You may have noticed when paying attention to your reactions or behaviour, that in various circumstances, you are wearing a mask. And there is nothing unnatural to this.
Each of us has developed over time and under the influence of the environment (family, friends, school, society, media) different behaviours and personalities. By adjusting our behaviour depending on the circumstance, we enable ourself to deal better with various situations. Or perhaps we want to protect our private sphere from the intrusion of others.
But what exactly does the word “personality” mean? This word comes from the Latin “persona – personae”; being the aspect of one’s character presented or perceived by others, a role or character adopted by an author or an actor. We indeed are the authors and actors in our lives, and with some exceptions, we choose what for a role we want to play.
Synonyms for “personality” are; image, public face, character, identity, self, face, facade, mask, disguise, exterior, role.
And in your props, you have a lot of masks. You want to always look happy, successful, eternally young and beautiful. You spread on social networks instants of your most successful masks from workplace or vacations … everywhere you smile and look happy. The showing of sufferance is usually avoided. Why? Because you do not want to reveal your weaknesses, you do not want to be seen, even for a moment, defeated. You don’t want to be criticised, blamed, compassionate. You do not want to be less valuable, less successful than those around you. In fact, you want to be better than others. Maybe in your vanity, you wish even to be envied for your success and happiness. Well, if in the heart of your heart you are really successful and happy then it is fantastic! But it is so?
Have you ever asked yourself, who you really are? You are looking in the mirror. Who is that being who looks back to you form the depths of your eyes?
In itself, having different aspects of personality isn’t a problem. If by the end of the day, you manage to take off all the masks, clean yourself from their residues and then by looking in the mirror you know precisely who you are, nothing is wrong.
It becomes a problem when these masks begin to stick to your face, and you start identifying with them! Then begins the torment and suffering, because you are no longer in harmony with yourself but in a severe imbalance, you don’t know anymore who you are.
The moment you ask yourself “Who am I?” is revelatory. It is the moment when you understand that you are more than an image, a reflection, a mask, it is the moment of recognising that you are something more than what you want to show in the world and even to yourself.
Then begins the quest, the struggle and fight with your masks. Rediscovering and liberating the self from these masks leads to realising how unique is your being, and its integration into the universal self.
18. December 2019 – Text original by Diana