What is personality?

There are two main myths regarding human personality. One disregards the role of personality, while the other overestimates its modern state.

Sometimes, these myths miraculously converge in one's mind: "instincts control a person" and "anyone can control themselves." Or "a person is an animal" and "a person is the master of their own life."

Both are incorrect.

A person differs from an animal in that all functions of their brain, even the most elementary ones, are subservient to the cortex, i.e., higher mental functions (HMF). In animals, most functions are governed by lower brain regions. The same lower brain regions, such as the reticular formation (RF), exist in humans, but unlike animals, these regions are subservient to the cortex, i.e., reason. Those who mindlessly repeat that humans have the same "instincts and hormones" as animals fail to understand that all these "instincts and hormones" in humans are controlled by the cortex. It's hard to believe when observing individual representatives of the human species, but it's true. Indeed, human behavior is governed by HMF (higher mental functions), i.e., reason. But the reason of individual people are not up to the task and barely manage their behavior. It's not about the power of instincts but the weakness of HMF integration. HMF integration is only achieved through the development of personality—a specialized management organ for HMF, which is poorly developed in many people.

The other extreme is to believe that since lower brain regions are subservient to higher ones and behavior is governed by reason, then anyone can just take control of themselves. Potentially, one can develop to that point, but simply "taking control" is not possible. To control HMF, a person needs a mature personality. The reason, i.e., the cortex, simply won't allow the consciousness of a person with a fragmented, immature personality to control behavior because this consciousness will immediately mess things up. The consciousness of many people resembles a bad company director who inherited the chair but lacks knowledge and skills. This director decides to launch a new production or raise prices, and the company's employees realize that bankruptcy is imminent. So they start using diversionary tactics, inviting circus performers (or strippers), or simply playing cartoons to distract the immature director from management and allow the company to barely survive, without leadership but also without stupid mistakes.

This is precisely what happens with an ordinary person. They don't know how to conserve and distribute energy, don't feel "themselves" (because they don't have a unified "self"), don't know how to plan and forecast, have no goals or ideas about goals, impulsively waste resources, engage in entirely pointless activities, poison themselves, overeat, and suddenly start breaking things so much that they're on the brink of collapse. Fortunately, because of their consciousness's immaturity and their susceptibility to distraction by cartoons, their body survives and continue to exist. The body exists on unconscious cortical models (reasonable but not requiring awareness): habits, imitations, stereotypes, and external influences, which are often contradictory, frequently conflicting with each other, stealing a lot of energy but somehow allowing the body to survive. And as soon as a person tries to take control of themselves, things often get worse.

It turns out that morphologically, humans have a control center, a room filled with control panels, huge monitors, or even hundreds of monitors from which they can observe and coordinate activities. But until a person has knowledge and skills in management, their consciousness will either sleep or idle. Monitors will be turned off, and the control panels will gather dust.

Humans are often compared to animals, favoring the latter. Animals seem much more intelligent because they don't harm themselves, always strive to survive and maintain health, and also care for the environment, which sustains them. Humans constantly harm themselves. Even what humans consider their benefit and advantage ultimately harms them in the long run. This applies to economics, ecology, and energy. It feels like humans have degraded compared to animals, lost their reason, and constantly chopped the very branch they're sitting on. They also prepare a hellish fate for their children.

Human dietary habits (and all others as well) are horrifying. Some switch to sugar and fat, consuming both in enormous amounts and losing the taste of healthy foods. Many then blame fast food manufacturers, who, for profit, have caused them harmful addiction (while lacking willpower). Others, on the contrary, decide to become vegetarians and deprive themselves of protein and animal fats. Some stop eating altogether because they want to have a trendy fragility. And if they survive, they, too, may blame the trend and glossy magazines. And the fourth, from the best motives and a rational desire to have strong health, invent such "clean" diets, without a whole range of essential substances, that any animal would look at them with pity. So, is the reason given to people, and for what? Is it to commit suicide in particularly perverted forms?

In reality, it's too early to discard human reason. Morphologically, everything in the brain is set up just fine. Humans are given tremendous opportunities (in advance, hence the problems) to manage themselves and find ways of rational cooperation with each other. However, to realize such opportunities, mere morphology is not enough. It's also necessary to develop the psychological structure called "personality."

Personality is a system that should ensure interaction between the organism and society. There are no contradictions between personality and society; they are connected like a plant and the earth. The earth feeds the plant, and the plant fertilizes and warms the earth with its fallen leaves. Contradictions between personality-society, plant-earth, and child-mother are seen by those who imagine one or two parasites, not even obligate ones, but facultative ones since even obligate parasites are interested in the prosperity of the host. But the plant is not a parasite to the earth, and a mature personality is not a parasite to society: it nourishes society just as society nourishes it.

The maturity of personality lies in forming an internally active, productive, and well-organized system that can take little from others and give back a lot. Its essence lies precisely in this: energy multiplication. An immature personality is parasitic; it takes a lot but gives little or nothing in return. Therefore, the parasitic immature personality constantly suffers existentially: it either lacks love, or it lacks security, attention, and respect, but no one wants to give because it's useless and can't find its place; it finds ways to fraudulently obtain what it needs but lives in fear of losing it. At the same time, it constantly increases hostility, as it exists in constant conflict with others, often with itself. In short, the life of an immature personality is very difficult, and those who think that such personalities live well if they have successfully settled somewhere are mistaken.

A harmonious state of mind and happiness is possible (thanks to the design of our brain) only with productive connections to the environment (mostly with society). A mature personality provides a person not only with the ability to extract energy from the environment but also the ability to transform it, multiply it, and create something useful for other living beings. It's precisely the ability to multiply the obtained energy that is encouraged by the brain's "happiness hormones" and other rewards. There is and cannot be any contradiction between what is beneficial for oneself and for others. This contradiction arises only when a person opposes others, but integration allows fitting personality into society not at the expense of losing individuality and turning into a cog of a primitive mechanism but through creative participation in a creative project. In other words, if society is viewed as a dead machine and a person as a living element, then there is a contradiction between them. But this is a very depressing and one-sided view of human society.

If one understands that society is a living dynamic system, it becomes evident that a person doesn't need to break themselves to fit into society. Moreover, such a broken personality will not be able to fit into a living system, and cannot receive and multiply energy. Although real society is far from ideal (as well as personalities), even in an underdeveloped society, a personality can find a niche for itself and establish a healthy exchange. Thus, it not only ensures a happy, meaningful existence but also involves other personalities in this process, thereby influencing society.