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The word "Person" comes from "Persona" (latin) and "Persona" meaning mask, a mask that we have to wear sometimes in society. Sometimes we have to be political, we have to use this persona.
The question is: Who are you? Who is your persona? Who do you think you are and what you are forced to do to behave so you can survive in the society.
Love
Paulo
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Sometimes mask give you the energy to be really you….So the mask is the truth. with love ERNEXST.
Dear Sweet Annie,
Thank you for your words. I have had to check what did I write.
Seems to me I was just vomiting words, so I understand that you have had to end up in tears. It was such a nonsense bad expressed. I have mixed things … it´s a confusion. Sorry. I´ll try to be clear with what I want to say from now on, and I´ll shut up till I am ready to talk about that …
Thanks for you Sweetness anyway. I Love you.
Love.
Me and my many masks…we are the same! One cannot exist without the other–I need them to be accepted, and they need me “to be”.
I am many persons to many people, which i think is inherent in the roles i play. To be a person is to be like the flowing river, never still…always changing with the seasons.
Does that make me a fake Mr. Coelho knowing that i embrace my masks as much as i embrace who i really am inside?
A chameleon.
You are my favorite writer of all times. [and i say it with my mask of truth intact...:o) ]
Dear Paulo,
if we all in this planet could realize and understand this question we would know the answer and our world would be very different.
I will try to explain in my poor english my opinion:
i am the person who i think i am. It’s what others (mostly the family) forced me to believe that I am. We grow up believing that we have a specific character, specific limits and boundaries, etc. We think of ourselves based on others behaviours (example:you love me so i believe that i am beatiful/nice, you don’t love me so i believe that i’m not good enough)
So finally we believe that we are something which not exists; that means a person/personality is an illusion. This illusion is leading us to live our life somehow upside down. We live all our live in fear because we fear to love and life without love is zero. And we fear to love because nobody can love if he is wearing a mask.
Last but not least i can’t answer the question regarding the survival in the society. I have first to find out how my soul can survive in my body; the rest will come from itself.
Sophia
Sound = vibration
Anoushka,
You could be right, every person lives on certain level
of a vibration.
There are so many masks as vibrations,the higher the vibrations how pure the person is.
Person or persona, whatever name you give it, it eternally happens to be the fabric of our existence, something which evolves every nano second, moulds itself, unfolds before our very own eyes. It is essentially nothing but a part of the Great Universal Person, call him God, or Aum or anything else. The name never mattered, the spirit did. Our persona happen to be the tiny fraction of the Supreme Person. In that sense we are all but the same, we are God, because we reflect him.
Thought provoking post :) Always liked reading them.
Dear Anoushka, a very interesting position. Thank you.
Then I think of the creation that says: At the Beginning there was the LOGOS [Greek ΛΟΓΟΣ= λέγω =speak, say, to express something through sound. The music of the Universe, the Spheres, our inner vibrations, our Aura, the music of our inner self..
LOVE,
THELMA
Dear Paulo,
Persona actually translates from latin as ‘per’ – through, ‘sona’ – sound. This adds a whole new dimension to your question as we wear our masks through sound.
Anoushka
I am brand new to your site…I am glad I found it. I can’t wait to dive in.
alessandra,
i have felt this many times…u are not alone….i hope u can find a way back to you.
Found you rather serendipitously, reading the NYT best seller lists for something to inspire me to keep writing.
My persona is that of nurse in a small hospital, and viola player in a moderate sized orchestra. I have learned to be comfortable with the fact that what people see when they look at me is not me.
Sometimes I meet a person I would like to try to explain myself to, but that is rare, and usually when i attempt, the explanation is not received as I would like, so I wait some more, for the next possible. I have several “friends”, many aquaintances, and three children. I have had three husbands, I am almost 60 years old, and am coming to realize I may never meet the person who “gets” me.
I am not depressed about that, it just … is. So I play with writing, I hope it will be a romance novel set in/around Barcelona in the century before Ferdinand and Isabella. Don’t ask me why, I’ve never been there and I’m not Catholic! But I’m having a great time studying that time/place.
