The reality of the luminous shadow of the individual, the desirable shadow, the creative-manifestive power shaping an individual, that itself taking such a form, the bright persona belongs to another dimension and should not be mixed up with the Jungain shadow that keeps on clinging to us in the darkness of the subconscient that actually holds us back from our authentic individuality. In the following are two relevant passages from the writings of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother. ~ RYDThe Bright Persona
If there is a personality, then the implication is that there has to be its perfection and fulfilment in the gnostic nature. This perfection is not only the perfection of the inner being in its aspects of existence-consciousness-delight, but also it should be a perfection of life and action. But this personality cannot be our separative ego-self which indeed must disappear in a transcendental or universal Consciousness; personal life and action must cease. At the same time it is here on earth and not in some heaven elsewhere that the ego-personality should be extinguished and replaced by a universalised spiritual individual who is a centre and power of the transcendent Being. This true individual is not a self without personality, an impersonal Purusha. In the supermind consciousness personality and impersonality are not opposite principles; they are inseparable aspects of one and the same reality.
Impersonality is in its source something fundamental and universal; it is an existence, a force, a consciousness that takes on various shapes of its being and energy; each such shape of energy, quality, power or force, though still in itself general, impersonal and universal, is taken by the individual being as material for the building of his personality. Love is the nature of the lover, courage the nature of the warrior; love and courage are impersonal and universal forces or formulations of the cosmic Force, they are the Spirit's powers of its universal being and nature. The Person is the Being supporting what is thus impersonal, holding it in himself as his, his nature of self; he is that which is the lover and the warrior. If we look at it from this basis, there is no opposition, no incompatibility, no impossibility of a co-existence or one-existence of the Impersonal and the Person.
A supramental gnostic individual will be a Person, but not a personality in the sense of a pattern of being marked out by a settled combination of fixed qualities, a determined character; he is a conscious expression of the universal and the transcendent. But neither can his being be a capricious impersonal flux throwing up at random waves of various form, waves of personality as it pours through Time. Indeed, flux of nature and fixity of nature are two aspects of being. For in all men there is a double element, the unformed though limited flux of being or Nature out of which personality is fashioned and the personal formation out of that flux.
But besides this flux and this fixity there is also a third and occult element, the Person behind of whom the personality is a self-expression; the Person puts forward the personality as his role, character, persona, in the present act of his long drama of manifested existence. But the Person is larger than his personality; the result is a self-expression of being which can no longer be described by fixed qualities. But neither is it indistinguishable, amorphous and unseizable flux; it can still be distinctively felt, followed in its action, it can be recognised, though it cannot easily be described. We feel ourselves in presence of a light of consciousness, a potency, a sea of energy, can distinguish and describe its free waves of action and quality, but not fix itself; and yet there is an impression of personality, the presence of a powerful being, a strong, high or beautiful recognisable Someone, a Person, not a limited creature of Nature but a Self or Soul, a Purusha. The gnostic Individual would be such an inner Person unveiled, occupying both the depths,—no longer self-hidden,—and the surface in a unified self-awareness; he would not be a surface personality partly expressive of a larger secret being, he would be not the wave but the ocean: he would be the Purusha, the inner conscious Existence self-revealed, and would have no need of a carved expressive mask or persona.
This is the nature of the gnostic Person, an infinite and universal being revealing its eternal self through the significant form and expressive power of an individual and temporal self-manifestation. But the individual nature-manifestation, whether strong and distinct in outline or multitudinous and protean but still harmonic, would be there as an index of the being, not as the whole being: that would be felt behind, recognisable but indefinable, infinite. The consciousness also of the gnostic Person would be an infinite consciousness throwing up forms of self-expression, but aware always of its unbound infinity and universality and conveying the power and sense of its infinity and universality even in the finiteness of the expression,—by which, moreover, it would not be bound in the next movement of farther self-revelation. But this would still not be an unregulated unrecognisable flux but a process of self-revelation making visible the inherent truth of its powers of existence according to the harmonic law natural to all manifestation of the Infinite.
[Based on The Life Divine, pp. 991-96] Impersonality of Ego
Always there are revolts, insults, all those things. So the question is: Is there any place for “self-respect”, for amour-propre in the sadhana? The straight answer is: “No”. Yet, in the present state, there cannot be the effort without the ego-sense. Ego is the helper. However, things have to be understood; even the physical must understand them. It has to be a sort of offering of the being, which gives itself in order to learn. The Mother was speaking of the cells. She even said that it is very interesting, that it is the experience of the body. “It is very interesting, because the ego has become for me a kind of impersonal entity, while for everybody else it is the acute sense of his personality!” Impersonality of ego—how wonderful! What must happen is, one must learn how to be the perfect unity. And one must always laugh, always. “The Lord laughs, and He laughs, and His laugh is so nice, so nice, so full of love. It is a laugh that envelops you with an extraordinary sweetness.” Indeed, it is the Anandamaya Purusha, the Being of Bliss who is radiating his rapturous sweetness everywhere—deep and calm in its power of creation-expression-manifestation.
