Uh, wouldn't the goal be to lose the persona so to reveal the essence?
Esotericism says different. Essence is what we come in with but only develops so far without new food, but which can grow a soul.
Personality is what forms from early on as a result of, or answer to, impressions from life.
A man must die in order to be born so that he may live.
But, in order to die he must first awake.
Jesus says as much in the Gospels