Which is why “The Alchemist” caught my eye, as I thought I might be able to glean a little local color. Instead I find universal truths… Thanks, Karen
Every person has a persona.Can any one live in society and be accepted without a persona? I,for example,am a very volatile,outspoken person.But I have to be very calm and diplomatic and a person of few words,keeping all my opinions and frankness on a tight rein to survive in this world.Also i like the great outdoors,to travel,to be free,learn music,the arts,but i can’t do all these things because i have to fulfill my duties to my family first and then think of my comforts.So i am a different person from the persona that i have to personify in order to live in society.
Hello Mr Coelho,
Thanks for the opportunity to join this discusssion.
“The word “Person” comes from “Persona” (latin) and “Persona” meaning mask, a mask that we have to wear sometimes in society. Sometimes we have to be political, we have to use this persona.
The question is: Who are you? Who is your persona? Who do you think you are and what you are forced to do to behave so you can survive in the society”.
A large chunk of who I am is represented in my blogs. Large but not all. For practical and self-protection reasons, we can not completely say who we are in our online journals or writings but anyone can have a pretty good grasp of the kind of human being I am.
I do not assume a certain ‘made-up or propped’ persona to function well in the world where I am now. The real world needs openness and not pretenses for it to become a better place.
I am ‘what you see is what you get’. That is me. I have been pit-level down before. But, somehow, I managed to survive the apathy of others, especially those who do not know me well; the derision of people who are related by blood who are worse than those who’re not; and the perpetual condescending attitude of people affected by my past personal life decisions.
To them, that is their problem. I have learned to expel all my grudges away and hope to stay positive every moment that I can.
Too naive? Most times naivete is a welcome change.
Cheers to you Mr. Paulo Coelho.
Cuando se dice que el significado de la palabra persona es máscara, entiendo esa máscara como la personalidad que adoptamos de acuerdo a las situaciones que se presentan; pienso que en ocasiones estamos alegres y mostramos esa persona sonriente, positiva, amable… pero cuando estamos tristes, mostramos la persona gris que hay en nosotros y asi sucesivamente de acuerdo al estado de ánimo.
También hay influencia de las personas con que tratamos, porque no nos podemos comportar de la misma manera con nuestros jefes que con nuestros compañeros, con nuestros hijos que con nuestra pareja o los amigos, incluso con alguien con quien solo nos cruzamos.
A eso yo no le llamaría máscara, sino actitud.
gracias Paulo por cuestionarnos y ponernos a pensar en algo tan cotidiano pero que no nos detenemos a pensar.
Oh Hansem… I cannot remain indifferent to your words!
I feel much sadness, mask or not mask, exist moments in our life in which you must remain single and reflect,are you sure that in the mind of the others you are various one from who you are truly? Perhaps it is borning in you simply the wish to change, to open itself to the rest of the world is not mistaken, you try to make this little the time avoiding to burst. I am sure that you will find the right persons on your journey and also the right moments.
The world needs to your voice too!
On this day of all days, today, I send a silent prayer to all those out there that lost love ones during the tragedies 7 years ago.
Wear not your masks, you have permission, you may share your true selves with us and we will hold you up… We as friends, as a nation, as fellow writers, and as human beings..
Today is not a day for masks, today is a day for sharing the deep love we all have for humanity… The tragedy was terrible, but the unity was great.
Let us always remember and cherish those lost sons, daughters, mothers, fathers, aunts, uncles, sisters, brothers, friends, lovers and unknowns….
Hello Mr. Coelho. I am a huge fan of your works, and they always move me. Thank you. It is funny that you would ask about “Persona”. A few years ago I wrote a piece based on what I would qualify as an answer to your question. Should you have time please read my piece as an answer.. It is called “I am”
I am many things. I’d say I am a good person.
Yes I am a good person, but the good person is
balanced by a silently tormented soul.
Who was I in my youth? Who was I? Throughout your
life you met a person very much like me. Remember the
loser you would categorize as the nice guy? That honest
and caring young gentleman. Remember him? He was the
guy you loved to talk to, you loved to share your
problems with him, he understood it all. You loved to
see him, but alas could you ever LOVE him? No not him,
this great friend could never be loved more than as a
friend. You would have hated to ruin this friendship
with carnal thoughts or actions. If it were anything
more than a friendship it would be a disaster. That is
exactly what would have happened, utter ruin.
