Harry Terhanian.com

ahnoush hohduh vahrtoutz gouzzehn, mahrgoutiounuh mahrtoutz gouzzehn

A humane person is benevolent in treating fellow humans or helpless animals. Gentleness and noble behavior of humans is sought after in social circles. Such refinement of behavior can be considered the “sweetness” of a person’s character.

Once Nasreddin Hohja decided to give a gift to improve his friendship with the king. The king had fought many great battles and had lost one leg which was seriously injured and cut off to save his life from the rapid spread of infection.

The Hodja chose a prize hen and roosted it to perfection basking it with butter, spices, and more butter. He placed the roost on a large plate with fresh pilaf and many decorative garnishes. He walked toward the palace with his delicious gift. As he walked, the mouth watering odor of the dish wafted into his nostrils and he became ravenously hungry. He thought that there would be no harm if one of the legs of the hen were missing. After all, the king had one leg missing and he might consider it a complement that the hen is also missing one leg. He stopped and ate one leg. He couldn’t resist his own cooking.

Arriving at the palace, he was shown into the king’s reception room and he bowed before the king and presented his gift. The king was pleased that one of his subjects wanted to please him with a delicious gift, But, on examination of the roosted chicken he saw that one leg was missing. He took this as a personal insult and angrily addressed the Hodja. “Is this a bad joke or a serious insult. How dare you gift me a one legged chicken, you imbecile,” said the king.

The Hodja in a state of panic realized he made a big mistake. He composed his thoughts quickly and said, “Your Majesty, there is something you might not be aware of. All the birds in our land are one legged.”

The king became even angrier, “You insolent fool, do you think I am stupid enough to believe your lies?”

“Dear Sir, please look out your window to the lake. You will see all the birds are standing with only one foot.”

The king looked out the window and saw many birds standing on one foot. He said, “You idiot, I will show you that you are lying.” He called one of his soldiers and ordered him to run after the birds with a large stick and beat them. The soldier did as he was ordered. When the birds saw the soldier running toward them waving a big stick they all began to run on two feet and fly away.”

The king pointed out to the Hodja that his statement was wrong.

The Hodja countered the king by saying, “Your Highness, you have misunderstood what just happened. If your soldier ran after me with such a big and dangerous stick, I would also grow two more legs to run away as fast as possible because of my fright.”

Difference between spiritual science and religion

Religion is a type of faith.

Spiritual science is concerned with verifiable facts that are irrefutable.

The following discussion presents facts of life that are the foundation of scientific spirituality.
These facts point to the commonality of human beings and their unique origin from a personal supreme intelligent being.

1. Every human being regardless of race, gender, religion, ethnicity, etc. experiences birth, old age, disease and death
2. There are six stages of the body: birth, growth, duration of life, producing by-products, dwindling, death.
3. All human beings have four fundamental defects: they make mistakes, easily fall into illusion, imperfect senses, and have a cheating propensity.
4. All living entities suffer from three types of miseries: miseries of this body, miseries caused by other bodies, and miseries caused by catastrophic events.
5. Every living being eats, sleeps, mates and defends.
6. All humans experience three stages of consciousness: awake, dreaming state and deep sleep.
7. There are four ways a living being can be born: from embryos, eggs, seeds, perspiration.
8. All humans experience time as past. present and future.
9. Everyone is subject to duality in their life such as heat and cold, happiness and distress, rich and poor, honor and dishonor, love and hate, etc.
10. Human beings are always dependent and controlled by superior forces such as time, nature, governments,etc. No person has complete independence. We do not control our digestion, blinking of eyes, breathing, and so many other vital functions of the body as well as vital functions of the universe on which we depend such as the movement of the sun, earth, tides, etc. No one can remember choosing to be born in a particular body or place. All the vital processes of life and different causal situations we find ourselves in are outside our conscious control. This indicates we are in a dependent position at all times.
11. All living bodies subsist on food grains, which are produced from rains. Rains are provided by a process of nature (the sun evaporates water from the ocean and forms clouds which are moved by wind and subtle changes of temperature and pressure that cause the clouds to rain on the land). These processes are not controlled by human beings.

