A character's entire mental apparetus- his mode of being in the world - is shaped in part by his defensive strategy, by his armoring of character.
Character armor is the face the self turns to the world. On it are etched the twists and turns the defenses demand in their struggle to avoid what is unpleasant .
By reading character the defensive structure is revealed, like the skeleton of a cadaver under the anatomist's dissecting knife.That structure maps the special condors of one's experience.
Character armor really refers to the whole life style that a person assumes, in order to live and act with a certain security. We all have some, because we all need to organize our personality. This organisation is a process whereby something have to be valued more than others, some acts have to be permitted, others forbidden, some lines of conduuct have to be closed, some kinds of thoughts can be entertained, others are taboo, and so on. Each person literally closes off his world, fences himself around in the very process of his growth and organization.
If everybody has some character armor, everyone is also somewhat of a fetishist. If you are obliged to close yourself to the multiplicity of things, it follows that you will focus somewhat on the restrained area of things; and, if you cannot freely value everything, nor freely weight all things, then you must give disproportionate weight to some things which do not deserve this weight.
You artificially inflate a small area of the world, and give it a higher value in the horizon of your perception and action. And you do this because it represents an area that you can firmly hold on to, that you skillfully manipulate, that you can use easily to justify yourself- your actions, your sense of self, your option in the world.
Character armor is the face the self turns to the world. On it are etched the twists and turns the defenses demand in their struggle to avoid what is unpleasant .
By reading character the defensive structure is revealed, like the skeleton of a cadaver under the anatomist's dissecting knife.That structure maps the special condors of one's experience.
Character armor really refers to the whole life style that a person assumes, in order to live and act with a certain security. We all have some, because we all need to organize our personality. This organisation is a process whereby something have to be valued more than others, some acts have to be permitted, others forbidden, some lines of conduuct have to be closed, some kinds of thoughts can be entertained, others are taboo, and so on. Each person literally closes off his world, fences himself around in the very process of his growth and organization.
If everybody has some character armor, everyone is also somewhat of a fetishist. If you are obliged to close yourself to the multiplicity of things, it follows that you will focus somewhat on the restrained area of things; and, if you cannot freely value everything, nor freely weight all things, then you must give disproportionate weight to some things which do not deserve this weight.
You artificially inflate a small area of the world, and give it a higher value in the horizon of your perception and action. And you do this because it represents an area that you can firmly hold on to, that you skillfully manipulate, that you can use easily to justify yourself- your actions, your sense of self, your option in the world.
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