Personality begins to form soon after birth, in response to the demands of life.
The Essence can never conform naturally to the expectations of those around us, or to the culture and times into which we are born, and so we are forced to adapt and coat the Essence with personality as a protective layer. This coat becomes heavier as we conform to expectations and are assimilated into society, primarily through imitation and education.
This adaptation is indispensable and beneficial to our proper functioning in the world, but only as long as it is kept in balance with the physical Body and the Essence. Such a balance, however, never occurs naturally, but requires at the outset a motivational effort towards that which is authentic, beautiful and true, the divine reality in man. The harmony achieved by the conscious relationship with one’s own inner truth leads man towards the Self.
Go towards the Self is the first commandment of the new Era.