[Based on the Mother’s Notes on the Way, pp. 54-56, dated 11 January 1967]
The Bright Persona If there is a personality, then the implication is that there has to be its perfection and fulfilment in the gnostic nature. This perfection is not only the perfection of the inner being in its aspects of existence-consciousness-delight, but also it should be a perfection of life and action. But this personality cannot be our separative ego-self which indeed must disappear in a transcendental or universal Consciousness; personal life and action must cease. At the same time it is here on earth and not in some heaven elsewhere that the ego-personality should be extinguished and replaced by a universalised spiritual individual who is a centre and power of the transcendent Being. This true individual is not a self without personality, an impersonal Purusha. In the supermind consciousness personality and impersonality are not opposite principles; they are inseparable aspects of one and the same reality. Impersonality is in its source something fundamental and universal; it is an existence, a force, a consciousness that takes on various shapes of its being and energy; each such shape of energy, quality, power or force, though still in itself general, impersonal and universal, is taken by the individual being as material for the building of his personality. Love is the nature of the lover, courage the nature of the warrior; love and courage are impersonal and universal forces or formulations of the cosmic Force, they are the Spirit's powers of its universal being and nature. The Person is the Being supporting what is thus impersonal, holding it in himself as his, his nature of self; he is that which is the lover and the warrior. If we look at it from this basis, there is no opposition, no incompatibility, no impossibility of a co-existence or one-existence of the Impersonal and the Person. A supramental gnostic individual will be a Person, but not a personality in the sense of a pattern of being marked out by a settled combination of fixed qualities, a determined character; he is a conscious expression of the universal and the transcendent. But neither can his being be a capricious impersonal flux throwing up at random waves of various form, waves of personality as it pours through Time. Indeed, flux of nature and fixity of nature are two aspects of being. For in all men there is a double element, the unformed though limited flux of being or Nature out of which personality is fashioned and the personal formation out of that flux. But besides this flux and this fixity there is also a third and occult element, the Person behind of whom the personality is a self-expression; the Person puts forward the personality as his role, character, persona, in the present act of his long drama of manifested existence. But the Person is larger than his personality; the result is a self-expression of being which can no longer be described by fixed qualities. But neither is it indistinguishable, amorphous and unseizable flux; it can still be distinctively felt, followed in its action, it can be recognised, though it cannot easily be described. We feel ourselves in presence of a light of consciousness, a potency, a sea of energy, can distinguish and describe its free waves of action and quality, but not fix itself; and yet there is an impression of personality, the presence of a powerful being, a strong, high or beautiful recognisable Someone, a Person, not a limited creature of Nature but a Self or Soul, a Purusha. The gnostic Individual would be such an inner Person unveiled, occupying both the depths,—no longer self-hidden,—and the surface in a unified self-awareness; he would not be a surface personality partly expressive of a larger secret being, he would be not the wave but the ocean: he would be the Purusha, the inner conscious Existence self-revealed, and would have no need of a carved expressive mask or persona. This is the nature of the gnostic Person, an infinite and universal being revealing its eternal self through the significant form and expressive power of an individual and temporal self-manifestation. But the individual nature-manifestation, whether strong and distinct in outline or multitudinous and protean but still harmonic, would be there as an index of the being, not as the whole being: that would be felt behind, recognisable but indefinable, infinite. The consciousness also of the gnostic Person would be an infinite consciousness throwing up forms of self-expression, but aware always of its unbound infinity and universality and conveying the power and sense of its infinity and universality even in the finiteness of the expression,—by which, moreover, it would not be bound in the next movement of farther self-revelation. But this would still not be an unregulated unrecognisable flux but a process of self-revelation making visible the inherent truth of its powers of existence according to the harmonic law natural to all manifestation of the Infinite. [Based on The Life Divine, pp. 991-96]
Impersonality of Ego Always there are revolts, insults, all those things. So the question is: Is there any place for “self-respect”, for amour-propre in the sadhana? The straight answer is: “No”. Yet, in the present state, there cannot be the effort without the ego-sense. Ego is the helper. However, things have to be understood; even the physical must understand them. It has to be a sort of offering of the being, which gives itself in order to learn. The Mother was speaking of the cells. She even said that it is very interesting, that it is the experience of the body. “It is very interesting, because the ego has become for me a kind of impersonal entity, while for everybody else it is the acute sense of his personality!” Impersonality of ego—how wonderful! What must happen is, one must learn how to be the perfect unity. And one must always laugh, always. “The Lord laughs, and He laughs, and His laugh is so nice, so nice, so full of love. It is a laugh that envelops you with an extraordinary sweetness.” Indeed, it is the Anandamaya Purusha, the Being of Bliss who is radiating his rapturous sweetness everywhere—deep and calm in its power of creation-expression-manifestation. [Based on the Mother’s Notes on the Way, pp. 54-56, dated 11 January 1967]