12. There are five gross elements and three subtle elements that constitute the body which can further be expanded to 24. They are:
Earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intelligence, and false ego.
The above eight are expanded in more detail to 24:
Five gross elements: earth, water, fire, air, ether (or space)
Five senses for gathering information eyes, ears, nose, tongue and skin
Five objects of the information gathering senses are seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, and touching
Five working senses are arms, legs, voice, genital and anus
The mind is the sense within because it receives the information from the other senses and stores them in the memory
The intelligence differentiates the information acquired by the senses and attributes values such as this is good and this is bad, etc.
The false ego wrongly identifies the self with matter
There is an unmanifest stage of matter wherein the time element and the influences of the three qualities that condition every living being no longer acts

This is summarized as:
Five gross material elements
Five senses for gathering information
Five objects of the information gathering senses
Five working senses
Mind, intelligence, false ego and the unmanifest stage of matter

These are the twenty four basic components of this world.

The aggregate of these twenty four elements is called the field of activity.

There is also desire, hatred, happiness and distress, which are interactions and may be considered representations of the five great elements in the gross body.

The living symptoms, represented by consciousness, and convictions are the manifestation of the subtle body made up of the mind, intelligence and false ego.

The five great elements are a gross representation of the false ego, which in turn represents the unmanifested stage of the three modes of material nature. The unmanifested modes of material nature are called pradhana.

The body is a representation of all these factors. The body is an impermanent thing.

13. Although animals and humans eat, sleep, mate and defend alike, some humans are more intelligent than animals because they can use their intelligence to understand their factual position in respect to the universe. The following six steps of logical thinking represent superior human intelligence.
1. Like Descartes one can eliminate everything that one is not sure of its existence. One arrives at the conclusion that I am only sure that I exist because I am able to think.
2. Next, I can understand from the above that there is a difference between
I, the one that perceives, and everything else that I perceive or the seer and the seen. I see objects. Therefore, there is a difference between the object I see and myself as the seer. For example, I see my arm. If my arm is detached from my body, I continue to see it even though it is no longer attached to my body. It is obvious that there is a difference between the seer and the seen. Whether my arm is attached to my body or not, I still am the seer and I am different than the object I see.
3. The objects I perceive, the organs I use to perceive and the process of
perception have all been supplied to me. I did not create them, nor do I control or maintain them. Therefore, I am not independent in the process of perception. For example, I use the internet. I did not create the internet, I do not control or own the internet, nor do I understand exactly how the internet works. Yet, I am able to use the internet. My use of the internet depends on many other people and organizations that control it. I am dependent on them to use the internet. The same applies to my ability to perceive.
4. Our power of seeing or perception is limited. Every human being is born with four fundamental defects, we make mistakes, we are subject to illusion, our senses are imperfect and we have a cheating propensity. Thus we are conditioned by our body and the forces of nature that influence our body. We are dependent and limited. I cannot see around corners or through walls or at a great distance. I can’t hear radio waves unless I have a radio. I can’t see television waves un less I have a television. My sense are limited. Even with powerful instruments to help me extend my perception, my senses are still limited.
5. The seer is fundamentally different than the seen by virtue of the fact that the seer feels dissatisfaction due to the limitations of conditioned material existence. For example, a golfer is about to putt the golf ball into the hole. He carefully putts but the ball barely misses the hole. He feels dissatisfaction and frustration. The golf ball, however, feels nothing because it does not possess consciousness like the golfer. The consciousness of the golfer expressed by his dissatisfaction at missing the putt indicates that the golfer is different than the golf ball. The golf ball is made of a combination of matter. The golfer is dissatisfied because he has consciousness and the golf ball does not feel dissatisfied because it doesn’t have consciousness. Consciousness is more than a combination of matter. It is not a mere combination of matter. If it was, then the golf ball would also feel dissatisfaction. The golfer’s body like the golf ball is made of material combination, but there is another dimension in the body that is not a product of material combination. That is the consciousness of the golfer. Feelings of love, attachment, dissatisfaction, etc. indicate that a person
a non-material dimension that perceives and feels experiences in the material body.

The fact that consciousness is not a product of material combination is evident at the moment of death. Right before death, a person is still conscious. When the person dies, the body loses consciousness. At death, it becomes evident that consciousness is not merely a combination of matter because the same material body is still present but it is lacking consciousness. Why can’t the doctors revive the body by injecting whatever chemicals are missing? The answer is that consciousness is not a product of material combination. In fact, why don’t scientists carefully measure a body before and right after death to determine what chemicals are missing so that they can inject them into the body of the deceased and revive him? Obviously, they have tried but they cannot succeed in manipulating chemicals to stop death.

