Thought for the day - Feb 11th

Personality and personal identity are in some ways like co-ordinates on a street map drawn by our intersecting relationships - Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts

Personality is something that defines what we are. It is the collection of qualities that defines us. This statement took me quite some time to grasp and a lot more time to understand it in completeness. After a lot of thinking, I am still not sure of what Personal Identity is, and how it differs from Personality.

As far as Personality is concerned, this is a partially true statement as what we are, is definitely shaped by the relationships we have at least in the beginning stages of our life. At a time when we are young, we learn the ways of the world through various relationships that we have with parents, teachers, friends and many more. As we grow up, as we mature, we develop the ability to think on our own, attain the ability to differentiate good from bad, act on our own, take decisions on our own and also achieve the capability to make a choice. Hence we develop individuality and personality is shaped also by our actions. Relationships though still play a major role as we learn from the world around, its no longer the only guiding influence they once were.

Personality varies over time. It changes as we keep learning new things and learning and change are the only things that are always there. The extent to which a relationship influences a person also varies from person to person. It depends on the receptivity of a person.