The Antibody Network ·The Clearing
Reading 2 of 5 Who Is Asking

The mask

Jung borrows the word for a Greek actor’s mask and names what you have been wearing.

The reading — Carl Jung, drawing on Greek theatrical tradition; also Erving Goffman (1956)

The Persona

The persona is that which in reality one is not, but which oneself as well as others think one is.

The persona is a kind of mask, designed on the one hand to make a definite impression upon others, and on the other to conceal the true nature of the individual.

The word ‘persona’ is derived from the Latin for ‘mask’ — the resonating mask worn by actors in Greek and Roman drama, designed to project and amplify the voice. The persona was literally a megaphone for the character. Behind the mask, the actor remained.

We all wear masks appropriate to our various roles — the professional, the parent, the competent adult, the one who is fine. None of these is false exactly. But none is complete. Behind every persona lives the person that each one is in God’s eyes.

Perennial 1956 CE Open this teaching on the Map →
The framing

The persona is that which in reality one is not, but which oneself as well as others think one is.

The word is older than Jung. In Greek and Roman theatre the persona was the mask, built with a chamber inside it to throw the actor’s voice to the back of the amphitheatre. It amplified the character. The actor stayed behind it.

Jung’s observation is that you have one, and that it works. It was made carefully, out of the roles that got rewarded, and it is very good at its job. The trouble is not the mask. The trouble is the actor who has stopped taking it off, who answers to the character’s name at home. Read the passage and notice your own reaction: most people feel caught, and then relieved. Both are the right response. Nobody is being asked to drop the mask. You are being asked to remember there is someone wearing it.

Carry with you
Which part of the persona did you keep on today after the audience had gone?