6. Something cannot be animate without an intelligent person behind it. Intelligence gives direction like a higher authority. A living being cannot see or move or eat or do anything without the use of intelligence. Everyone is dependent on their own intelligence or that of a superior being.

For example, a boy purchases a scale model train set. He assembles it at home. He connects the electrical control panel to electricity and begins to enjoy running the train for his enjoyment. The train moves forward or backward and comes to a halt by the will of the boy. The boy did not create the train set. The boy purchased the set that was created and manufactured by other persons who had the superior intelligence to create such a model train set. The boy simply assembled the train set and then enjoys running it according to his will.

There are three things to note: there is matter that can be organized and manipulated, there is the intelligence of an individual living being (the boy in this example), and there is the superior intelligence of the person or persons that conceived and made the train set.

Similarly, there is a superior intelligence that has ordered this world that we live in. Due to the incredible engineering of this world, we are able to function in it and use the many facilities. Like the boy and the train set, or the user of the internet, we do not understand how the world works, but we are able to use it or order a small part of it according to our will. There is the law of gravity, the principles of aerodynamics, thermodynamics, the precise movement of planets, tides, etc., that are perceived and understood by scientists who then proceed to produce different conveyances based on these pre-existing laws. The scientist manifests intelligence to make an airplane or a car with many moving parts. It is evident that there is a superior scientist with superior intelligence that has ordered the universe and is maintaining it in a wonderful way. Without intelligence nothing can move.
For example, I purchase all the materials for building a house and then store them on an empty lot ready to build it. I then follow the principles of natural selection, genetic mutation, trial and error and random combination and permutation and hope that my house will be built by chance. Do you think the house will be built on my plot of land like I hope it will? Unless there are superior intelligent persons to direct the construction of the house and the workers to do it, it will never by built. It certainly cannot be constructed by the building materials themselves! Matter can only move because of superior intelligence guiding it in a precise way.

We can safely and logically conclude that something cannot be animate without an intelligent person behind it. Therefore, there is a supremely intelligent person behind the entire material creation that is guiding it at every step. Just as there are so many intelligent people in this world guiding and molding matter into many conveyances for their purposes.

Let say I walk into the Microsoft campus and declared that the computer software company began by accident and developed by itself and that no intelligent individual was behind its creation, development and continuation. What do you think the response would be? It is obvious that a psychological evaluation team would be called to determine whether I was a mentally disturbed person making such outrageously false statements out loud. It is obvious if you visit the Microsoft Campus that it was begun, developed and continuously maintained by a group of highly intelligent persons. There is no other explanation for its continued success until today. But Microsoft is insignificant in comparison with the complexity, grandeur, and incredible technology manifest in the universe.

A man is considered crazy to express the thoughts that Microsoft started by accident and is continuing without any intelligent persons ordering and guiding it. Similarly, anyone who claims the universe with its incredible complexity and perfect movements happened by accident and that there is no intelligent superior person behind it, should also be considered crazy.

The earth revolves on its axis about 1200 miles and hour. The earth also revolves around the sun at about 2000 miles per hour. The sun also revolves on a universal orbit at another speed. All these movements are going on in a synchronized manner. The movements are so perfect that we don’t feel any shaking or discomfort. Due to the exactness of these colossal movements we are able to keep time in a precise way. These movements are ordered and maintained with a regularity that seems mysterious. Is this all going on randomly? Obviously not!

As there is intelligence behind the movement of a car, airplane, bicycle, etc. so there is a superior intelligence behind the movement of the sun, moon, earth and all things.

Conclusion

Scientific spirituality is a collection of facts that are undeniable for the honest observer. These facts
point to the common experience of every human being regardless of their ethnicity, religion, bias, etc.
They override any superficial differences that might be postulated by religious beliefs, nationalistic or political rhetoric, and other speculative philosophical thoughts. Ultimately, these verifiable facts indicate that we must seek out specific knowledge of our relationship with the superior intelligent being who is ordering and maintaining the universe and who is the origin of all species of life and
varieties of matter.

