Section 2
Self and Personality
Introduction
The representation of psychic structure and agency constitutes a major conceptual challenge for psychologists. The challenge has been responded to from different vantage points leading to different problems, methods and applications. In general, while ‘self’ was treated as the perceived and experiential aspect of subjectivity, ‘personality’ was treated as the manifest and socially accessible part of self-experience. The objective part of the personality, which appeared to be known to the person as well as to others, was treated extensively, and a variety of theories and assessment methods were proposed. This became a preoccupation for differential psychology which specialized in the tapping of individual differences and which has become a strong commercial enterprise capitalizing on test development. In contrast, the concern for ‘self’ remained peripheral in the pursuit of modern psychology which has retained a behaviouristic posture as its major theoretical and methodological plank.
It may be noted that the notions of self and personality in modern psychology grew in recognition of the challenges posed by the need for a comprehensive and holistic unit of the functioning individual in the idiographic tradition. Mainstream positivist psychology dealt with concepts and processes such as learning, perception, memory, motivation and emotion as objects amenable to measurement, prediction and control. In this nomothetic tradition, individual differences were ‘errors’, and therefore not much attention was paid to them. Further, the adoption of a computational model of organism as central processor required researchers to assume that cognitive processes went on in the form of mechanisms that rendered assumptions about the self redundant. In the recent past, however, there has been a resurgence of interest in self-related processes and various aspects of the self (for example, self-esteem, self-determination, self-awareness, self-monitoring) have been attended to.
Cross-cultural and cultural psychological approaches indicate that not only do the structure and contents of the self vary across cultural settings, but, by endorsing specific types of the self, culture also influences the processes of cognition, emotion and motivation in significant ways. Another source of psychological scholarship about the self is psychodynamic theory in which intrapsychic processes, particularly emotions and developmental history of the individual, play a central role. These perspectives question the individualistic notions of the self and identity; and pave the way for considering other modes of self, such as familial-self, relational-self, collective-self and spiritual-self. In most of these conceptualizations, the self remains some sort of a cognitive construction. While these analyses expand the scope of discourse on the self, they cannot capture the multi-layered account of lived reality, which is one of the hallmarks of Indian thought.
According to one of the major and widely held Indian perspectives, the self functions as a complex structure that has an unchanging core and diverse changing manifestations, which can be innumerable. The manifestations, including the body, are always in flux and are of shifting nature. The (real) self goes beyond these manifestations, whereas the shifting entities are no more than acquired identities (upādhis), and not the self or identity itself. The fundamental attribution error that one makes is that of establishing an unreal identity between the self and these acquired identities. Such an identity formation takes place because of conditioning, which results in identifying the self with what it is not. The postulate of a shared identity, or self as ātman, offers a common empathic ground for every person. Compared to this, the notion of I-centred or egoistic self is limited to the body and personal possessions—attachment to which, however, has substantial consequences for organizing one's personal and social conduct. The Buddhist view, on the other hand, denies any ātman-like self and upholds the notion of non-ātman. Neither worldview, however, reduces the burden: both rather demand organizing one's conduct in the light of dharma. Thus, the interdependence of the self with a considerable degree of responsiveness to the context becomes central to all human endeavours.
The Indian discourse situates the problems of human existence on a complex temporal horizon that functions at two levels—historical and ahistorical. The notion of ahaṁkāra constitutes the immediate, sensory, social and physical bindings and constraints. It covers the major shades of the self covered in modern self theories. However, the notion of the self in its spiritual and more inclusive mode transcends the immediate and the empirical. The newer interpretations of the self by Sri Aurobindo and others have ventured at recognizing the significance of inner subjective reality as a potential, dynamic and flexible growth centre which is part of a grand design of consciousness.
The shared common ground in the Indian tradition includes the concept of the three guṇas or strands/qualities constituting the empirical reality (prakṛti)—sattva (virtue, luminosity), rajas (activity) and tamas (inertia). These guṇas are pervasive as they constitute the behaving person as well as the external environment. Thus people and objects both share these qualities and engender enough scope for mutuality and reciprocity. Health, for example, includes a state of congruity and consistency between self and the season (ṛtusātmya). The Bhagavad Gītā illustrates beautifully almost everything worth mentioning about the three guṇas by relating them to the domains of food, intellect, wisdom, action, and charity. It also provides a comprehensive analysis of the positive or divine (daiva) qualities that humans need to develop and the negative or demonic (asuric qualities) qualities that they have to avoid. The divine qualities include fearlessness, purity of the citta (mind stuff), steadfastness in the yoga of knowledge, charity, control of the senses, sacrifice, study of scriptures, austerity, simplicity, non-violence, truthfulness, freedom from anger, renunciation, tranquillity, aversion to fault-finding, compassion, freedom from covetousness, gentleness, modesty and absence of fickleness, vigour, forgiveness, fortitude, purity, freedom from malice, and excessive pride. The demonic qualities include ostentation, arrogance, pride, anger, harshness, ignorance, lack of purity, bad conduct, lack of truth, lust, low intellect, fierce in deeds, false prestige, wrong views, impure resolves, anxiousness, sense gratification, adopting unrighteous means, attachment, lack of humility, intoxication with wealth and pride and domination by false ego.
