A person without personality?: Philosophy Forums

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A person without personality?

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A person without personality?

unenlightened
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Posted 08/01/08 - 12:23 PM:	#11
Haunted75 wrote: This post got a bit too complicated for me. I've read through it about 5 times and most of it remained a mystery. But I understood that I've been analyzing myself over and over, every time leaving out the analyzer and because of that I never got the answer I was looking for. Also I've been changing throughout my life, But I haven't hold onto fixed ideas, I've always analyzed from square one. Yet all of this doesn't explain those contradictions of personalities. How can it be, that one moment I'm a shy person and few hours later I'm outgoing? It doesn't seem real that I could have a personality change from something like helpful to ruthless in a matter of hours. I'm sorry for the complication; actually it's quite simple when you translate it into your own experiences, but because I don't know you, I have to express things very abstractly. I think you have the basic idea. Do you know it is very easy to turn from one person to another in the same room and start talking in a completely different language? Or to break off from a serious conversation to play a silly game with a child. when one lives in habit and ritual, this becomes more difficult, for example, at work I get used to behaving in a certain way, I am the helpful and competent night porter, and at home I am rather different. So when my wife comes to work for some reason, it sends me into a conflict and I do not know who I am. It feels like a problem, a conflict, but it only exists because I am trying to be someone all the time and in each situation trying to fix on something different, and now it seems I have to be both at once. But if I am not trying to be something, it is easy, I respond to the new situation of my wife being at work without conflict because there is only this situation and only me responding. So, in about 5 minutes I have to stop being a philosopher, and go and be a night porter, and of course I do not very often talk like this at work, except if it is quiet and I can get to the computer.
The observer is the observed. J Krishnamurti "Philosophy, to the Philistine, is an evolutionary process, watched over by some sort of brisk dynamic Providence, and culminating in the supreme insight of modern thought." John Cowper Powys

unenlightened
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Posted 08/01/08 - 01:59 PM:	#12
Ok, now I am a completely different, working person. Let me put it another way. Most things, stones or tigers or whatever, do not have a problem being themselves - it seems to take no effort on their part. A tiger may struggle to do something like catch some dinner, but being a tiger is easy. So what is the problem with being a human? It must lie in thought. I have a thought, an idea, an image, of what I should be, or might be or already am, and these thoughts are in conflict with each other, but more importantly, they are just thoughts, they are not the real human. It is the thoughts and images that I am trying to make real, and of course I am bound to fail, because they are just thoughts. Now it is tempting at this point to ask, "Alright, but how can I stop doing that, my mind seems to run on on its own?" And there can be no answer really, because as soon as there is a method, a plan, well that is another image of 'me' becoming something I am not. It is a way of thinking that works very well externally - if I want to build a house, I make a plan, an image, and then act to construct the reality according to that. But it simply doesn't work when I apply that to myself, because I am that image, and however hard I try to act upon it to make it real, it is only ever an image or a new image, so all that happens is that I have conflicting images.
The observer is the observed. J Krishnamurti "Philosophy, to the Philistine, is an evolutionary process, watched over by some sort of brisk dynamic Providence, and culminating in the supreme insight of modern thought." John Cowper Powys

Tzar
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Posted 08/01/08 - 04:44 PM:	#13
Haunted75 wrote: I know that one time I came to a conclusion that I'm so flexible as personality, because I'm two totally different personalities melted together. That idea came from the reason that ages 10-13 I had a voice in my brain, kinda like split personality but it wasn't, more like my good and bad personalities. Well, listen carefully: shut down your computer, take some money, run to your local library and buy "Steppenwolf" by Herman Hesse. It's an easy reading philosophical novel that matches your problem with an average rate of 100%. Maybe it will change your life as it has changed mine. Wikipedia wrote: ...seems to describe him perfectly, as a man who believes himself to be of two natures: one "high", spiritual and "human"; while the other is "low", animal-like, a "wolf of the Steppes". Deftil wrote: That's my favorite fiction book, but I'm not sure if you think Herr Haller has no personality or if reading the book would just help Haunted75 more generally. On the contrary, Herr Haller has the same problem of multiple coexisting personnalities: the wolf and the man, the good and the bad, light and dark, all in one single head. It appeared to me that Haunted75 has the same issue. Edited by Tzar on 08/01/08 - 05:05 PM