Am I Right? I know I am right, dare I count the times I
heard that same story. I wonder as I write this if it
sounds like the writing of a bitter person? It was so
very long ago yet those memories exist. However bitter
today I am not. See we all evolve and adapt, is this
not the way we survive? This is how I have survived.
Simply put I changed. What follows is a description of
me today. Angel, ARod, *sshole or whatever you wish to
call me today.
I used to be shy and quiet, so well mannered and
collected. My thoughts were innocent and honest were
my intentions. I never argued, never challenged,
always agreed. I suppose most of this is still true
today. I am still shy, yet evolution has made me
extremely loud and outspoken. Seldom are my thoughts
innocent, yet I remain honest for the most part. Today
I argue, I challenge and rarely will I ever settle for
the opinions of others. I have adapted to my
surroundings and the stimulus I was presented in life.
I love dancing, partying and singing in karaoke bars
has become a common practice. I love to be the center
of attention when in large crowds, and I usually am.
I love showing my hard body. I train hard for the
privilege of it. I love being lusted for due to this
body, I love being wanted by men, women, cats, dogs,
whatever. Are these behaviors not the behavior of an
extroverted person, but I am shy aren’t I. I love
these amongst many other activities that put you in
the public, but how can I do so being shy? Adaptation
(and a little alcohol from time to time).
I love to snowboard, Yet I still love to write poetry,
I love to write love letters. Yet why have I not
written a poem for so long or a love letter though I
have a love? This too has been through adaptation.
Years of rejection and hurt have forced that into a
hiding. Can it ever emerge again? I’m cunning and
deceitful, unbelievably so if I need be. I’m very
logical, I can reason with or defeat the devil
psychologically. Though I am not the best, I am good.
I am open and honest, yet can be very withdrawn and
secretive.
I am Direct and can be all too blunt, yet I can leave
wondering about what I truly feel. I am very good with
computers, they earn my living. I am fit and love to
exercise my body. I love the color blue, it is by far
my favorite color. I am in love with my past, memories
of a past life that haunt and torment me in current
life. Memories that seem so far away yet so close. I
miss those I love and the life I lived, yet I can’t
stand it. I live in a constant state of thought. I am
a very deep individual yet some find me quite simple.
Before I leave my private house, I look in the mirror, check my hair, my make up and clothes to makes sure I’m representative to meet the public room. I’m avoiding being private in public, and of course I take off the public mask in private. Both in private and in public I try to be personal, more or less.
I always have to smile when I see people in their PJ’s out grocery shopping. Hey, you can do that at home, but come on, in public we put on a little bit of an effort, and don’t let it all hang out. Certain things you only do behind the four walls, and private feelings and thoughts should be kept private.
Calcutta was for me a cultural shock. So many people lived on the streets, and their private life went on fully exposed. To see a complete stranger brushing his teeth or sit down to release himself in public, made me really appreciate having a home.
We seem to be excited by peeking into other peoples private life. I’m thinking about those who put up web cameras all over their homes, for others to be able to follow every little action going on there.
So, where do we draw the line? If the public is so stiff and boring we cannot stand to be there, or the private is so lively and funny we never want to leave? My bridge between the two worlds is to be personal both places, to exchange thoughts and feelings on two different levels. The first thing I always do returning home, is to change clothes, hair style and make up, as if it was contaminated, and be back to being free and a relaxed myself again.
I must admit I have a lot of fun in the public masquerade too. Because, even though we try hard to hide the private life, there is always that hidden self only others can see, and this self is revealed as well in public, as in private. So we can be close and personal both places.
Now we are talking. Yes, I am an angel. Yes I only want to have fun. And yes, some times I want to fight and to have fun.
Todos tenesmos diferentes mascaras actuamos dependiendo del momento o dequien tenemos enfrente … y por causa de eso muchos terminamos confundidos sin encontrar nuestravedadera persona .. seran pocos los que verdaderamente saven quines son y no usan diferentes mascaras … el querer mostrar fuerza o lastima asia otros.. o el hecho de pasar despaersividos antes el mundo escondemos nuestra alma con mascaras innesesarias ..
