The Mask

To find meaning and contentment in life one must discover one’s true self. The best way to know oneself is to remove all masks (personas) which one wears, consciously or unconsciously, as part of one’s nurturing by family and society. 

‘Mask’ refers to the public image of one’s personality that one lives and projects. The mask is not one’s real self rather it is a role or expectation from others that one tries to live up to. The mask is also adopted by an individual in the attempt to appear a certain way to gain acceptance, love or even to gain control over others.  

There are three masks which one ought to become aware of and drop totally: the bad, the neutral and the good. The process of shedding one’s masks is not a sudden or easy one but that can be accomplished gradually and gracefully. To remove one’s masks layer by layer is to reach ultimately the true self, the pure self. 

We all wear masks. To refuse to acknowledge one’s masks is to close the door to self-awareness, which finds later expression in frustration, resentment, duplicity, depression, and paranoia. Any person who hopes to reach the heights of integrity and self-awareness needs to have the courage to identify and drop all masks. 

In future articles we will reflect upon the three masks. Meanwhile, you are welcome to ponder the forms these masks could take. 

 

Notes

1.     ‘Persona’ depending on the context, is the public image of one's personality, the social role that one adopts, or simply a fictional character. The word ‘persona’ derives from Latin, where it originally referred to a theatrical mask (Wikipedia).