CHAPTER XI 



SOME FUNCTIONS AND IDEALS OF PERSONALITY 



Summary. — The central conception of Personality is that of a 

 whole; it is the most holistic entity in the universe, hence no other 

 category will do justice to it, and certainly not mechanism. Psy- 

 chology is too much of an abstract science to give an adequate 

 view of Personality, though even psychology is dependent on the 

 theory of a central synthetic activity for the correct construction 

 and interpretation of mental experience, and ignores that theory 

 at its peril. The suggestion of a new science or discipline of Per- 

 sonology has therefore been made which will study Personality 

 more synthetically and concretely than is possible for psychology. 



As an active living whole. Personality is fundamentally an organ 

 of self-realisation; the object of a whole is more wholeness, in 

 other words, more of its creative self, more self-realisation. This 

 means that the will or active voluntary nature of Personality is its 

 predominant element, and the intelligence or rational activity is 

 subordinate and instrumental — it has to discover and co-ordinate 

 means to the end of self-realisation. Feeling is likewise subordi- 

 nate, its function being to give strength and impetus to the will. 

 The Personality is thus a more or less balanced whole or structure 

 of various tendencies and activities maintained in progressive 

 harmony by the holistic unity of the Personality itself. In fact 

 Personality resembles an organised society or state with its cen- 

 tral executive and legislative authority wielding sway over its in- 

 dividual members in the interest of the whole. Kant has rightly 

 called man a legislative being. Part of this control in Personality 

 is conscious, most of it is, however, subconscious. This control is 

 still largely imperfect and immature owing to the extreme youth 

 of Personality in the history of Evolution. But it is growing. 

 More holistic control in the Personality means greater strength of 

 mind and character, better co-ordination of all impulses and 

 tendencies; less internal friction and wear and tear in the soul, 

 more peace of mind, and finally that spiritual purity, integrity and 

 wholeness which is the ideal of Personality. The Personality has 

 the same self-healing power which we saw already in the case of 

 the mutilated organism; and in case of moral or other aberration 

 it usually has the power to right and recover itself and often 

 creatively to gather strength from its own weakness or errors. 



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