To be continued

vahruh nuhsdeer vohr vehruh kehzee dehgh dahn

Genuine humility is the hallmark of a great person. This proverb illustrates the premium attributed to the quality of humility, which was appreciated in Armenian social circles. It suggests that being humble is a necessary trait for progress in the Armenian social hierarchy.

One understanding of humility is “not seeking to be honored for one’s service.” This is emphasized by the Armenian proverb, “lahvoutoiun uhreh chouruh nehdeh, tzouguh cheemanah, ahstuhvadz geemahnah - Do a good deed, then throw into the waters, if the fish doesn’t know about it, God will.”

When a humble person performs a good deed without any personal motive than to help another, it attracts the attention of good people. Such unselfish acts of humble persons are appreciated and eventually rewarded with loving exchanges and kind reciprocation. For the humble person, there is no demand for recognition. Rather, one acts out of pure goodness for the welfare of others and with a happy sense of self-sacrifice. It is the nature of the person to do good without any craving for praise or personal vaunting.

The Armenian King Tigran the Great, who ruled from 96 BC to 55 BC, is an example of a great and powerful king who humbled himself to save his nation from ruin. Tigran the Great built up a powerful empire that stretched from the Caspian sea to the Mediterranean and up to the Black Sea. He conquered the ancient Seleucid Empire and most of the Parthian Empire. He was one of the most powerful kings of his time.

When King Tigran was 75 years old, a huge Roman army under the command of Pompey with the help of one of Tigran’s sons reached the gates of King Tigran’s capital city of Tigranagerd. At the same time, a Parthian army attacked Armenia from another direction. Tigran realized his country’s vulnerability.

Rather than think of his own safety or personal ambition, he courageously rode out of his besieged capital alone and unarmed toward the the Roman army. He came before Pompey and humbled himself.
Pompey was impressed by the bravery and humility of King Tigran the Great who had the title “the king of kings.” Pompey took the opportunity to negotiate a treaty. King Tigran offered the Roman general all his conquered territories outside of traditional Armenia and a large sum of tribute. In return, he asked the general to spare his kingdom and people from the ravages of war and plunder. Pompey was pleased at the settlement because he could return to Rome with immense gains of land and wealth without any losses. This is an example of the proverb “it is better to have an intelligent enemy than a foolish friend.”

King Tigran’s son became outraged that the Roman general did not take his father prisoner and make the him the new king of Armenia. Pompey forcibly took the son, who was married to the Parthian king’s daughter, back to Rome as a “guarded ambassador” of the Parthian kingdom which was allied with Rome.

King Tigran continued to rule Armenia which enjoyed great prosperity, safety and cultural development due to his wisdom. He was a brave and humble king who put the interests of his people above his own ambitions and self-interest.

The Bible describes this world and its many falsely proud rulers with all their vainglorious endeavors as “vanity of vanities, it is all vanity.” A king or prominent ruler usually has a large retinue of followers who flatter him profusely in order to cull favors. There was a king named Canute. He was a Viking king who extended his kingdom from Denmark and Norway to England. He was one of the greatest monarchs of medieval Europe. His political and military skills enabled him to consolidate a powerful kingdom.

There is a legend that King Canute the Great had learned that his flattering courtiers claimed he was “So great, he could command the tides of the sea to go back”. King Canute was a religious man who knew his limitations. He was not vain or foolish to believe his courtiers’ flattery. As a clever politician, he wanted to put an end to useless claims by his courtiers and at the same instruct his people about the worldly limitations of kings. He commanded that his throne be carried to the seashore. King Canute sat on his royal throne as the tide came in, commanding the waves to advance no further. When they didn’t, he made his point that, though the deeds of kings might appear ‘great’ in the minds of men, they were nothing in the face of God’s power. King Canute vividly demonstrated the vanity of earthly powers in the face of heavenly power.

There was once a great king in India who had immense wealth and power. On approaching death, he ordered that a special coffin be built for him with a hole on each side. He ordered his heirs, “When I die, I want my body put in this special coffin with two holes through which my bare hands should be shown. My subjects should see that I left this world with my hands empty even though I possess such immense wealth and power. As the Bible says, “Dust thou art and dust thou shalt become.”