Personal and Persona….is it not how we perceive and how people perceive us…….or it we react to the way we think people perceive us….if we think people think bad of us we react to that….if they think we are good we react to that………..However i have come to the conclusion that we are both good and bad and we should just try and be natural and react the same to all…..So then we are consistantley personal……It seems to me easier to live without a persona. However this is not an easy task as we have attachment to what people think,so we behave in the way that is expected of us at that present time!!
Don’t we all have personas? I mean more than one. We need them to function in our society. I change my masks daily depending who I am faced with, family friends work or just anybody. This is what makes constract our character.
Dear All,
Based on what I have learned so far is that, I think that I am, but I am really not. Throughout my live I have also made use of different personas, depending on the situation. I wanted people to: like me, fear me, have fun with me etc. etc.
However, I have come to understand that these personas are not who or what I really am. What I found in buddism, Christian teachings and other input is that most of these personas i have created are to protect myself. Basically I made them out of fear. I still do not know who or what I am, but more and more I understand that these personas/masks are my own creation, or my ego’s creation.
Someway somehow I am afraid to really get to know the true me. I am not entirely sure why, but I still cannot let go of certain masks, consciously and unconsciously. It is, however, an exiting journey in eliminating all these masks.
I intend to not use masks anymore to be politically correct or not to hurt people. Because these things I do them out of fear. Fear of not being wanted, accepted or loved.
I start to believe that behind all masks rest the same person.
So in order to know me, you, and everybody I need to leave mu masks behind.
Funny how writing this down gives me greater understanding of the teachings who state that I am you and you are me.
“In Lak’ech” makes more sense to me now.
Thanks for bringing this up and helping me know the truth
: )
My persona is the story behind what I wanted people to think I was. I have lived most of my life through this false mask of exitence: trying to be happy when I am really not, trying to please others when I really didn’t want to.
I have began a new journey into myself recently and Mr. Coehlo I am grateful that you asked this question.
I want to live fully embracing all that I am without caring what others think. I want to be me without the harsh judgments that come with that. Because my true self is perfect just as it is. Much of the suffering we experience in society is a direct result of this mask and it is really a choice to wear it or not. By dictating how we should be, who we should be, how we should act we all feel pressured to live up to these standards. But I have made the choice to venture into myself and rediscover all that is beautiful inside of me…discover my inner child, my heart and my very Being.
I’m a man how try his best to live in harmony with his ambition, & his dreams. Also trying my best to keep learning from life.
But its not an easy way to be your-self with everyone or anywhere.
I used to addjust my self to deal with a varied time of situations that not always I like to involve in, or those who are don’t match my mood or personality. But I’m applying the rule of compromizing which is essential & effective every life aspect. Sice no one can live alone or apply his own believes and idiologies with out sharing others believes & idiologies
Sometimes u should show that u care or u respect to show sympathy or respect to others’feelings, because sometime your cold reaction will be misunderstood by others.
All these are things that could make us servive in public, but if we loose our awn personality & start to use many MASKS at the personal level of relations we will be very complementary to the level of betraying.
A sociedade nos ensina a usarmos várias máscaras. Inclusive ela enaltece aqueles que a interpretam melhor. Tudo bem, faz parte do jogo! Mas creio que mesmo usando essas máscaras, sempre devemos deixar transparecer o que esta por trás dela; o nosso verdadeiro “eu”.
I have been thinking pretty often recently who i am, and what i am doing here. I was born near Vaalimaa 45 years ago, after that i have done things in my life that people use to do, normaly, but since some years i gave up for this, i have stopped to live that life that another people thing it should be good for me and so called normal. I dont even care really what they think about, i behave the way i like, even they think im grazy, it´s so tireing to act the role they except all the people doing, and i have only this one short life, it´s pretty much my own treasure, so i will use it the way i like. Now i´m living in another country, working when i like, maybe i´m here next week, maybe i will go somewhere else, it debends on where the wind blows. I dont make any plans, i take what comes and follow that path, it´s much more interesting this way. So, who i am, i am a madman.
Who am I? I am that I am.