Deftil
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Posted 08/01/08 - 08:00 PM:	#14
unenlightened wrote: Do you? Absolutely! In the way I mean "to be like something" anyway. The only way to not be like something is to not exist and I have good reason to believe that Haunted exists! One may not fit into a specific mold of common personality types, but I do not think that in any way constititues being personality-less. Indeed being unique can be a personality trait. I hope I have not misunderstood you though! Tzar wrote: On the contrary, Herr Haller has the same problem of multiple coexisting personnalities: the wolf and the man, the good and the bad, light and dark, all in one single head. It appeared to me that Haunted75 has the same issue. Oh, I see. Yes, that makes good sense. It just occurred to me that Haunted may be a bit young to appreciate Steppenwolf, but then I remembered that I was 16 when I first read it and it became my favorite book!

Mech
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Posted 08/02/08 - 02:00 AM:	#15
Who said you had to have one personality to begin with? It could be that you simply associate one facet of your personality to certain situations, which you then call a new personality. By the sounds of it you might have an identity problem and being so young you're trying to discover yourself making it hard to distinguish who you are personally. Give it time and you might grow to work out your overall personality. Hormones can be a crazy thing
"Take the word of one immortal." - Disturbed "How could that be gay if im pretending you're a woman?" - Flight of the Conchords "Whose to know if your soul will fade at all" - Seether

LanguidLegend
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Posted 08/05/08 - 07:23 PM:	#16
Haunted75 wrote: saying bluntly I would like to know if it's possible to have a person who simply doesn't have a personality. For as long as I've been in the depths of my brain I haven't found anything I would call my personality. Maybe the closest word to it would be flexibility. I'm not a very social person, but I know that I'm always a different person with other people. Depending on the person I would be calm, spontaneous, friendly, quiet, lazy, bullying, active, etc. And that isn't coded with the person I'm with. Sometimes with the same person I could be quiet first but later aggressive, that depends on the situation, I'm put in. Sometimes it feels like I adapt to a new situation with a new personality, view of life, understanding of world and everything else. It's something that simply happens. I analyse everything around me. I mean everything. The situation, is it an easy situation, what should I take notice of, what's important, what's unimportant, what are the possible solutions to this situation. The persons around me, what are their moods, their personalities, will they complicate things, can I use them for this situation, should I use them, how to people get along with each other. basically everything around me is used for my adaption of a certain situation. heh That description sounds a lot like how I might describe my personality.. Weird, didn't think it likely to find someone else with such a similar personality/thought processes. I am constantly over-analyzing things around me (especially the sociological aspects), and it can be gratifying just as easily as it can be depressing/annoying (however most of the time its blank.. or neutral I guess I could call it). As far as the transition from quiet to talkative, I can be exactly the same way. Sometimes my personality dictates that I be quiet because I enjoy hearing someone's (usually a friend) rambling which can provide further insight to their mind/personality. Other times I am quiet because... (hard to describe) I guess the easiest way to describe is because I want to be mysterious. sounds stupid when I actually write it out but can't describe it any better.. I also constantly view my life as a series of puzzles and dilemmas I have to solve. I think the extreme variance of all my close friends' personalities is a mirror to my own personality. I personally am ultimately happy that I have so many varied and contrasting personalities because its almost as if I am experiencing several different people's account of my life (i.e.: an emo kid, athlete, nerd, etc.) Sometimes my personality is definitely at odds with my surrounding environment but its the price I am willing to pay for being able to embrace the highs that compounding several life experiences into one (my own) can bring me. If you ask me you should try to take a sense of fulfillment or contentment for/from genuinely unique experiences & perspectives. Edited by LanguidLegend on 08/05/08 - 10:09 PM
"... One thinks that if someone honestly believed in something and fought for his belief and died it would be too unfair if he had actually been inspired by a mere error. Such an occurrence seems to contradict eternal justice. Therefore the hearts of sensitive men always decree in opposition to their heads that there must must be a necessary connection between moral actions and intellectual insights. Unfortunately, it is otherwise, for there is no eternal justice." - Friedrich Nietzsche

