What Kind of Person Are You?

In this blog, I am returning to a prior train of thought, which is: What kind of person are you? Now, many people will quip that, "there are only two kinds of people...." Another, a wag, commented, "There are only two kinds of people, those who think there are only two kinds of people, and those who don't."

If you were to divide people into two kinds, what would they be?

This is, basically, a dualistic world; one made up of opposites, so it is easy to see the world and everything in it in an either/or way. However, it seems to me that most people don't actually give any thought as to how they present themselves to the world/other people. I have discussed in other blogs that everything we do, wear, say, move our bodies, etc., etc., is telling the world a story about us. Most of the world, fortunately for those people, isn't paying attention. That is, isn't paying attention consciously, however, their unconscious selves are noting everything.

In the '60's and '70's, when people were getting together for self-discovery, some would play, "If you were, what...?"

If you were a piece of furniture, what kind would you be?
If you were a chair, what kind of chair would you be?
If you were an animal, what kind of animal would you be?
If you were a tree, what kind of tree would you be?

If you are writing in a Journal, it is a good exercise to explore how you think of yourself by asking such playful questions.

Or, if you were to pick a motto for yourself, what would it be?

Personally, what might be considered my motto is "eclectic plus."

My whole philosophy is underpinned by the precept that everything is a whole. What this means to me is, to use a puzzle as an example, the "whole" is a puzzle which requires that everything must fit perfectly. As with a puzzle, you can't cram a piece into a space where it doesn't belong, and pretend that it doesn't matter, which is what our consensus Scientific Belief System essentially does.

In my eclectic way, my whole adult mental life has been an effort to put together a puzzle where all the pieces I have fit together easily; after examining the existing adjoining parts to make sure they work together, any piece that doesn't fit has to be put aside.

Each of us, as individuals, can also be compared to a picture puzzle, (If you were a puzzle, what kind would you be?) How you dress, how you express yourself, your interests, or lack of them, your attitude, your facial expression, your body language, etc., etc., present a picture to the world. Some of these aspects of the self can be manipulated intentionally, for example, how we dress; others, such as body language, are totally out of our control. Our facial expressions can be controlled to a certain degree, by training ourselves to hold a particular expression.

This is the way a majority of individuals try to control how the world perceives them; these are called "masks," or the "persona,"--the public personality. In certain social situations, such masks become automatic; most, the people wearing these masks, are not even aware that they are wearing them.

In a recent art exhibition, here in Santa Fe, there was a sculpture of a faceless woman and a stylized closet in which hung hangers with different faces on each. The woman was shown as considering which one she should put on for the day. Most of us do this unconsciously; some of us wear the same mask every day, except for, maybe, church on Sundays.

Behind all these masks, is an amazingly complex personality, made up of many parts: the physical part, the mental part, the unconscious/non-physical part, which are each very complex in their own right. So, the question, "What kind of a person are you?" is meant to give you pause.

Since the late 50's, in fits and starts, more and more people have devoted at least some time in self-contemplation/meditation and/or self-development. For many this has taken the form of psychotherapy. In general, this has been a very encouraging development. During this time, however, the psychological profession has been busying itself with psychologizing and pathologicalizing human behavior and experiences. This has been a very negative development designed to keep people who are "different," in line--normal.

The term "normal" is taken to mean the "gold standard" of behavior, with anything else being considered "abnormal." In actuality, it pertains to what is most common. Technically, everything can be placed somewhere on a scale whether Mean, Median, or Mode, each of which calculates a range of something.

For today, I end this blog.

Shirley Gallup