As Above — Gnostics Line — Hidden Lore
Behind the Mask
Persona. From the Latin: mask worn by an actor.
On This Emblem
Jung used the word persona deliberately. The mask you wear in public — professional, social, familial — is a necessary construction. The problem is not wearing it. The problem is forgetting you are.
The emblem does not smile. It does not frown. It is simply a mask, holding the question open.
Source Texts
C.G. Jung — Two Essays on Analytical Psychology (1928)
Carl Jung. "The Persona as a Segment of the Collective Psyche." Public domain in many jurisdictions. On the mask and its relationship to the self.
Erving Goffman — The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life (1959)
Sociological analysis of social performance. Not public domain — find in a library.
Epictetus — Discourses (c. 108 AD)
Book I, Chapter 2. On the role we are assigned and what we do with it. Public domain.
Playlist Suggestion
Burial — Untrue. Talk Talk — Spirit of Eden. Music that does not reveal itself on first listening.