There is an Armenian proverb that says,

dzahruh vohrkhan buhdough guh pehree
kuhloughuh avehli khohnahr guh bahee

However much fruit a tree gives, it humbles its head that much more.

The English scientist and philosopher, Sir Isaac Newton wrote in a memoir,

“I do not know what I may appear to the world, but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the sea-shore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me.”

In other words,
“All I have discovered is a few grains of sand in the vast ocean of knowledge.” It is more apparent to a truly great scientist and thinker to be humbled before the majesty and complexity of God’s creation.”

Vardan Aigektzi was a famous Armenian who wrote original fables. One of his fables follows.

The history of mankind can be compared to action of three fools. The first decided to catch the wind. He climbed to the top of a mountain to catch the wind. He tried for a hundred years but wasn’t able to even catch a palm’s worth of wind.

The second was a man of wealth. He employed a large number of servants and a great amount of money. He sat down on the bank of a great river. His aim was to use the waters of the river to inscribe an elegy. He also labored with his servants for a hundred years. But, he was not able to write even one letter on the waters of the river.

The third was determined to prove himself the most prominent of the three. He crafted a huge bow and made sharp arrows. He attempted to shoot at the stars and other heavenly bodies during the night. He wanted to pierce a star and rope it to his home so that he would be the only one to enjoy its cooling light. He was not able to even catch a spark. To make matters worse, during the day he ran after his own shadow with the hope of catching it. But, he never caught up to it although he pursued his own shadow for a hundred years.

Aigektzi illustrates the futility of human endeavor that is directed to foolish pursuits.

We may think that this is a naive fable that really doesn’t pertain to our practical lives. If we consider
our modern life and the many efforts of modern science that we witness, we may find real life parallels to Aigektzi’s fable. One such endeavor is the attempt to go to the Moon and other attempts to explore the vast reaches of space. After nearly fifty years of space exploration, the most man has ventured into space is 220 miles to the international space station. There are claims that man has reached the moon. This may or may not be. Even if man went to the moon, there is no tangible result to show for it in the last 40 years. One thing is certain, many billions of dollars have been spent for such a futile endeavor.

There are other colossal scientific research projects that are just as useless and wasteful of money and resources as the space exploration program. Aigektzi’s fable is as pertinent today as it was in earlier times.

There was and there wasn’t a king who was very generous. He had a minister who was a sage whose understanding of spiritual truth was profound. The king’s adviser would often repeat the following words of wisdom, “everything that happens is the mercy of God.” The king became annoyed by the minister repeating this statement. He challenged the minister, “It is absurd to say that everything that happens is the mercy of God. How can that be when there are so many tragedies in life. Are the miseries of life the mercy of God?” The king was not pleased by the minister’s conviction.

In that kingdom, there was a custom that the farmers followed. Before selling any harvest, the farmers would bring the first fruits of the trees to the king for his pleasure. It was the beginning of the mango season. A farmer brought his finest mangoes and offered them to the king. The king asked for a knife to cut the mangoes to share them with his minister and family members. When the king cut the fruit, he accidentally cut his little finger very badly. Blood gushed out of his finger. The minister quickly stopped the bleeding by applying pressure with a cloth. The finger was washed and tightly bound with a clean cloth. The minister inadvertently said to the king, “You are very fortunate.
Something good will come from cutting your finger. It is surely the mercy of God”

The king became very upset by the minister’s words. He said, “I am really disturbed with your senseless repetition. In what way am I benefited by cutting my finger and losing blood? There is pain and discomfort and it will take some time for my finger to heal. What good or divine mercy is there? I think you are very stupid to continually repeat this thought for everything that happens. It is not appropriate. Stop it!”

The following day, the king ordered the minister to make preparations for a hunt. They left in the morning. They went into a dense forest to hunt wild deer. At one point they tied their horses and went on foot. It was a hot day. They finished their ration of water and later became very thirsty. They came upon an abandoned well. The minister tried to go down the well head first with the king holding his feet. They hoped the well was not very deep and perhaps they could find good water. But the king’s injured finger made his grip lose strength and he loosened his hold. The minister fell head first into the well. Fortunately, the well was not more than 12 feet deep and the water at the bottom was four feet deep. The minister was injured but not mortally. He was able to stand up in the water shaken but alive.

