Mask

A false self you might put on in meeting others; latent qualities you can express or wear when needed – a mother might be a tigress when her children are threatened, but a meek person otherwise. Her tigress would not be ‘false’; ego less. An artificial front we have learned to develop since childhood. See Ground Zero – The Psuedopod

 We can mask our real feelings and guilt with other attitudes and feelings, perhaps because of ones work or relationship that is felt as disagreeable. So brutality or hurtfulness in relationship can be in the form of subtle accusations or criticisms masked as rational comments.

 A dream image is simply a mask you use to describe a feeling or a realisation. So if you dreamt of a mountain lion, and you imagine yourself in the body of the mountain lion/dream image, you will get behind the mask and you will feel the quality and reality behind the image.

 Example: When the masks of the dream images were stripped away, the woman sobbed so deeply because her daughter had never been independent from the mother’s love before and it was terrible for the woman to face life without her daughter. Her daughter had left home and gone to university, and the woman had dreamt her daughter had been murdered.

Taking of a mask could suggest people seeing you without the cover of status, vocation, lack of confidence or the pretense we use – or maybe reveal the real beauty or genius you have. Or putting on a mask might be a way of putting ones ego aside.

Animal masks may suggest either animal qualities being worn, or sometimes the person transforming into the spirit of the animals that we all have within us. See Levels of the Brain

Or sometimes another aspect of you showing itself yet remaining masked, or a dead person – trying to communicate with you. The clown shows us the wonderful and tragic human feelings underlying the masks we might wear in daily life.

An oxygen mask suggest you either have signs of breathing difficulty, or else you feel a life threatening situation is being dealt with.

I found that death has a beautiful face once we tear away the awful mask we put on it. Death is naked beauty. It is a mask we put on it because we have been assured again and again that death is the end and all we see are the marks of illness or bodies torn apart by war. We perhaps all have masks which hides our true being. For most of us have never be aware of the Life that moves us, and so are masked.

 Example: I had a strong fantasy of the head, which was severed from the body and skinned, coming alive it, was me and what I had done to myself, who I was that felt so much, I had torn my body and head apart trying to find a solution to the misery I had suffered for years. With enormous certainty I realised that there was no cure for my sickness and I had struggled in vain. It was a tremendous blow – and I gave up. I mean I gave up hope, everything, and simple lay there.

Then I saw flesh on the cheeks of the head. Then it was like a native mask made of various things, and feathers. The feathers predominated in the fantasy. The mask of me was made of many things, but behind it when I/it fell apart was the certainty of being. The mask kept breaking up, leaving only a few feathers, as if it or I were nothing. I remember saying – “There is not even a mask, there is no me, it’s just a few feathers!”

Then I had a vision of one feather tied to a twig by piece of wool, blowing in the wind – a feather blowing in the wind. This was very stable and persistent in the fantasy. Everything resolved back to the feather blowing in the wind. It seemed like a Red Indian symbol, perhaps tied to the suspended body of the dead, but I could not understand.  Then it came to me that I had to listen in deep stillness – not think, not seek to understand, not struggle, just listen. My whole being entered into silence, gently listening as one might listen to the rain falling on a lake. Then suddenly it was known – the feather blowing in the wind – the sound of one hand clapping – the essence of human existence. Open against the sky – emptiness – enormity. I was healed.

Useful Questions and Hints:

What was expressed by the mask or what was its function?

Was I wearing a mask, and if so what did I feel about it?

Do I ever ‘mask’ my feelings?

See Martial Art of the Mind – Clicking On – Programmed – Techniques for Exploring your Dreams