One day I may be serio, the next day humorous, at times naughty, then innocent, social butterfly then antisocial sometimes I might just BE; all depending on situations that occur. At the same time no matter what the situation(s) that causes a shift in my persona I still try to remain moral in my being.
I try to be conscious of when I am wearing and how long I have been wearing a certain mask I’ve noticed if it is worn to long or not at the proper moment it looses its integrity meaning I am not being true to myself.
I have realized that I don’t have to always be serious, social, or innocent I can even choose not to participate in the political game of shifting my persona.
Unfortunately there has been many times where I have found myself being forced to put on a mask that did not belong to me. I then find a strategy of how I can pull this mask off and hand it back to its owner in a nicely manner.
here are some lyrics from the Fugees one of my favorite songs called
“THE MASK”
Have you ever worn the mask one-two one-two,
(M) to the (A) to the (S) to the (K)
Put the mask upon the face just to make the next day,
Feds be hawkin me
Jokers be stalking me,
I walk the streets and camouflage my identity,
My posse in the Brooklyn wear the mask.
My crew in the Jersey wear the mask.
Stick up kids doing boogie woogie wear the mask.
Yeah everybody wear da mask but how long will it last.
[CLEF:]
I used to work at Burger King. A king taking orders.
Punching my clock. Now I’m wanted by the manager.
Soupin me up sayin “You’re a nice worker,”
“How would you like a quarter raise, move up the register”
“Large in charge, but cha gotta be my spy,
Come back and tell me who’s baggin my fries,
Getting high on company time.”
Hell no sirree, wrong M.C.
Why should I be a spy, when you spying me,
And you see whatcha thought ya saw but never seen.
Ya missed ya last move, Checkmate! Crown me King,
Hold my 22 pistol whipped him in his face.
Hired now I’m fired, sold bud now I’m wired,
Eyes pitch red but da beat bop my head
Hit the streets for relief, I bumped into the Feds,
I got kidnapped they took me to D.C.,
Have me working underground building missiles for World War III.
[CHORUS:]
(M) to the (A) to the (S) to the (K),
put the mask up on the face just to make the next day.
Brothers be gaming, Ladies be claiming.
I walk the streets and camouflage my identity.
My posse Uptown wear the mask.
My crew in the Queens wear the mask.
Stick up kids with the Tommy Hil wear the mask.
Yeah everbody wear the mask but how long will it last.
Well, a tough one. I dont know how to answer it. All i know is its very difficult to “be ourself”. We build up a “personality” as society wants and may be its far from actually we are.
Dear Paolo and friends,
I believe we create our Personas from fear.
When we face ourself we see things we do not like,we might find ourself empty, stupid, ugly…etc and instead of facing the fact we run away and than fear begins.
We are arfaid of so many things, just looking in the every day life: loosing job, for our family, security, loosing our beloved, what others think about us….etc. We try to escape from fear inventing ideas to cover them or images
We live in fragments without being aware of their exsistence. We are different at home, in the office, with friends, we are different yesterday and today and tomorrow.
I don’t think we should look at our Personas as other personalities or the “trying to be someone else” as some wrote above. All our personas are us. One. To understand ourselves we need to look at all Personas in totality. To understand what we try to avoid or escape from so to see why we have Personas. Without seeing the root of them you can never understand them. If we try to recude them we just make more. Don’t deny them, ignore them or judge them just look at them in totality. Just try to understand them. We are fear ourselves, only if you understand it can be free from it.
thanks for your attention
Dear Paul,
I am a writer who stays indoors for days at a time wearing pajamas and moving from writing desk, to computer, to reading chair, to refrigerator, to exercise bike, to bathroom working on poetry, non-fiction books and short essays mostly about how to obey God, and how to make Him smile by falling in love with each other. Once a week I go out to do all my errands, and meet one or another girlfriend for lunch to find out all her news and more of her history and laugh until we cry. A few times a year I leave home for a week to visit loved ones or meet new ones and teach the gospel of Jesus. Other than that, I make love to my husband twice a day and manage to publicize my books.
On the other hand, my public persona pretends that I want to work five days a week for someone else and that I care about anything other than the above.
Diane L. Harris
http://www.steppingintothelight.net
When we’re born on this planet, we are taught to behave the way our society thinks is acceptable. So we grow up thinking,behaving, and doing things the way our parents, family, neighbors, religion and so on want we do.
