“Every man has his own mask which he has carved for a long time. Some wear the same masks all their lives, others use a variety of masks. Some masks stress the features others are far from their original. Some are poor and easily distinguishable others are so skilfully made, they’re hardly distinguishable. People always wear masks when they face each other. They see only masks. Even if they remove their masks their faces seldom expose themselves. Because there may be second masks. And even third masks hidden under the first ones. Therefore, people often take your masks for you. And you take theirs for them. The objective of love and hatred may be the masks. Faces suffer loneliness. People try to escape from it and make new masks.”

This profound quote from the 1969 movie, Funeral Parade of Roses, really hit home. In our daily interactions, we always put our best mask on, either we are scared to show our real selves, or we have been deeply hurt in relationships, or childhood traumas, sometimes compels us to hide our true selves, or societal pressures - we are always wearing our masks. We get so used to the masks that we forget who we were in the first place. 

Will anyone ever get to know who we really are? Do we even know? Is the self entirely an illusion, or are we made up of a multitude of egotistical masks and archetypal projections that are layered upon each other as a reflection of the many lives we’ve lived and people we’ve been?

We hide ourselves to such great extent that it becomes difficult to discern between the mask and our true selves.  

The first step would be to become aware of the different masks one wears. To shed the false sense of security and embrace our vulnerability.

Over the years, we have traveled through treacherous terrain to the remotest places, and the most beautiful people we have met, not the outer but the inner beauty, are the ones who drop their masks at will and show their naked souls, and that is when true connections are built! You can feel it!

Here are 3 Ways to Drop the Mask for Good