Masks
Many of us wear masks to hide our real face from others; some do it unintentionally while others are motivated by selfish designs.
A mask may not necessarily be used to hide our nature but to show a different face that is deemed socially more agreeable, amicable and acceptable. These masks may well merge with the outward image along with the internal self to make our personalities more dynamic.
Our true nature is not just made up of a singular component but is divided multifariously. Masks vary in their range of sophistication - it could just be an angry person’s mask, an excited person’s mask, a worried person’s mask or a happy person’s mask. Various aspects in a person’s personality might be revealed as circumstances tend to instigate people to behave in a different manner. In each mode, a person’s behaviour would be altered accordingly. If someone sees them in one mode, he would only have witnessed one side of that person and until he sees that person in some other mode he would never be able to judge the real beauty or ugliness of one’s nature.
These masks are not completely opaque; they only accentuate our face in a different light. We wear these masks based on the way we feel at the present moment about something and these can be taken off once the situation is dealt with. It will then be replaced by something totally different according to the environment and how it evolves around us. So it can be argued that masks which unintentionally change and depict a person in a certain state aren't hypocritical. They are not entirely fake, but are just diverse parts of our complete personality which are mostly hidden, but are only revealed to the world in certain circumstances.
Sometimes there is a moral dilemma which might lead someone to act hypocritically so as to avoid a catastrophe. These circumstances might arise when one feels that honesty would lead to pain and irrevocable damage to a relationship, compared to the apparent hypocrisy that is done with the good intention to preserve the relationship.
However some masks are worn to delude others. These masks are worn by people who act or behave in a manner which isn’t coherent with their internal beliefs. Such masks do not conform to our true nature, but are used as a deceiving cloak to dupe others. A desired image is portrayed by them in order to achieve means to a certain, selfish end. Masks that are put in contradiction to one’s own belief in order to mislead the public are worn by hypocrites. Sometimes these two-faced people are unmasked as to reveal their true face which repulses the audience.
One can never be sure as to why someone else wears a mask or whether they actually are wearing one or not. In fact we cannot even distinguish between our own masks and personalities. Nathaniel Hawthorne puts it very aptly, “No man, for any considerable period, can wear one face to himself, and another to the multitude, without finally getting bewildered as to which may be true”.
A mask may not necessarily be used to hide our nature but to show a different face that is deemed socially more agreeable, amicable and acceptable. These masks may well merge with the outward image along with the internal self to make our personalities more dynamic.
Our true nature is not just made up of a singular component but is divided multifariously. Masks vary in their range of sophistication - it could just be an angry person’s mask, an excited person’s mask, a worried person’s mask or a happy person’s mask. Various aspects in a person’s personality might be revealed as circumstances tend to instigate people to behave in a different manner. In each mode, a person’s behaviour would be altered accordingly. If someone sees them in one mode, he would only have witnessed one side of that person and until he sees that person in some other mode he would never be able to judge the real beauty or ugliness of one’s nature.
These masks are not completely opaque; they only accentuate our face in a different light. We wear these masks based on the way we feel at the present moment about something and these can be taken off once the situation is dealt with. It will then be replaced by something totally different according to the environment and how it evolves around us. So it can be argued that masks which unintentionally change and depict a person in a certain state aren't hypocritical. They are not entirely fake, but are just diverse parts of our complete personality which are mostly hidden, but are only revealed to the world in certain circumstances.
Sometimes there is a moral dilemma which might lead someone to act hypocritically so as to avoid a catastrophe. These circumstances might arise when one feels that honesty would lead to pain and irrevocable damage to a relationship, compared to the apparent hypocrisy that is done with the good intention to preserve the relationship.
However some masks are worn to delude others. These masks are worn by people who act or behave in a manner which isn’t coherent with their internal beliefs. Such masks do not conform to our true nature, but are used as a deceiving cloak to dupe others. A desired image is portrayed by them in order to achieve means to a certain, selfish end. Masks that are put in contradiction to one’s own belief in order to mislead the public are worn by hypocrites. Sometimes these two-faced people are unmasked as to reveal their true face which repulses the audience.
One can never be sure as to why someone else wears a mask or whether they actually are wearing one or not. In fact we cannot even distinguish between our own masks and personalities. Nathaniel Hawthorne puts it very aptly, “No man, for any considerable period, can wear one face to himself, and another to the multitude, without finally getting bewildered as to which may be true”.
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