So, who are we? Who on this planet can say he/she really knows her/himself ?
Observing people I realise that everybody wears masks all the time, in a way that when they arrive home at night they just change the mask to another one that fits on the family way …
Eventually at night when everybody is sleeping, when the person looks at the mirror what/who does he see?
Sometimes we lie even for ourselves…
Is it really possible for one just to refuse to wear the mask? Do one really know who he really is in first place?
My ‘persona’ are always what people had in mind about me. I always wanted to live inside out and always ponder who will I becoming in later times.I have to admit I always wear mask that enable me to be accepted. I love socializing but occasionally I felt lonely and there are always an emptiness inside of me where I hardly to find anyone to speak of when in troubled. I can ask for help but the feeling of dont want to get anyone involve in my own business have never fail in resist me to do so or maybe not it just not the right person or right time. There are alwats a utopia, a perfect world that I imagined, a world without voice. A world without voice?you may ask why?There are times when words really fail me.Anyway, I think I going to far and better get back to the topic. What I really want to say is even there is a time of ‘persona’ moment but you just need to come back to the root. Like the bulb, if the bulb ask himself who am I?why I exist? Who do you think can answer his question? The bulb can think of thousand reason of why he exist and who he is but the inventor will just say you are created to bring the light to the world in dark and that’s the only reason why you exist and that’s it.
This is a tough question. I know what you speak of when we have to act like someone else to funtion in society.
I know that my “real persona” is a very carefree, loving, creative individual who likes to say what’s on my mind. I will almost always do this when I am around my friends or family. When I am at a function or out of my comfort zone, I tend to be more quiet and reserved and shy with comments for fear of looking stupid. I know I’m not stupid. I have a BFA in Fashion Design as well as a MA Ed. I know I’m not stupid. I just don’t want my ideas to be frowned upon so I act like someone else in front of others. Why do I do this? I would really like to find out.
Very good question!
HA! (:oD
It’s a question without answer. We are changing constantly. I was a cool child, I was somehow frustrated teenager, I was an disciplined soldier, I was a rebel, I was a crazy heavy-metal fan, I was amazed by Bach and Mozart, I was hooked on ancient literature, I was all the times on party, I was translator, I worked as a dispatcher on truck, I was in an air shipping company, I was radio reporter, I worked in a call-center, I was a great TV watcher, I was bored from the television and I stooped to watch TV… So how can we say “I am”? We can say just who we were and we can’t even suppose who we will be tomorrow. The person I think I am is the person I was just a second ago. So what about the Persona? It’s just a code we use to manage with other people, some kind of a reply to the messed languages of the people under the shadow of the Babel’s tower. I remember the symbol of the lotus: a big quantity of petals, and when once all of them removed in search of the core, we reach the Nothing. So is the Persona – a petals that if we start to remove, we will reach the Great Inner Nothing of our souls. Nirvana…
what does it happen when u realize that ur persona is killing ur person and therefore u decide to refuse to wear the mask???
i couldn’t help stop smiling after reading this week Q… if there’s someone that have to use a persona it’s me, even though when i give my best to be me most part of the time, society has created rules that are the appropiated ones and that we are suppossed to follow in order to be accepted or recognize as a good person, but i have always wonder, who decided that society was the most appropiated to created, but that’s another topic.
my dad once told me, you are not an island and you must understand that you live around people and sometimes you must act in a way to get what you need or for the simple fact that you live around people. i’ve always been tagged of weird just because i’m not like everyone else, maybe i’m just one more from the group whos not like everyone else, but being the way i am has allowed me to realize that my closest friends (i don’t have many) are with me because they accept me the way i am. weird and all…
finally there’s a song of an argentian group wich i love, the group’s name it’s LA MONAMORDAN. they website,facebook and all.. i’m not going to copy all the song but the chorus.
