towards perfection
and the definitive edification of personality in Man is experience of life. It is not
instruction, because instruction is a factitious acquisition.
Instruction contributes in an interesting manner when a person is intelligent and good,
for it piques their faculty of reasoning and allows them easier access to possible
perfection. If, however, the person happens to be intelligent but bad, it is a
dangerous accessory for the community {collective} and it distances that person from
possible perfection. If again, a person is not intelligent, instruction is a useless
baggage and an accessory that can drag them to errors that may harm themselves as well
as the community {collective}.
I shall now sum up this commentary.
After the succinct analysis that was made, we have been led to the verification of the
existence in Man of a personality in its triple constitution.
This personality may be good or bad and is often mixed, having both qualities
and defects. This leads us to the most difficult study that one can make during
one’s lifetime: the study of one’s self.
“Know thyself”, this was the formula of the Sages of Antiquity and these are the
words that our Venerable Masters still say to us.
Let us get to know ourselves and let us study our personality through a happy experience.
In this study, instruction is of no use. What we want is to reach the state when
our true spiritual personality becomes manifest in our life and our actions.
We want the spiritual to be in harmony with the physical and the psychical. We want
all false appearances to cease to exist. We want Man to appear as he really is and
want his bearing to register a superior personality (self-taught). We must not confuse
personality with pride. Personality is exalted through humility. Pride is an exaltation
of the physical Ego, about which we shall speak in the next theorem.
It is through dissimilarity that personality becomes evident. This dissimilarity -
happily converging with Life - is a Virtue that can be obtained only by the acquisition
of the independence of our intellect in all its manifestations. In fact, such an
attempt was made, unfortunately without success, two centuries ago in the form of
freedom of thought, freedom of opinion etc.
However, only one part of the community {collective} benefited from this freedom, a
tiny minority of society and in a very small way at that.
Conformity and Sectarianism hastened to grab hold of the free principles of Society
and annihilate all the beneficial character of the freedom and independence of
personality, which is based on the dissimilarity of human beings. This alienation
of freedom was obtained by an incontestable minority against the majority of our
community {collective} through a number of means, usages, customs, conventions and
doctrines. As we shall see in the theorems that follow, all these gravely hinder the
intimate freedom of the human being and enslave personality to the point of effacing
it altogether.
The 1st Theorem tells us that the manifestation of personality depends on the more or
less free surroundings (milieu) in which the human being was reared.
As a conclusion to this 1st Theorem, I add that the personality of a person,
when manifested freely and without any hindrance, having been guided towards the spirit
of goodness, makes of the individual an element able to contribute to the well-being
and the happiness of the community (collective).
One of the aims of our Order is to pick from society elements that have goodness
loyalty and integrity - and guide them to the enhancement of their personality by
reinforcing their virtues and characters.
Thus trained, our Knights will become numerous assimilating nuclei in the
community {collective} for the good of Humanity.
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THEOREM ONE
"Every human being has a personality of their own as dissimilar as are two beings of the same race and of a similar nature."
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