“The Five Parts of the Human Personality”

by Jayson X

July 23, 2014

Many people believe that humans are composed of two things: bodies and spirits. God puts the spirit in its body at conception; and then at death, the spirit leaves the body, and the body starts to decay back into the inanimate matter from which it was made. However, I believe that humans are completely physical creatures. They are not ghosts in biological machines. Probably most of a human’s emotions and all of a human’s thoughts are the product of his or her brain. Whatever emotions are not the product of her or his brain are the product of some other part of his or her body, such as her or his gonads. A human body and a human self are one and the same thing.

This seems like as good a place as any to define the words emotion and thought. An emotion means something that is psychologically felt inside oneself such as fear, anger, happiness, sadness, lust, love, and hate. A thought is something psychological that is not felt. Instead, it is produced by the brain when the brain thinks. A thought can be an idea, an opinion, a plan, something that is imagined, and/or something that is mentally pictured.

Although emotions and thoughts feel different than other things that the body experiences such as hot and cold, and pleasure and pain; emotions and thoughts are equally a part of the body. Simply speaking, they are generated and felt by the brain.

The truth seems to be that the first humans came from non-human apes, and the first non-human apes came from some other kind of mammal, and the first mammals came from reptiles, and the first reptiles came from amphibians, and the first amphibians came from fish, and the first fish came from some other kind of multi-celled aquatic creatures, and the first multi-celled aquatic creatures came from single-celled aquatic creatures, and the first single-celled aquatic creature came from the Earth. In order to successfully reproduce, all these different types of creatures had to have some kind of programming which strongly encouraged them to do what was required to reproduce.

Very simple organisms such as bacteria might not lust, but very complex organisms such as humans do. Bacteria are probably like machines that do what they are designed to do, without any emotions or thoughts. But humans are like machines that do have emotions and thoughts. I believe that it is generally true that the more simple an organism is, the less emotions and thoughts it has; and the more complex an organism is, the more emotions and thoughts it has.

Simply speaking, there are five types of creatures on Earth. I will refer to them as Level One, Two, Three, Four, and Five Creatures because some are more simple or complex than others. The lower the number of the level, the more simple the creatures of that level are. The higher the number of the level, the more complex the creatures are.

Level One Creatures do not have physical feelings, emotions, or thoughts. They don’t feel (physically or emotionally) or think anything because they don’t have a nervous system. They are living machines that instinctively eat, excrete, breathe, and reproduce. Plants eat by consuming sunlight, water, and minerals. Probably most (if not all) single-celled creatures and plants are Level One Creatures.

Level Two Creatures have physical feelings, but no emotions or thoughts. They have a very simple nervous system, and with that nervous system, they feel pleasure and pain—two things that strongly encourage them to do what would generally increase their chances of successfully reproducing. Probably most (if not all) jellyfish, starfish, and oysters are Level Two Creatures.

Level Three Creatures have physical feelings, simple emotions, and simple thoughts. They have simple emotions and thoughts because they have simple brains. Like their ability to feel pleasure and pain, these emotions and thoughts generally encourage them to do what would increase their chances of successfully reproducing. They can feel fear, anger, and lust. Examples of common Level Three Creature thoughts include I should eat that, I should not eat that, I should attack, and I should flee. Probably most (if not all) fish, insects, amphibians, and reptiles are Level Three Creatures.

Level Four Creatures have physical feelings, and even more sophisticated emotions and thoughts. They have more sophisticated emotions and thoughts because they have more sophisticated brains. As far as I know, their emotions are equal to the emotions of Level Five Creatures, although their most sophisticated thoughts are not as sophisticated as the most sophisticated thoughts of a Level Five Creature. They can feel happiness, sadness, love, and hate as well as fear, anger, and lust.

Sophisticated thinking means the act of using one’s brain to consider something carefully. Unlike a fish, a dog can think, Should I eat that food on the counter? I want to eat it because it looks delicious; but I don’t want to eat it because I might get hit and yelled at, and (if I’m caught) my master will be angry at me.

A fish would not be able to consider so many variables when deciding to eat something or not. Instead, a fish would probably think, Is it good and safe to eat? Yes, then eat it. No, then don’t eat it. A fish would not worry about how eating the food makes another creature feel or the relationship between subordinate and master. Most mammals and some intelligent birds are probably Level Four Creatures.