These contrasting characterizations of the two sets of qualities bring home the point that human life is fragile, but by one's own initiative improvement can be brought in. The potential of uplift is there, and one may self-consciously engage in yoga (for example, bhakti, jñāna, karma) to move ahead on the path of self-realization. The expanded notion of Indian self extends an opportunity to empower human beings. This upward movement is not mere imagination and is exemplified by the lives of personalities such as Ramkrishna Paramhansa, Swami Vivekananda, Sri Aurobindo and Mahatma Gandhi, to name just a few.
This section of the present volume tries to analyse some of the important issues pertaining to the self and personality in the Indian tradition. The first article by Kiran Kumar K. Salagame, ‘Ego and ahaṁkāra: Self and identity in modern psychology and Indian thought’, examines the concepts of ‘ego’ and ‘ahaṁkāra’. These terms have been used synonymously, and ego has been used as a translation of ahaṁkāra. Kiran Kumar points to the conceptual similarities and dissimilarities between the two terms, and outlines their implications for human development and well-being. The author carried out a series of empirical studies at the University of Mysore to study the concept of ahaṁkāra. The findings suggest that ahaṁkāra can serve as a meta-construct which can embrace many of the modern psychological concepts related to self and identity.
Priya Ananda and Ajith Prasad point out that Buddhist psychology has formulated various ways of analysing personality which may be termed as ‘The models of personality in Buddhist psychology’. These psychological models are valuable in studying a variety of experiences—of the conventional involvement of ordinary beings, of those in the stages of the path to awakening, and the qualities of the fully awakened state. The authors indicate that these models are useful in analysing experiences related to sleep, dream, death, after-death state, etc. In this chapter, various models of personality available in Buddhist psychology are explored. The application of these models in understanding various psychological states and afflictions are also briefly touched upon.
Suneet Varma's chapter, ‘Integral psychology: A new science of self, personality, and psychology’, outlines a theory of personality based on Sri Aurobindo's conceptualization of the human being. Starting with the basic notion of self and personhood in various schools of contemporary academic psychology that are largely located in the lower levels of psychological functioning, the field of Transpersonal Psychology is used as a stepping stone to access the higher reaches of humanity. A brief outline of the Advaita Vedāntic perspectives on personality then paves the way for Sri Aurobindo's neo-Vedāntic depiction of the person. Varma then indicates the potential of Integral Psychology in bringing about human unity. In the last section, the author outlines an approach to the transformation of emotions, and its role in psychotherapy.
In ‘An integral approach to our psychic centre’, Brant Cortright holds that psychology in the West looks from the outside in, whereas psychology in the East looks from the inside out. These two perspectives give two very different views of psychology. Cortright further notes that the outside-in view of Western psychology has developed very detailed, precise maps of the outer being, the body-heart-mind organism and the surface structures of the self; whereas Eastern psychology's view from the inside out has generated very detailed maps of our inner being and the spiritual foundation of consciousness. Each has essential knowledge about human existence, yet each focuses on only half of this psycho-spiritual totality. Cortright is of the view that each requires the other to complete it, and only in bringing them together does an integral view of psychology emerge. In this chapter the author brings about an integration of these two diverse streams of thought.
In the next chapter, Bahman Shirazi provides an outline of ‘The Sufi path of self-transformation’. Beginning with a brief introduction to Islam (which means ‘peaceful surrender’ to the Divine Will), Shirazi notes that the process of spiritual transformation involves seven classical stages—awakening, abstinence, non-attachment, spiritual poverty, patience, God-reliance, and joyous certitude. The spiritual journey in Sufism begins with the sharia which is a collection of principles and practices that govern the day-to-day life of Muslims. The next level involves tarigha, which literally means a path which requires the expert knowledge of a guide (sheikh) to traverse. The third level of the spiritual journey brings the aspirant to a higher spiritual consciousness called haghighat (Truth-consciousness). The fourth and final level of Sufism is known as ma'rifa (Gnosis), which refers to direct knowledge and love of the Divine. The author points out that only persistence, patience and absolute purity of the heart and soul and total sincerity can bring the seeker into direct union with God consciousness.
Shivantika Sharad finally looks at ‘Being an authentic self: Some insights from the lives of Sri Aurobindo and Mahatama Gandhi’. Sharad notes that authenticity has not been adequately researched or discussed in mainstream psychology and goes on to examine existential and humanistic conceptualizations of authenticity. Unlike existentialism, Indian thought is not centred on death, but towards the realization of the true Self and liberation. In the Indian view, striving to be authentic enhances and facilitates self-expansion and self-transcendence. Within this paradigm a search for true or authentic self is held to be the prime goal of human life. The author then illustrates the Indian conception of authenticity as a lived reality by discussing episodes from the lives of Sri Aurobindo and Mahatma Gandhi.