Читать книгу The Power of Being - Андреас Грубер - Страница 11

As we aspire to improve ourselves; we sometimes talk about personality, and that is an interesting word. It originates from the Ancient Greek, meaning mask. (Originally an actor's mask, Greek prósōpana face, mask. Latin persōna = role in life, a play, or a tale. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/persona)

In those days, actors usually put on different masks as they impersonated different characters. So in that sense, our personality is the face we want to show the world. To some extent, we are aware of this. We do also talk about different roles in our lives. But maybe our job should be to get rid of our personality if it implies a fake mask, which we are not. This may seem like a play on words, but it tells us something about how we interact. We either feel we can’t show our true nature or face, or we believe it serves us to slip into different roles.

Being authentic, is what we are looking for, isn't it? It depends on what we are aiming for. If our objective is to meet people as they truly are, authenticity is what we need. If we are comfortable with playing the games we do, then personality will suffice. Then we can keep our mask on. And besides, at short notice, it's much easier to work on our personality than our authenticity and human qualities.

But then again, why are you reading this book; just because you are curious? Or, do you wish to effectuate change in your personal life, as well as positively influencing the lives of many others?

We can’t afford to be who we are. Therefore, we need a created and shining personality.

Authentic came from the Greek word authentikos and referred to a document that was officially or publicly confirmed to be the original that can be trusted. If we as leaders strive for trust, we need it. Authenticity also matters when it comes to integrity.

Famous actors often claim, that even within the realm of acting, you have to be authentic. Otherwise, you can never be credible. You have to incorporate what you are playing. You go and find that very aspect within yourself, and act it authentically. That's probably as close as an actor can get, and these actors do touch us.

But what may move us much more, is an authentic human being who has honed his human qualities. And we are not talking about superficialities like politeness or other social conventions. Politeness that has been conditioned upon us is as much part of a fake personality as a superiority complex ever will be. Not that politeness as such is wrong, but the place it comes from.

A created personality is an antidote to integrity.

Until you have actually, consciously tried to act like another person, you may not have noticed that it feels quite odd. You may even feel hollow or fake. Probably you have also observed a person, who due to conditioning, upbringing, and social pressure was acting in an utterly artificial way. It may have seemed quite clear to you, as a neutral spectator, that this type of behavior was not natural. We can notice this in others at times. The problem is, that when it comes to ourselves, we only know ourselves that particular way, and we are quite sure that's how and who we are. But, we are also a product of conditioning, and therefore, it's our job to find out what's genuine and authentic within ourselves.

Observing the roles we play

After acknowledging that we are playing roles and incorporating different personalities, we may want to take a look at them, as we put them on and take them off. We can observe ourselves, to see what makes us change or what stops us from staying the way we were just a moment ago. Be curious about yourself. There is nothing right or wrong about these roles as such, but they might just not serve you anymore. Only you can ever know that, or change it.

Authenticity is also to embrace who and what we were before we started adding things on. It's actually simpler to develop a personality than to be what we are. The problem is that, as long as we haven't realized what's already there, we'll always opt for the created personality, which seems much better and is so familiar. We may even think, we can’t afford to be who we are.

Should you believe this, you have a dilemma as a leader, because your created personality is not going to do the job, regarding integrity, motivation, and inspiration. The aim of this book is to show you why, and present you an option.