Masks – What they are and why it is important to recognize them (part 1)
This article has been temporarily translated using an online translator. The original article is in Italian. If you would like to help us improve the translation in your language, please contact us by email: info@accademiadicoscienzadimensionale.it or via chat on ACD. Thank you.
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In spirituality, you will often hear about Masks, without understanding their exact meaning or the incredible importance of knowing about this topic. So, it is time to understand what they mean and why it is so important to be aware of their existence. First of all, masks are part of your character, as they are the faces that make you who you are and characterize you. What we mean by the term Masks are all those emotional expressions born from feelings, such as anger, hatred, happiness, love, envy, generosity, and all the other feelings we know. Through a feeling, a mask is born, which is your way of reacting to that feeling, which pushes you to behave in a certain way. Your character is made up of numerous masks, which have always been present in you and ultimately define your personality. Even if you don't realize it, every day you switch from one mask to another at different times of the day, because depending on the situation you are facing, the person you are with, or the thoughts that are going through your mind, you experience different feelings and your masks emerge from them. In everyday life, numerous masks emerge within you, but everything happens spontaneously and extremely quickly, so you don't even realize when you change your feelings or how you react to them, because it happens naturally and quickly. When you change masks, you simply change your mood and way of thinking without even realizing it, because the change is silent and the masks do not present themselves to you with their names written on them, but influence you without you even noticing. Every mask, whether it be anger, nervousness, serenity, or joy, appears continuously throughout your day, even if only for a few moments, so you don't realize how much a particular mask is present in your routine, because its activity may only last a few seconds before disappearing again. For this reason, it is not at all easy to realize what your daily masks are, because sometimes they appear and disappear so quickly that you don't even notice their presence; yet they are definitely there and they influence you.
Masks can generally be divided into terms such as jealousy, apathy, frustration, anxiety, or altruism, generosity, and much more. But each of them is incredibly broader in that it can lead to different facets and be associated with additional feelings. Each person may experience a different side of jealousy and not react in the same way as others would. For example, when some people experience feelings of jealousy, they start to withdraw into themselves, become sad, think badly of themselves, and begin to underestimate themselves because they consider themselves inferior to the person they are jealous of. So, in addition to the mask of jealousy, other masks begin to take over, such as sadness, pessimism, etc. Other people, on the other hand, when they feel jealous, become very aggressive towards others, begin to hate the person they are jealous of, and feel intense anger towards the person they are jealous of or towards the people around them who have made them feel competitive. Therefore, in these cases, the mask of jealousy quickly gives rise to masks of anger, hatred, and aggression. So each of us reacts differently to the same mask, because we are not all the same. Each mask is very broad and can expand in different directions for each of us. In addition, recognizing one's own masks is not at all easy. Starting with jealousy, which most people believe they do not feel at all, that they have 'never been' jealous of anyone; yet from the outside, it is very easy to see who is feeling jealous at a given moment, because their attitude changes and a subtle but pervasive malice takes over, causing them to say nasty things about another person who does not deserve such behavior, but this is what jealousy drives those who are addicted to it to do at that moment.
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But it is not only jealousy that is difficult to recognize, but also many other feelings that you simply experience without even knowing you have them; such as the difficulty of distinguishing love for someone from emotional or physical attraction, which is very different from love. Yet, the mere fact that you cannot get that person out of your mind may lead you to believe that it is true love, when in fact it is physical attraction. On the other hand, we may also be attracted to someone's mind, their way of behaving and reacting to difficulties, or we may be attracted to their intellect, but even in this case it would not be love, but attraction, which could fade in a few months, unlike love, which grows stronger over time. It is not easy to recognize our feelings, let alone recognize our masks, which turn out to be even more influential and incisive on us. In a sense, it is as if certain masks possess you and in those moments you are unable to think for yourself because your every word and action is controlled by that mask, which pushes you to behave in a certain way without you having any control over it. When a strong mask prevails in you, you lose control and clarity, to the point of saying or doing things you later regret. For example, you might say things to someone that you don't mean, because you're nervous or angry, and you end up saying hurtful things that you know will hurt the other person, because in that moment you think it's right to hurt them and you want to do it; but soon after, you realize that you've been overly harsh and that the person didn't deserve it. From there, guilt sets in, another mask that makes you feel bad and possesses you, because your guilt causes you to bend over backwards for the other person, even at the cost of "losing your dignity," just to get them to forgive you. We are all made up of numerous masks that we live with, suffer from, or are possessed by at different times. Of course, don't take the worst meaning of the word 'possessed', because it's just a figure of speech, but it's important to note that at certain moments some of the masks can take control of you to such an extent that you lose your clarity of mind and end up saying or doing things you regret. These are not necessarily serious words or actions, mind you, but they are still reactions that, with a clear mind, you think 'do not belong to you', because you would never have behaved like that consciously, yet in those moments you acted without control.
