{"id":28481,"date":"2022-04-07T13:23:09","date_gmt":"2022-04-07T20:23:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=28481"},"modified":"2022-04-07T13:23:09","modified_gmt":"2022-04-07T20:23:09","slug":"open-personality-to-the-body-of-christ","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/open-personality-to-the-body-of-christ\/","title":{"rendered":"Open Personality to the body of Christ"},"content":{"rendered":"

In this book Personality : What makes you the way you are<\/em>, Daniel Nettle explores the psychology of our human personality. He writes to \u201cvindicate the idea that people have enduring personality dispositions which partly predict what they will do, and which stem from the way their nervous systems are wired up.\u201d[1]<\/a> Nettle introduces the readers to the science behind understanding personality psychology. In chapter 1, he uses the five dimensions of personality \u2013 extraversion, neuroticism, conscientiousness, agreeableness, and openness to establish his key point that biological personality traits will influence a person to make consistent and predictive choices in life events. He claims that \u201cthere are (at least) five broad personality dimensions along which we all differ, and which cause us to behave in certain ways rather than other ways.\u201d[2]<\/a> Then, the author takes the following chapters to further discuss and describe five categories of personalities titled under Wanderers, Worriers, Controllers, Empathizers, and Poets. The book gives rich and new insights using illustrations of true life stories and recent research findings in order to help readers to gain a better understanding of self to make wiser choices in life.<\/p>\n

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The curiosity to find oneself has been around ever since the birth of civilization. Famous quotes such as \u201cTo know thy self by Socrates\u201d and \u201cMan know thyself; then thou shalt know the universe and God by Pythagoras\u201d have always triggered people to find out who they are in life to seek greater wisdom. This was my first time looking at personality through the lenses of Daniel Nettle to think about people as Wanderers, Worriers, Controllers, Empathizers, and Poets. I am the one who forgets what my personality type was and takes some time to recollect my memory. According to Myers-Briggs, I am ENFJ type. According to Enneagram, I am a 7 wing 8 \u2013 the opportunist. And from Daniel\u2019s book Personality<\/em>, I was drawn to chapter 7 describing the dimension of \u2018Openness to experience.\u2019 The author gives different perspectives to define the trait of openness in a personality. He wrote, \u201cOne recent study concludes that Openness is a reflection of individual differences in the efficiency of a suite of cognitive circuits in the frontal lobes of the brain\u2026Many studies have shown that Openness is specially associated with flair for, and production of, imaginative and artistic endeavors.\u201d[3]<\/a> Nettle further digs into psychology and connects Openness into four themes in Howl and Ginsberg \u2013 \u201cnamely, broad associations of meaning, restless unconventionality, supernatural beliefs, and psychosis-like experiences.\u201d[4]<\/a><\/p>\n

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The complexity in the psychosis of a human mind surfaced many questions for me:<\/p>\n

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