Playing A Part

We all play a character that thinks it’s fixed.

Character: via Latin from Greek kharaktēr ‘a stamping tool’, a distinctive mark, a token, feature, or trait: a description, especially of a person’s distinguishing qualities.

This persona comes from adopting the social I created during our upbringing. It is a reflection of others’ responses to us, and we play that part – “Good boy, stupid boy”. This develops into a persona with distinguishing marks, whether proud, fearful, judgemental, gormless … :-). “Oh look, there’s gormless Tony!” to which I’d reply, “Oh, hello.”

We are none of the above, despite the fact that we assume that character. I did, being fearful and gormless – it’s a personal prison. Self identity is a personal prison, but when a group identifies with some idea, it becomes a collective prison as we all keep in group character on the stage, with ‘a usual pattern of behaviour and motives’.

‘Know thy self’
is to know the behaviour that we have fallen into.

We know in part but, when we know as the enlightened know,
pure consciousness is our completeness.