Who is hiding behind the mask?
Masks (Photo: Reuven Castro)
Purim has arrived.
The holiday in which it is commanded to drink to the point of unconsciousness and... to dress up.
Probably because of an interpretation of the Book of Esther, which ordered her to hide her identity.
This is our chance to be what and who we want.
To be free, to bring out our fantasies, to be ugly, beautiful, scary, childish, holy, whore - whatever we want, without feeling judged or guilty.
This is a mitzvah.
So costumes and masks are nice, mostly especially when we are children, and sometimes even when we are not.
But what's the deal with the masks?
Why exactly do we love it?
And do we wear masks only on Purim and Corona days, or is our whole life a journey of changing from one mask to another?
We need our masks
"Persona" is the Latin word for mask, and is a central concept in psychoanalytic approaches, and especially in the approach of the Swiss analyst Carl Jung, where it received a status of honor as one of four archetypes.
According to Jung, the persona is a mask, an image, that we put on ourselves to fit in and fit into the environment.
The persona serves as a sort of compromise between our unique personality and the demands of society, and is the way we present ourselves.
Over time our different personas can (and should) change - we adopt other beliefs and new values, gather experiences and change our attitudes in a way that shapes the way we perceive ourselves and the world, and our place in it.
The various masks are a reflection of our complexity as humans.
Masks (Photo: Reuven Castro)
When you think about it, not only is this not a bad thing, it's an essential thing.
We all behave and function differently depending on the context in which we are.
We are children, siblings, parents, spouses, friends, neighbors, employees, students and more, and in each of these contexts we are a little different.
We behave differently, speak differently, dress differently when we are with our family compared to when we are with our friends, and differently with our friends than with our spouses for example.
The role of these changes is to allow us to optimally integrate and accept the environment.
If we were not able to change a little depending on the context and environment, we would probably be very accepted in one place, but suffer rejection in the rest.
Persona has a social survival aspect.
Ultimately, our different personas and our ability to switch between them are a reflection of our complexity as human beings and help us navigate the social world.
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To the full article
From an existentialist perspective, persona is closely related to authenticity and meaning.
According to existential philosophy, human beings are unique and separate in their ability to reflect and reflect on their existence, and to find or create (depending on which of the thinkers you ask) meaning in an arbitrary and meaningless world.
In this context, a persona is a mask, a facade, that we create in order to conform to society's expectations, or to protect ourselves from existential anxiety arising from a confrontation with the ambiguity and uncertainty inherent in life.
The different personas we create and adopt for ourselves will help us not only meet social expectations and be part of the environment, but also avoid essential but anxiety-provoking questions about existence, death, suffering and meaning in life, by focusing on other, artificial and more immediate aspects such as social status.
Also from this point of view, our persona has an important and essential role, and if it didn't exist at all we would be walking around in a world full of time and anxiety all the time and it would be very difficult to function.
Have you become your mask?
All this is nice and as mentioned essential, but like any psychological mechanism, our persona can also be problematic for our mental life, and can become too rigid in such a way that it covers our true self and cuts us off from ourselves.
Almost no matter from which point of view we look at it, our true self is not defined by our persona or by external factors, but by our inner experiences and the subjective way in which we experience and perceive reality.
Authenticity involves, in an inevitable and indivisible manner, the desire to face and confront the inherent uncertainty and anxiety in life, acceptance of our unique experience and experience of human existence, and not to conform ourselves to all external expectations and social norms.
Our mask may become a barrier to authenticity.
A guy with a mask at a Purim party (Photo: Reuven Castro)
With such a view, our persona may become a barrier to authenticity, prevent us from dealing with essential questions in life, and make it difficult for us to accept the full experience of our unique human existence.
Our different personas, the masks we wear to be part of society, can lead to various "risks" when they become too rigid and difficult - the loss of our authenticity, the loss of our sense of self and uniqueness, lack of flexibility, pressure and erosion, damage to our relationships and our self-awareness are only some of them.
Masks are nice, and they help us navigate the world and remain a part of it, but it's important to remember to notice that we don't become our mask and that we manage to be true to our true self, in such a way that allows us to live and experience life and the world to the fullest, even if sometimes it's a little scary.
Happy holiday.
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