Essence, Personality, and Self-Development

...we are divided into two parts. One part is what we are born with; it contains the seed of the qualities rightfully belonging to us…. We shall call it our “essence”. The other part is what we have acquired – all our knowledge and most of what attracts us, most of our behavior.

Personality develops as a result of external circumstances (place, time and environment) and it depends entirely on them.

Both are necessary for life; and if a man wants to know himself, to know “his life,” he must first become able to differentiate between them in himself.

• Jean Vaysse, from Towards Awakening