The king apologized. He told the minister he would return quickly with something to help him out of the well. The king began to look for a branch of a tree or anything to help pull the minister out of the well. But destiny had another plan for the king. While searching in the deep forest, he was captured by a tribe of cannibals. They took the king to their head priest who was eager to find a good human specimen to offer as sacrifice for their gods. The priest ordered his men to keep the king tied up overnight so that they could prepare him for sacrifice the next morning.

That night the king prayed that God may help him in this hopeless situation. He thought of the minister trapped in the well. Ironically, he became convinced more than ever that everything that happens is not always good and certainly not the mercy of God.

Early the next morning, the priest ordered the king stripped for examination of his body to make sure that he was a suitable offering for their gods. The priest noticed the injured finger of the king. He unwrapped the finger and saw the deep cut and some blood. This sight was very disappointing for the priest. The king was unacceptable as an offering because his body was not perfectly clean of imperfections. The cut finger and the blood made the king’s body unfit for sacrifice. The priest ordered the king released and warned him to immediately leave their forest and never to return.

The king was stunned and perplexed by his odd change of fate. He rushed back to find the well. When he finally reached the well, he called for the minister. His minister answered in a feeble voice that he was still alive. The king found a broken branch and used it to pulled the minister out of the well. They both rushed out of the forest to find their horses.

When they were safely back in the castle, they discussed their strange experience. The king was visibly shaken and very thankful. He said to the minister, “I understand your statement that everything that happens is for some good purpose. If I had not cut my finger, I would not have been saved from being offered as an human sacrifice.” The king added, “But I am sure that your falling in the well was not the mercy of God.”

The minister smiled and said, “If I did not fall into the well, I would have been sacrificed by the cannibals because I have no cut or imperfection on my body.” The king was dumbfounded by his answer. It was true. The minister continued, “There is more to this ordeal than meets the eye. I fell into the well and stayed all night in that dark and damp hole. But in every tragedy there is some blessing. I felt strange objects in one corner of the well. I could not make out what they were in the darkness. When daylight came, I saw that they were very precious objects made of gold. I cannot estimate now how many objects were there, but I think we should go back there with your soldiers and see for ourselves. The king was intrigued.

The next day they returned with a large contingent of soldiers. They discovered many objects made of pure gold. In fact, they began to dig deeper into the well and found hundreds of more golden objects. It was a veritable fortune of gold. When they returned safely back to the palace, the king asked the minister to talk in private. He confided in him that he never thought that he would become convinced like the minister that everything that happens whether good or bad is the mercy of God. He said, “My dear friend, I want to give you half of my kingdom. Let us live always in friendship. The minister was very grateful. He said, “Dear King, I don’t need to own land or dominion. I am very satisfied being your servant. In fact, all the gold that we have discovered is yours. My only request is that you should use it to glorify God and help all the citizens of your great kingdom.”

The king was humbled by the generosity and good wishes of the minister. He commanded the minister to take charge of his treasury and dispense the new found wealth for the benefit of his subjects so that no family or person be bereft of the necessities of life. He instructed him to build wonderful houses of worship and schools so that his people have spiritual and material education. In this way, the kingdom became prosperous and the people developed spiritual qualities of goodness.

The king, minister and the people had their dreams fulfilled. May you also find fulfillment in life.

haiyrour pahroutiahnn teematz, mehg chahroutiounuh sahd eh

gahnknadz tohghoum eh, bahrgadz soghoum eh

This proverb has a real bite to it. It points out the mentality of a treacherous person. In public, the perfidious friend seems to be very cowardly, timid, or fearful. But, when unseen, the same person is very shrewdly calculating how to undo his friend or rival. The contrast between tohghoum -shivering like a fearful person- and soghoum which means slithering like a snake makes the point of the saying. In public the treacherous person seems weak and frightened, but this is only a ruse to mask his treacherous personality. For in private , he stakes his prey like a snake with stealth and cunning waiting for an opportune strike.

Another meaning is the following. While standing, he shivers and in bed, he slithers meaning he is a coward when standing and in bed.

Another Armenian proverb with a slightly different meaning is “When he sees the water, he becomes a fish and when he sees a hole, he becomes a mouse - chouruh dehsnah tzoug guh tahrnah, dzahguh dessnah moug guhlah. Selfish people have no spine. They can change their persona at will for personal advantage.