Q: My whole life I’ve been a slave to what others think of me and I want to be real. But I have a job in marketing that requires a strong solid personality.

How can I dismantle the false self when I still need it to make a living?

A: This is a common theme of concern for many Jumpers. The thing to get here is that you don’t need a false self to function professionally. You need a role. Those are not the same thing.

The false self is a psychological structure built around identity, validation, self-image, and survival through perception. A role, by contrast, is simply a functional …