It is no trivial matter to say that everyone is himself or herself, because one might not be oneself, and in that state one can cause a great deal of trouble.
By "fundamental personality" we mean, quite simply, oneself: who one truly is; and fortunately, the fundamental personality has a good head on its shoulders.
Incidentally, this is why bringing people back to their fundamental personality is such a good thing: once they are "true to themselves", they will behave ethically and sensibly spontaneously, on their own initiative.
By "artificial personality" we mean any other "identity", and here the word "identity" is within quotation marks because, in this case, it is indeed an artificial identity: the individual is, in reality, always self, but he is in a state in which he "wears", has adopted an artificial personality that overlays his fundamental one, masking it.
And unfortunately, artificial personalities usually do NOT have a good head on their shoulders; they are essentially automated systems, which, as such, behave exactly as programmed, and artificial personalities are usually created in circumstances where they are fed absurd and, above all, destructive programmes.
An artificial personality is like the crystallisation of a moment of madness – a fleeting moment in which one loses one’s mind and acts the fool – which becomes fixed as an entire personality containing nothing but that single moment of madness, and which, as such, will continue to perpetuate it exactly as it is. One suffers a defeat that overwhelms one for a moment; in that moment, one's state of mind is ‘I’ll show them!’, and this moment crystallises into an artificial personality which, if it takes control of the individual, will give one ‘I’ll show them!’ as one's sole motivation in any situation and circumstance. A motivation that is indeed singular, but also underlying and therefore not easily recognisable; furthermore, the artificial personality will bend the individual’s intelligence to serve this motivation, so that it will be even better concealed because it is wrapped up in every possible and imaginable justification that the person’s intelligence can devise to, precisely, justify this destructive absurdity. By definition, in fact, to justify means to make something right and sensible, and if something needs to be made right and sensible, this implies that it is not, in the first place, right and sensible.
The whole situation can be further complicated by the multitude of artificial personalities: it is not the exception but rather the rule that an individual who is not himself is under the control of a variety of artificial personalities rather than just one, and that he therefore goes round driven by a mosaic of "I’ll show you" attitudes that are not only varied and diverse but also combined in an almost random manner, rather than by a single one.
Despite the wide variety of artificial personalities, there are some common, fundamental elements which, as such, simplify the picture. This section describes two of these:
“Winning” and “Losing”, the Feud by Contagion of Human Misery (7 pages)
Every aspect of the artificial personality is serious in view of its consequences, but it is perhaps worth highlighting one in particular, taken from page 5 of the reference cited above: when denunciation turns into complicity.
The victim becomes the perpetrator, and the loose cannon begins to inflict the oppression he has suffered upon himself and others:
"A case in point and a striking example of this is that of artists. It is a horrible one for its consequences for the society as a whole, that is all of us, because of their inspirational role: artists crowd its first line, but behind that front line nearly anyone else can be found, too. Artists and art can be observed shifting from denouncing evil to getting so used to any kind of self−destructive and socially destructive behaviour as the way it goes that they end up sanctifying evil and ridiculing and fighting doing something about it. It has been said, «Vae Victis, woe betide the defeated. It is all perfectly well to fight injustice and each one of us ought to, but woe betide being defeated into unconscious or hopeless apathy, because one BECOMES what one fought unsuccessfully.» One thus infers that the solution lies in remaining aware, never losing hope, and winning against injustice."
As far as behaviour and its motives are concerned, the difference between a genuine personality and an artificial one is the same as that between a being and a machine: in the case of a being, there is someone there; in the case of a machine, there is no one there.
That makes all the difference:
A being has a sound mind, is cause, and has power of choice.
There is someone there: if a being sees a pushchair on the pedestrian crossing, he stop.
A machine has an artificial personality without a sound mind; it is effect, and has no power of choice.
There is no one there: if a machine sees a pushchair on a pedestrian crossing, it does exactly what the programme tells it to do.
We therefore have a situation where individuals are driven by absurd and destructive motivations, dictated by artificial personalities that have taken control, and in whom "there is no one there", unless we can help their core personality regain control.