The idea of intelligent birds brings up an issue: What about unintelligent birds? I assume that they have advanced emotions but simple thoughts. What level are they? For now, let’s consider them Level 3.5 and not worry about them. Our focus is on the levels of creatures that are found in the personality of humans. Humans were not descended from unintelligent birds or, for that matter, any type of bird; but it is possible that humans were descended from some other Level 3.5 species. Yet I will not worry about that species because I don’t know what it might be and it doesn’t seem to matter much. What does matter much is that humans have physical feelings; simple, medium, and advanced emotions and feelings; and five main parts to their personality.

Level Five Creatures have physical feelings, and advanced emotions and thoughts. They have advanced emotions and thoughts because they have advanced brains. Advanced thinking means the process of using one’s brain to consider abstract ideas carefully. Not only can Level Five Creatures feel and think in a similar way that the creatures of the lower levels can feel and think, they can contemplate abstract ideas such as those found in religions, philosophies, and sciences. With the possible exception of dolphins, whales, and some nonhuman apes, humans might be the only Level Five Creatures who currently live on Earth. Since humans evolved from creatures from the other four levels, the human personality has aspects of all four of the five levels.

All these aspects are important, and none of them should ever be completely ignored. In their own way, they all encourage survival and reproduction. Furthermore, our Level Two Part helps keep us from being trapped in a body that lacks physical feeling; our Level Three and Four Parts help keep us from being emotionless organic machines; and our Level Five Part enables us to learn profound truths and make wise decisions.

Personality means the combination of qualities that form an individual’s distinctive character; and character means the emotional, mental, and moral qualities distinctive to an individual. Most (if not all) humans have each of these five levels in their personality. It is like every human personality has five individual parts that come from these five levels of human and pre-human ancestors. A human personality is the result of her or his five parts and whatever part he or she chooses to side with on various occasions.

Sometimes all these parts agree, and sometimes they don’t. When they disagree, a human feels inner conflict. For example, the Level One, Two, and Three Parts might want to drink some sea water because the human is thirsty, but the Levels Four and Five Parts do not because they know that doing so will hurt more than help in the long run.

How are such conflicts resolved? Either the parts or factions in a conflict compromise with each other, or one of the parts or factions wins while the other part or faction loses. A faction is two or more parts of a personality that agree on an issue. In the temptation to drink sea water example, the Levels One, Two, and Three Parts were one faction, and the Levels Four and Five Parts were the other.

Perhaps the human will is either one part of the human brain that chooses between such options or it is the choosing itself. In the former case, the human will might be located in the parietal cortex. In the later case, the human will is caused by whatever part or parts of the brain are deciding at the time, and the part or parts which decide one time might not decide another time.

The former hypothesis (if true) might sound like undeniable proof of freewill, and the later (if true) might sound like undeniable proof of determinism. However, either freewill or determinism might be true, regardless of whether the human will is a thing that chooses or the choice itself. I happen to believe that humans do have freewill because it seems like I control at least some of my actions and thoughts.

Thinking debates within one’s brain and dreams are often dialogues between two or more of the five parts. It is best to understand these debates and the parts involved. All these parts should be respected and carefully listened to for at least two reasons: 1) They are part of who we are, so disrespecting any of them is disrespecting ourselves at least to an extent; and 2) any part and/or faction might be right or wrong in the dialogue.

Humans seem to think in two ways: consciously and unconsciously. Conscious thinking is thinking of which we are aware. Unconscious thinking is thinking of which we are not aware, at least while we are doing it. Generally (if not always), the conscious part of us might be a faction formed by the Level Four and Five Parts, and the unconscious part of us might be a faction formed by the Level One, Two, and Three Parts. Since the Level One, Two, and Three Parts are unable to use verbal communication by themselves, they often communicate through symbols. This explains why dreams are often symbolic, and this explains one reason why people often make, use, and enjoy symbols.

Christianity would still be Christianity without any symbols, but many Christians love the symbol of the cross so much that they decorate their churches, homes, and bodies with it. As far as I know, the same is true for every major world religion and its most popular symbol. Of course, many philosophies and political movements have symbols too. People just love symbols, partly because their lower levels often communicate through symbols.

In conclusion, we humans have different parts to our personality because we evolved from different kinds of creatures. This theory does much to explain why we are often conflicted; why we have a conscious and subconscious; why our dreams often have symbols; and why we value, create, and use symbols so much.