BAILEY'S CHARACTER IN AFRICAN TRADITION Volume 112

ABOUT THE BOOK

Character is the Theme of ones life—ones personal standard for life living. Whether inwardly or outwardly focused, for good/bad, whether watched or not, it makes one dependable to oneself. It is not ones personality but rather ones Real Self displayed to oneself. However, people typically speak of character by what it does, how it appears, what is “on” oneself (e.g. jewelry) or accumulated by one (scarce Material Desirables like money, power, status, luxuries). They also base Character by how they judge it, using their own very flawed personal standards instead of Divine Laws imparted by God. Peoples own self-created standards are certain to give themselves unfair advantages—which allow them to completely overlook their own sins. Still, they judge others, not like them, by unfair disadvantages. Thus, whoever does not agree with them is automatically wrong. What all of this avoids is people failing to talk about what Character really is. My idea of the essence of Character is a human’s chosen life’s Theme. I liken a Theme’s content to ingredients formed by an interaction between ones nature and nurture and what one chooses out of that to displays from ones soul. The Theme is subdivided into what equates to a skeleton, around which are attached soft tissues, as seen in any animal. That Skeleton consists of inner linked common essences of a human’s nature and nurture. The Theme represents what is so stable in ones life, as to represent ones chosen lifestyle Legacy destination—what one strives to achieve at the end of ones life as a result of all one does in daily living. It is known privately to that individual as daily living. It silently gives that individual the most intense “Aliveness”—i.e. “I can hardly what to see what I am going to do next with it.” Whether it is Spiritual or not is solely that individual’s decision. The surrounding soft tissue attached to the skeleton equates to varied qualities with uneven activity in each of their presentations. Together, they display as varied forms of ones Real Self or Personality. Hence, the public can gain no idea of what the individual is really like. Hence, a Humans’ Character is the sum total of the accepted and internalized personal qualities pertaining to moral, legal, social, and other of life’s exposures that became habits. Most often, when one is being ones Real Self and in quiet times, regardless of the varied Settings/Situations one is in, the skeleton is displayed by ones lifestyle mental attitude and its expressed think, feel, say, do conduct. This is the theme of how one spends ones life. But ones life is shown to people as varied qualities acting in a weblike way—keeping others from knowing who one really is. The type of ones Private Selfhood expressions depend upon ones quiet influence, unconscious suggestions, personal standards which guide ones lifestyle. Outsiders determine the skeleton by how ones Public Self deals with people who cannot help nor hurt them; by what is the nature of ones Fun/Play. Ones Private Selfhood is determined by oneself according to what one really, really wants and really, really does not want; by what one does when no one is looking; by how one deals with the difficult; what standards one uses in dealing with oneself and others; the things chosen and avoided. To illustrate, my Character is based upon the Human Ideals learned as a boy of how Ancient Africans were. An example is now living a life enabling me to reach and live in the heaven Afterlife following my death. Hence, for 55+ years I have studied ways to extract comparable Human Ideals, I now daily strive to achieve them by achieving Human Perfection. This is based upon my study of and internalizing Divine Laws, from which I gather my personal daily living standards. I do not need others approval.