The Persona

The Persona is like a special uniform you wear for different parts of your life. You might have a student uniform for school and a teammate uniform for sports. These are useful because they help us know how to act with others. But when you come home and take off the uniform, you are just you. It is okay to use your persona to help people, as long as you remember the real you underneath.

It is okay to use the uniform as long as you remember who is wearing it. You are not fake for having a work voice. You are not a fraud for acting confident when you are scared. You are not a liar for smiling at someone you do not like. The persona is a tool. A very useful tool. The problem is not having a mask. The problem is forgetting you are wearing one. The person who forgets they are acting becomes the act. The person who remembers they are acting can take the mask off at the end of the day and breathe. The mask is not the crime. Forgetting it is a mask — that is the crime. Know your roles. Play them well. But when the curtain falls, come home to the one who was there before the costume existed.

Goffman's dramaturgical model: the persona as functional social mask. The mask is not the crime. Forgetting it is a mask — that is the crime. Come home to the one who was there before the costume existed.

SOUND: The applause of a crowd: the sound that rewards the costume more than the person.

SMELL: A new stage or a fresh costume: the scent of a role about to be played.

TASTE: A professional fancy dinner: the taste of a social performance in edible form.

TOUCH: A stiff formal shirt or dress: the fabric that reminds you you are performing.

SIGHT: A photo of yourself looking very professional: the image that looks like you but does not feel like you.

BODY: Walking with a specific posture for an audience: the body changing its physics to match its role.

Music: Wings for Marie by Tool

Part of Identity & The Self — CONSCIOUSNESS — Education Revelation