That's......deep. Seriously.

I have never thought about personalities like that before.

Agree. Sometimes I find it hard to let myself be inconsistent, because I feel like I have a personality to live up to. It irritates me when people are surprised when I deviate from my regular habits. >_>

I feel like I should say something, but I can't think of anything sufficient. Very insightful and well-written as always.

It seems to me that you're making more of an argument against judging people based on how standout their personalities are than arguing against judging personalities. There are bad personalities, after all -- violent, bullying, etc. -- and they can be harmful to you and to their owners. As personalities can reveal a person's inner workings, they should be taken into account (appearance, however, isn't very important in friendships).

What manner of intellectual sorcery did I just read?

I haven't handed out (or updated) this thing in years, but you deserve it.

@Legolover: I find you raise an interesting point. The way I see things is like with the case of Marion Silver in Requiem for a Dream. She was a sad, corrupt individual, and she did some terrible things to herself. Her personality began to rot away, and by the end I'm shocked and horrified at what became of her. To me, it was sort of like seeing a person being physically maimed, except in this case her emotions and her rational reality were mutilated.

Ultimately, I still loved the character, because I always remembered the moment when she was lying on the ground and talking to her boyfriend, Harry, saying "I love you because you make me feel like a person." Other people had told her that she was the most beautiful person in the world before (c'mon, she's played by Jennifer Connelly, and this is the role that made me realize that she was physically beautiful), but it didn't matter. It only meant anything coming from a person who believed in her as a human being.

It hurt me to see the character descend into something that was so bad. The turn of her personality was a terrible offense to her soul as she became further addicted to drugs and accepting of terrible violations of her body and mind along the way.

Did I think the character was bad? No, I still loved her as a real person (even though she's fictional, but that's called willing suspension of disbelief), but I didn't like the vast majority of traits that had come to define her personality.

I believe the personality is in some ways analogous to the body. It can be healthy or unhealthy. We should all look out for the health of our neighbors. If our neighbor suffers from an obsession, that's a problem that must be solved. That's why counselors and psychiatrists exist, because they're just as important as doctors (and it's a job I'd consider going into).

On the other hand, there are things we deem desirable in a body that are purely subjective, and there are analogues within the mind. Beauty is to the face as charisma is to the personality. We get silly preferences in our minds, and sometimes they distract from our comprehensive appreciation for who the person really is. Perhaps we get caught up in a personality quirk or the shape of a nose. If we see them for that and only that, we never truly know them.

This is really important in our personal relationships, especially marriage, where I believe this knowledge is an important aspect to the intellectual aspect of love. I can't expect people to fully know everyone they come across, but I should hope that we all learn to appreciate the value of human beings as we all slowly realize how truly special everyone is.

Now that I've gone on with this whole followup, I think I definitely have the grounds for a new blog entry. Thank you for provoking further thought.

@Takuma Nuva: Thanks a lot! Years, you say? That makes me feel pretty special.

Your Honor,

Emperor Kraggh

Someone loves another person because of his or her physical beauty. It's commonly accepted by rational people that this is not a basis for a relationship.

I'd amend that to say desiring a person because of physical beauty is (at least in the context of a relationship I'm assuming you mean) lust, not love. It's just that some people mistake the two.

But, overall, agreed. For the most part, it seems I pretty much generally understood most of this without ever really verbalizing it.

Also, I'm curious how you reconcile your statements that this Kitty is a completely normal person with your saying in the comment above mine "how truly special everyone is." Personally, I'd agree with the latter more than the former.

~B~

Lust is another good word, but I think that describes the physical relationship between two people who don't really love each other. I think we can appreciate each other physically in different ways. The way I desire someone's physical beauty changes completely depending on how I feel about them. When talking about my Baccalaureate, I had mentioned that a friend was the epitome of beauty, but that's because I had come to associate everything about her physical presence with the person underneath, in which case I look at the body like a temple and a work of art, from the eyes to the intricacies on the back of the hand.

The way love affects our physical reality, however, is obviously the lowest and the most distant to love in its purest form. Again, this is the basis for a new entry, so I don't want to dump all my thoughts here.

She has a personality, but it's not something that gets in the way of my ability to see her as a real person. I think her personality is consistent with and does justice to her deeper self. Of course, I think that part of it's my perception. To me, the traits that make up her personality are less distracting and less conspicuous than the person herself. I describe her as plain because it's hard for me to describe her, because she is...who she is.

Contrast that with the next person at the party, a blond girl whose entire life was dedicated to a love-hate relationship with running. To me, she's always been "the runner". Then she has a few personality quirks, a distinct physical appearance, and a name that make her just different enough from all the other runners. Unfortunately, I've never been to the point where I could say "Well darn, she is...who she is. She's a person." because that's not how I see her.

I wish I could see everyone plainly.

Your Honor,

Emperor Kraggh

Person is a rational substance, and that substance is made known through the personality, or the outward portrayal of the person. While we should seek to judge by the person, not the personality, it is nonetheless true that the personality is an integral part of the person, and the representation of the person. And what they are represented by is what they are known by. For first impressions, therefore, we rely on the personality. It is not until we know someone for quite some time that we begin to see somewhat beyond the personality. The person does not change, but the personality does.