Masks

Another school year is beginning and soon new students will arrive at my door. Who will they see and who will they pretend to be? I'd like to think I could look back to those days when I was a student myself and be amused by all the fronts I put up, the pretenses to impress and the masks I wore to disguise. I'd like to think I'm past that now and am free to be my unvarnished self. . .

So, where is the line between who we are and who we portray? Do we ever become transparent to the world or even another individual? I'm wondering if we ever become transparent to ourselves. (or perhaps I should say, I'm wondering if I ever become transparent to myself). Have you ever excused something you've done that would outrage you had it been someone else? It's too easy to do. Perhaps one purpose of masks is to hide ourselves from ourselves (me from me).

In theology, one idea of masks is that they represent the different faces of God; different faces presented to different people in different cultures. These masks serve as a kind of bridge to connect individuals with God in a way that decreases tension and increases comfort.

So, why do we wear masks? Here's another idea presented in poem by Paul Laurence Dunbar.

We Wear the Mask

We wear the mask that grins and lies,
It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes, --
This debt we pay to human guile;
With torn and bleeding hearts we smile,
And mouth with myriad subtleties.

Why should the world be over-wise,
In counting all our tears and sighs?
Nay, let them only see us, while
We wear the mask.

We smile, but, O great Christ, our cries
To thee from tortured souls arise.
We sing, but oh the clay is vile
Beneath our feet, and long the mile;
But let the world dream otherwise,
We wear the mask.