Being aware of the existence of masks is a good start, but it should be clear that this topic is not just theoretical, nor is it an end in itself. The subject of masks will surprise you, because it is not just a term to identify your emotions, but it is the awareness of certain areas of your personality that you can decide to change or silence, as you recognize that they are hurting you, or that they make you appear negative or senseless in the eyes of others, even though you do not believe yourself to be this way. Deep down, you know you are a better person, but there are times when certain feelings take over and your masks suffocate your clarity so that only they appear, such as when you become sad over nothing, to the point of appearing weak and depressed even in the face of trivial matters. Then, when you regain your clarity, you realize that there was really no reason to feel so bad, and you feel guilty for making a "bad impression" in front of other people who may have thought that you are too fragile and that you cannot cope with even the smallest difficulty without breaking down in tears. Knowing about masks is not just about putting a name to what happens, but it will help you become more aware of the masks that dominate you. This is because the masks that make you who you are can seriously hurt you, such as when you fall into a state of distressing sadness, the kind of sadness or guilt that hurts you so much that it pushes you to think about punishing yourself, not necessarily with physical actions but also just by tormenting yourself with bad thoughts that blame you for situations that you are not really guilty of, yet you want to hurt yourself and continue to blame yourself and almost disgust yourself. Masks can be very cruel, so much so that they can hurt you even more than someone else could. If you think, for example, of the depression that many people suffer from, they don't realize how much they are hurting themselves. In fact, they don't even realize that their constant sadness is not normal, yet they are completely possessed by it and cannot find a single thought that brings them peace, continuing to hurt themselves with their own thoughts.
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Becoming aware of your masks will be a practical journey, as you will learn through targeted techniques to gain more power over them. Through practice, you will learn to regain clarity before it is too late, so that you can act consciously instead of being overwhelmed by your masks and regretting it later. You will be able to recognize which masks are only there to harm you, in real time, so that you can decide to silence that mask and prevent it from causing you harm. You will become able to realize when it is too much and, thanks to targeted techniques, you will be able to detach a specific mask or amplify it if you feel that you need it or that it makes you feel good at that moment. This is because there are not only negative masks, but also those that obviously make you feel good. Think about all the times you have to face a challenge and anxiety starts to take over. If you decided to detach that mask to bring back optimism and goodwill, you would feel more confident and feel compelled to give your best to face that challenge. The situation would be completely reversed! Or think of all those times when, because of the presence of a specific person, your mood changes and you 'become a different person', for example, you become nervous because you can't stand that person, or you become insecure and fragile because they make you doubt yourself and your worth; or you become anxious and fragile precisely because you like that person, and you are always afraid of making a bad impression in front of them, which is precisely why you end up doing so because of your insecurity. In all these situations, your masks dominate you to such an extent that you lose your mental clarity and act like a puppet, because in those moments you are not thinking clearly and you let your "base instincts" take over. You can decide to become aware of your masks, take control of them, and take back the power over your life from them, so that you can regain complete control.
As long as you think that masks are completely yours, you may even be right that they make up your personality and that there is nothing wrong with giving free rein to each of them. Yet this is precisely where the problem arises, because our masks are not only ours, but can be incredibly influenced by external factors, which are extremely varied. Our feelings and thoughts, and therefore also our masks, can be influenced or even deliberately manipulated by people or external presences. Our mood can change completely due to external influences, which can be energy programs present in a place, or the influence of other people's thoughts about us. But there are also people, as well as entities, who know very well how masks work and know that they can be manipulated from outside. So there are some who manipulate people's thoughts and feelings for their own pleasure or gain, without the slightest resentment towards what they are doing and without respect for the person they are deliberately manipulating. The feelings and thoughts you experience during the day may not really be yours, but induced by what some people want you to think or feel. And it is here, more than ever, that you need to know how to recognize which masks are yours and when they are being manipulated on purpose to make you feel bad. Taking control of your masks means not only knowing yourself, but also protecting yourself from the negative desires of people and presences that constantly influence you. On this journey, you will learn many techniques that will allow you to take control of your masks and decide when they can stay and when they need to be removed, as you consider them harmful to yourself or to those around you. For now, you can reflect on the topic and, if you have any questions, you can leave them by right-clicking and selecting "Write question." In the meantime, I would be happy to read your comments or experiences on the subject, which I invite you to write below in a comment on the article.
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