“Soy la suma de mi amor, la resta de mis miedos una ecuacion tan facil y sin solucion, soy una regla de tres tan simple, y aunque no veas todo lo que soy.. soy lo que ves”
it’s kind of like this, “i’m the sum of my love, minus my fears an equation so easy that you can’t solve,such a simple rule of three, and even though you can’t see all that i am, i am what you see”
XOXO
Puedo decir que vivo en un mundo de personas.. pero siempre tengo claro quien soy, de donde vengo y es igual como lo menciona, a veces muchas aburren, no me agrada escucharlas y estoy tratando de comprender y fingir.. porque no lo se, ese es mi defecto mas grande, pero la sociedad lo exige y si quiero cumplir mis metas, voy a tener que aprender.
ah…ah…sufi…
Thanks to share it!!
:)
Paulo, it’s magnificent!
The easy thing is to see your persona – you have many of these; I am a sister, a daughter, a friend, a collesgue, a lover. I am each of these things at times. I behave differently towards different people, and I do not direct the “real me” towards any one of them. I would say that no one knows this real me.
Similarly, I myself am not sure who this real me is. Am I the sister, the lover, or all of the things I am to different people? I want to say that I have an inner self not linked to these others. But this self has become lost among the masks, and it is hard to see how to find it again. Perhaps others can never see it because they can only have their own perceptions of my self as they have no direct access to my mind.
Somewhere in the fray, though, we have to believe that our selves are still lurking, and that through removing every mask we will be able to find them again. Perhaps it is only in moments of inflection that we are able to catch glimpses of them.
Dear Paulo
i am obliged many times to wear that mask and to behave in a certain way because people expect me to be someone else.
grown up in a family with tradition in a small country in europe wich was under dictatorship and during my 15th i had to fellow my family immigrating to the place where democracy was born.so i have to adapt to my new enviroment but wearing a mask.i have been wishing and waiting for the day i wont need to wear it but it is getting more heavy and more important; last year i moved to paris to get an mba degree and i thought its time to show my real self but none wanted that….i wanted to feel free with no rules but my family and few friends didnt like me and try to stop me;;;;
i have been dating someone who is not the same religion,not university level and who in past had problems with the authorities ……etc
sometimes i feel that the “crazy”people are the happiest one.If i would stay in the place that i was born and getting married at early age and just taking care of my husband and kids and not developing my self i wouldnt be stressed and wearing that mask
however i dont feel sorry and i dont regreat cuz this trip has made me stronger and i really enjoy it even though i dont know if there any happy end
to mina
I was lost in that labyrinth to, don’t loose hope you will find the way out of the labyrinth !
I am you and I am me with your face. I look at you and I say what you want to hear… I find the words that make this encounter rich and rewarding for this person (you). I have not lost me only discovered more about who you are as for me, I still exist within and this is who I am.
I am lost in the labyrinth of person and persona. SOS!!!!
I want to tell you one of my dream: if a day I will marry, in church I want to wear tracksuit and trainers, the same thing is worth for my future husband and for all the invited ones to the ceremony, I can’t stand the heels and not even the exaggerations!
i am a person with a persona. i don’t like wearing mask, so i will forget who i am. i won’t say i have to act in a certain way considering the situation. it’s like i can’t behave or anyone won’t behave with everyone in the same cordial way. we change our self with according to the people we are dealing with. one can pretend to be what he is not in one case and that pretension comes to real with other. what would you say then?. there is no doubt that we have some good persona which may appeal to other people in a more positive way even it’s a mask you might be wearing(there is not any harm as long as you are aware of it).
YES pretensions are not real. what you are thinking to show to others might be fake but i believe that one day comes when we could no longer take it and become one true being and those fake persona vanish within you.
a persona is like a mask used in Greek tragedies/comedies, shaped in order to please the audience, give the right impression but still few can see beneath it.
only a person who ignores completely the prerequisites of proper social behavior is free but may still be described as an animal, i wonder how many of us feel the urge daily to scream and roar and wash away a profile which enslaves us but yet we have so carefully created around us, in order to protect us from our fellows…
the need of social acceptance is greater than the need of accepting and loving ourselves for what we truly are.
probably sometimes we wear masks diffrends masks because we need to love us and we dont want to hurt feelings to others persons ..this is the reason i wear mask …
this is a song by paulo coelho and raul seixas, in the early 70′s that made my mind, and it´s called “gita”. I forgot the copyleft, sorry… :)
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