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A person without personality?

Haunted75
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Posted 07/31/08 - 02:59 PM: Subject: A person without personality?	#1
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.

sevkeifert
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Posted 07/31/08 - 03:16 PM:	#2
Hmmm, it sounds like you've described an INTP personality type on the Meyers-Brigg type indicator. Although I would take personality tests with a grain of salt ... they're not a hard-science, but more predictive than something like an astrological personality description. IMO, it's a personality type ...

Tzar
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Posted 07/31/08 - 03:26 PM:	#3
Read "Der Steppenwolf" by Herman Hesse, it helps a lot.

unenlightened
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Posted 07/31/08 - 03:39 PM:	#4
This is a really interesting question, well expressed. There are a few things I could say, but first a couple of questions. Is this a problem that bothers you, or is it just an interesting thing you noticed? If it bothers you, does it bother you mainly when you are with other people, or alone? Can you give me an idea of what you see in others that you call personality; are you talking about particular interests and skills, a habitual manner of behaving or talking, or a consistent moral or philosophical view, or something else - which is most important to you?
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

Haunted75
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Posted 08/01/08 - 01:17 AM:	#5
unenlightened wrote: Is this a problem that bothers you, or is it just an interesting thing you noticed? When I first discovered this thing about 2 yeas ago, I wasn't bothered with it. Sure I still wanted to what a my boundaries, as a personality, but I thought that maybe my personality still hasn't full developed, so in time I would get to know myself. unenlightened wrote: If it bothers you, does it bother you mainly when you are with other people, or alone? Funny thing is, that when I'm with other people I don't even see that my personality has different traits. It's possible that my subconsciousness is the one calling the shots, so I wouldn't know if I've changed or not. When I'm alone, it's like living solely on instincts. That's something I can't quite explain how I am when there isn't any situation that needs me to change. Also, when I'm alone and have some problems, I start to analyze what could be the best solution to solve it. Through that action I also found out that I'm different with other people. unenlightened wrote: Can you give me an idea of what you see in others that you call personality; are you talking about particular interests and skills, a habitual manner of behaving or talking, or a consistent moral or philosophical view, or something else - which is most important to you? It's a little hard question because how I found out what kind of person someone is, is a mystery. It like when I look at a person I usually can easily tell if he/she is a shy, egoistic, friendly, unfriendly, careful, reckless... Well you could say that to me a personality is something that others see in you, or in my case, what I see in others. Hope this helps, I'll probably run down to the library to see if I have a copy of "Der Steppenwolf".

Deftil
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Posted 08/01/08 - 01:52 AM:	#6
Tzar wrote: Read "Der Steppenwolf" by Herman Hesse, it helps a lot. 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. BTW my avatar is Hesse. Haunted75 wrote: Well you could say that to me a personality is something that others see in you So have you asked others what they think about your personality? The people who are regularly around you might be best able to tell you about your personality. Your personality is what you are like, so you have to have a personality. Even if it's boring, cold, analytical, objective, introspective ,or whatever. You have to be like something. I bet the people around you could describe your personality. Sometimes I've wondered about my personality. I just do whatever comes naturally and don't always notice my personality. But it's there! Also, since you're still quite young, you're still developing your view of the world and of yourself very much. I don't think it's too odd to have a "personality crisis" at your age.

Haunted75
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Posted 08/01/08 - 03:17 AM:	#7
I've asked other people about my personality, how do they see my. Most have their first words, I don't know, after that everybody give me different answers. They say, I'm a friendly, always has something to say, caring, kind, kinda boring, hard to understand, funny, quiet. A lot of them go into contradiction, like I can't be talkative and quiet. Also I can be friendly, but I can also be cold towards others. So asking others hasn't given the answer I'm looking. Also I've considered the possibility of having a personality crisis, because of my age, might just be puberty kicking out, but I just can't believe that this is the reason why I'm like this. 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. The good personality was the one that was shown to other people, but the bad personality was the voice in my head, always pushing me to my limits and finally allowing me to step up against my fears. After the age of 13 I switched school, giving me a new environment and everything around me was getting better, so this voice simply changed into something I call now the voice of my own conversation(because I know that this voice is me talking to myself:p). But some parts of my bad personality remained in my mind, and that's why I thought that I might have two totally different personalities melted together as one complete personality, thus giving me the ability to manipulate my personality into being whoever I need to be. Weird things go around in my head if I read what I wrote.

unenlightened
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Posted 08/01/08 - 10:09 AM:	#8
Philosophy hasn't much of a tradition in this area, fortunately. Not two, but three. The process of analysis requires and creates a division in the personality. There is one who analyses, and there is one who is analysed. There can be no end to this, because the analyser is always left out of the analysis, and therefore further analysis is needed. So when you say there is a good personality and a bad personality, there is also the critic who is looking at them both. Now the critic is the one talking and identifies with the good personality, and separates the bad personality which is not 'allowed' to speak and is kept separate, and this is called 'subconscious' because of the separation. But it is only a name, because if it was a totally separate personality, one would not be aware of it at all. Analysis always comes after the event, so when you are alone (with your computer?), the analyst/critic has his moment, and the fragment that is 'not' the analyst or the analysed appears as a 'voice', although who is which can change from moment to moment. If your name is Freud, you call these fragments ego, id and superego, and other people have other names - Father, Son and Holy Ghost, for example, or parent, child and adult. One of the things one says to one's-selves in this situation is that this is not a good condition to be in, and therefore one strives to be or to become an integrated person - but a moment's reflection will make it clear that this is the analyst trying to be the good personality and rejecting the bad - and so round we go again. It is this very striving to be and become something which is the source of the division, the naming of aspects of personality as 'good' and 'bad'. Deftil wrote: Even if it's boring, cold, analytical, objective, introspective ,or whatever. You have to be like something. Do you? If you look, you are whatever you are, and there is no need for any 'being like', no need to identify something. And as soon as you identify it, you in that act separate it from you. This is all that personality is for most people, conforming to the idea of what they want to be, or what they are. So it is an interesting question whether your flexibility is a free response to the other, or if it is a conforming to ideas, but it is one to ask in the moment, not afterwards. To know oneself is totally different to knowing facts about the world, you have to keep up with yourself through the changes and not hold onto fixed ideas; because what is known is always old, and dead, and life is always new.
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

Haunted75
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Posted 08/01/08 - 11:43 AM:	#9
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.

Cadrache
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Posted 08/01/08 - 11:57 AM:	#10
Here's my take on 2 points. 1. A number of definitions imply that personality is based from an emotional viewpoint. When you try to define your personality by acts, on occassion you cannot seem to find the emotional aspect of the definition. Like you talk, but why you talk may not neccessarily be due to curiosity, or anger, or happiness. But does the act of talking in those cases still mean you have a personality? 2. An example first. For years, teachers were told that students were not allowed to wear hats in school because it changed the behavior of the student. In a black/white type of response, I claim that it is bull crap. Each individual is the imbodiment of whatever they are. If they cry when they get a cut, they are not always crying. If you talk with one person about a particular subject, you do not neccessarily talk to another person about same said particular subject.

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