The approach that suggests not identifying one’s essence with the body and mind originates from the idea that a human’s true being is not limited to their physical or rational characteristics.

Unveiling the Inner Essence: Transcending Body and Mind

The approach that suggests not identifying one’s essence with the body and mind originates from the idea that a human’s true being is not limited to their physical or rational characteristics. In this context, essence is understood as the objective content manifested in inner experience, which goes beyond the temporary and mutable qualities of body and mind.

Thus, one of the sources notes:
"It is far more correct to use the word ‘essence’ not to designate everything that exists, but that which in it is objective and universally significant. Indeed, the concept of a being encompasses everything that belongs to the given existent, yet neither personality nor life are called essence—in fact, they are even contrasted with it. Consequently, if one does not equate the idea of essence with the being, then essence is the mode of being of the creature in which all its content is expressed as an objective reality. We have said that personality is that which experiences, perceives, and acts, whereas essence is that which is experienced by the personality, perceived by it, and serves as the content and object of its inner activity; and the very act in which the personality possesses its essence is life." (source: link txt)

This position emphasizes that personality is the carrier that experiences and perceives both external and internal phenomena, while essence remains the deep reality that is objectively given in human experience and inner action. In other words, our true essence is manifested in life through profound inner experience rather than through physical or mental attributes, which can change and be influenced by external factors.

Another source adds that our direct, intuitive knowledge of our own personality enables us to perceive our inner soul-life without the distortions inherent in mechanistic rational thinking:
"It received its most vivid expression in mechanistic materialism, according to which all relationships between things are purely external.

So, what picture of the world does intuitive knowledge provide us?

In response to this question, Bergson first turns to the realm of inner soul-life, to self-perception. For, in any case, we have immediate, intuitive knowledge of our own personality. However, the mechanistic habits of the intellect are so deeply rooted in us that they falsify the picture of soulful reality." (source: link txt)

This passage emphasizes that genuine self-awareness is possible through direct experience of inner life, which is not confined to rational deliberation or bodily sensations. It shows that the human essence exists on a deeper, intuitively perceptible level, where the totality of the past, present, and future is reflected.

Thus, the approach to self-perception that does not equate essence with the body and mind is based on distinguishing between the external, variable attributes of personality and the deep, objective essence that is expressed through personal inner experience. This separation enables a person to more fully understand their true nature and to act on the basis of deep inner experience rather than merely on the external manifestations of their existence.