ying
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Posted 08/05/08 - 08:46 PM:	#17
Haunted75 wrote: Hi, I´m new to this forum and unfortunately I haven't checked around here yet, because I'm very lost in my thoughts. I'm nothing else but a 16 year old whose first language isn't English, so please handle my language. It's probably quite readable, but sometimes stuff goes wrong. Now to the idea of my post. saying bluntly I would like to know if it's possible to have a person who simply doesn't have a personality. For as long as I've been in the depths of my brain I haven't found anything I would call my personality. Maybe the closest word to it would be flexibility. I'm not a very social person, but I know that I'm always a different person with other people. Depending on the person I would be calm, spontaneous, friendly, quiet, lazy, bullying, active, etc. And that isn't coded with the person I'm with. Sometimes with the same person I could be quiet first but later aggressive, that depends on the situation, I'm put in. Sometimes it feels like I adapt to a new situation with a new personality, view of life, understanding of world and everything else. It's something that simply happens. I analyse everything around me. I mean everything. The situation, is it an easy situation, what should I take notice of, what's important, what's unimportant, what are the possible solutions to this situation. The persons around me, what are their moods, their personalities, will they complicate things, can I use them for this situation, should I use them, how to people get along with each other. basically everything around me is used for my adaption of a certain situation. Usually I ask myself that question and find the answer, but this is something I cannot find an answer, maybe you can find it for me. I'd be willing to give you any information you need to answer my question. Also sorry if it's in the wrong section, I didn't know where to put it. Personality doesn't exist in the realm of being, rather, it's part of ones becoming. You don't have a personality, you actively create one by the mere act of living. Ones personality isn't a specific but a general attribute, one which arises out of specific acts; the process of being is unto death, and as such, ones personality isn't really completed untill you're dead and burried. The acts which define ones personality are those intentions which are externalised, and as such concretised, and the entire collection of those acts forms ones personality. Or something like that.
*"I determined nothing."* -Sceptical expression

Cadrache
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Posted 08/06/08 - 07:14 PM:	#18
So, are you a killer because: A) You killed. B) Are currently killing. C) Are going to kill. (say you are just waiting for the bullet to finish it's flight trajectory) Ie. Do you have a personality because you did something, are doing something, or are going to do something? Ps. I've always found that particular viewpoint interesting Ying; the proof of current existence is true only if existence happened previously.

the logos
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Posted 08/14/08 - 07:17 AM:	#19
The less one is a creature that acts according to habit and repetition, the better. On one hand there is the silent observer, it has no personality, it's just silent and it observes; this is what we are more than anything else, something that has no personality whatsoever. The mistake comes when people decide to identify with all that is so ephemeral. One mistakes oneself for that which is being observed, whether it be his racing thoughts, or a heated debate. When you identify with these changing things, you are more likely to find yourself repeating yourself in some way, because these changing situations are like slot machines, they change, but they also come back around to present themselves again at some later time. The feeling of having no personality is probably a sign that you are on the right track. Just don't identify with your states of mind as much as that which is observing your states of mind. Edited by the logos on 08/14/08 - 07:26 AM
"The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt". Bertrand Russell Man has forgotten how to die because he does not know how to live. (Rousseau)

unenlightened
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Posted 08/14/08 - 08:07 AM:	#20
the logos wrote: Just don't identify with your states of mind as much as that which is observing your states of mind. The state of mind which is silient and observing is not identifying with the state of mind that it is observing, which is not silent and observing but is ... speaking and acting? Sounds like a recipe for a split personality to me. Me watching the spectacle of me living, and saying to myself, "that's not me." Haunted75 wrote: I would like to know if it's possible to have a person who simply doesn't have a personality. For as long as I've been in the depths of my brain I haven't found anything I would call my personality. In the depths of your brain there is nothing but these circles of thought about observing and silence and personality, but it is not observing anything least of all yourself because you have dismissed all that as 'not me'. There is no need to identify with this or not identify with that; I already am this and that and the division between them. I am that divided person who thinks they are not their actions but merely an observer. The observer observes the division between himself and himself, and finds that he is the division. The act of identifying divides, and the act of not identifying also divides. So what does not divide? Only the act which is wholehearted. Only the thought that does not think, 'this is what I must think' but that thinks just what it thinks.
The observer is the observed. J Krishnamurti "Philosophy, to the Philistine, is an evolutionary process, watched over by some sort of brisk dynamic Providence, and culminating in the supreme insight of modern thought." John Cowper Powys

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