{"id":19670,"date":"2023-08-10T10:22:14","date_gmt":"2023-08-10T09:22:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kennethsorensen.dk\/?p=19670"},"modified":"2026-08-11T13:48:56","modified_gmt":"2026-08-11T12:48:56","slug":"being-being-a-soul-having-a-personality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kennethsorensen.dk\/en\/being-being-a-soul-having-a-personality\/","title":{"rendered":"Being \u2013 Being a Soul, Having a Personality"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

You already are what you seek. Being a soul is not an achievement but a recognition, with every summit a step closer to the widest truth.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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By Roberto Assagioli<\/strong>
Undated
Original title: Essere<\/em>
From the Assagioli Archive in Florence[1]<\/a>
Translated and Edited With Notes by Jan Kuniholm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Editorial Note<\/strong>
The abstract and contextual subtitle in this online edition have been added by the editor, Kenneth S\u00f8rensen, to support readability, navigation, and archival consistency. The original wording has not been altered. This text has been translated and edited with notes by Jan Kuniholm, whose editorial annotations on the source material and literary references have been preserved as part of this edition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Abstract<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In this essay, Roberto Assagioli draws a vital distinction between having a soul, where personality takes precedence, and being a soul, where one’s true identity is recognised as spiritual. He argues that personal life is merely incidental to incarnation, and that the soul’s plan is the deeper reality. Through the image of a mountaineer ascending toward ever-wider horizons, he urges the reader to embrace the daily work of liberation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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By making a vital distinction between having <\/em>a Soul (in which the first place is given to personality, and the soul is considered as an \u201caccessory\u201d) and being <\/em>a soul (which is precisely the opposite, and an affirmation of truth) we must come to realize that our personal life is only the consequence of incarnation, and all its vicissitudes are only incidents <\/em>(that are more or less serious). And then the Soul \u2014 and the life of the Soul, and the Plan of the Soul to be implemented \u2014 becomes (is) the reality<\/em>, and personal life is the \u201caccessory,\u201d the transitory, the incidental, the relative one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Therefore, BE<\/em> a Soul, and live accordingly. Stick to the absolute Truth of our being, freeing ourselves from the clutches, burdens, bonds, and oppressions of lesser truths<\/em>. Everything can be true on its own plane and level, but going to the ultimate limit, to the widest truth, is the continuous urge, the continuous yearning of the Soul.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Climbing a mountain, one gradually sees beautiful vistas that in themselves might be satisfying and fulfilling, but the desire of the climber is to reach the top, the highest peak; and from there contemplate the widest panorama, above the obstacles that limited him. The views left below were not and are not ugly or despicable for all that (those who cannot go any further, stop there and are fulfilled by them), but they are necessarily more limited; and the brave, vigorous mountaineer always aims to reach the highest peak, which opens the widest and freest horizon. From height to height to the summit, which is like the absolute truth <\/em>of that particular ascent (which is like the task given by the Soul-Self for that particular incarnation). No summit that is reached is the highest in truth<\/em>; it is only momentarily and relatively so, but precisely for the moment <\/em>it is the maximum height (the maximum realization of oneself as Soul<\/em>) beyond which it is not possible <\/em>to go. Reaching that goal is \u2014 or should be \u2014 our daily work. The Soul cannot stop on the ledges,[2]<\/a> nor stop at the narrowest views, at the Truths that are less than His Truth<\/em>. The Soul must <\/em>do its <\/em>work, implement its <\/em>plan, fulfill its <\/em>purpose. Therefore, during our most acute suffering, in the dullest and grayest moments, let us remember that we ARE a SOUL; let us remember that our daily work is liberation: it is the ascent to the highest and purest truth that our Soul, that WE, as SOULS, must and will conquer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BE <\/em>a Soul. All of us are <\/em>Souls: realizing this<\/em> breaks down the materialistic illusion of being bodies \u2014 bundles of emotions, feelings, thoughts \u2014 and leads into the realm of Truth. It reverses the meaning of life, and the values of life. It is the true essential Awakening. It is self-recognition, breaking down separation; it is a real shift from ignorance <\/em>to knowledge<\/em>, from an illusion, \u201ca dream\u201d and \u201ca lie\u201d to essential \u201csincerity,\u201d to TRUTH.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTo speak the Truth, means (esoterically) to express the Transcendent Glory through one\u2019s form (personality).\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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[1]<\/a> The original document was not found by this editor in the Online Archives. However, not all have been uploaded yet. Source of this document: www.psicoenergetica.com<\/a>. \u2014Ed.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

[2]<\/a> Assagioli\u2019s image of the \u201cledges\u201d recalls the many ledges in Dante\u2019s Purgatorio,<\/em>which is certainly a model or image of what Assagioli is describing. \u2014Ed.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n