Masks and Other Incognitos

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     One of the more interesting artifices of human custom is the mask, both the physical and metaphorical varieties. Each has been part of our social selves since history has recorded us.

The earliest—and most intriguing—of the former was the mask used in ancient Greek theater. It allowed the performer to play several characters simply by changing masks, without elaborate costume changes, as a play was typically performed with only three actors. And, since Greek theater featured only males, masks made playing a female possible.

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     But more importantly, the mask encouraged the actor to become the character more easily. “The artist flows into the mask the poet offers him,” writes Mary Renault in The Mask of Apollo.

But masks have always been versatile, hiding as well as revealing: ask the Lone Ranger or the bank robber! Masks that announce and promote status were common among royalty quite early, perhaps the most famous being the 7th Century Sutton Hoo Helmet (shown here) associated with England’s King Rædwald. It was the boastful equivalent of a crown. “Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!”, as Shelley put it.

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     Metaphorical masks are more appealing, perhaps, since each of us wears several. We are different people in our different roles. It’s frighteningly simple to hide behind our masqueraded selves at convenient times and just pretend! And it’s terrifyingly easy to convince ourselves that we are them, not us. “No man, for any considerable period, can wear one face to himself and another to the multitude,” said Nathaniel Hawthorne, “without finally getting bewildered as to which may be the true.”

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     Well, none of these incognitos is “the true”! Furthermore, there is no “true” self. Whom I take to be me changes daily, hourly, even in the mirror, or as I digest a meal, or when recovering from a summer cold. I am always shifting my self-identity in subtle ways.

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     The Buddhist tells us that the mind creates the reality we perceive, and in the process creates the self that sees it. So, the “me” we identify is just a figment, a fleeting image, mask or no mask.

 

     My own mind, of course, contradicts all of this. I am forever the true and authentic me. And not a figment!

Ron Wetherington