Masks

[royinpink]

Can someone tell me how a persona is formed and basically what are the components of it? I used to think I had a different persona within me however now I realise that it's not a persona, it's more image based, like something I want to project rather than actually play. At first I thought of this alternative mask as radically different from myself, that is should be radically different. However it seems NT masks are usually more numerous and subtle. How does a person stay internally centred on the person they really are while wearing such masks?

You bring up a number of interesting issues here. What is the distinction you are trying to draw between a mask/persona and an image? Do you mean that the mask is a role someone chooses to play whereas the image is less in their control? I'm not sure I see the difference otherwise between an image and a mask. They are both about adopting a different identity, no? Or do you use 'image' to refer to someone grasping at, like, signifiers of identity or group-membership such as clothing and music taste, and 'mask' to someone comfortably taking on an individual personality?

As to your second question, I wish I knew how to stay internally centered. One of the quotes that really resonated with me when I first learned about Asperger's is from the indie videogame To the Moon. There are two female aspies in the game: the socially adjusted one Isabell, and the one who is more stereotypically aspie, River. Isabell reflects:

“With effort, it is possible to acquire a guise of social norms systematically. But you know what? I both envy and pity River. Me..? I’m an actress because I’ve been doing it all my life. Not only on-stage, but off-stage…and at practically every moment. I’ve gotten good at it because acting is the only option I have. It is the only way for me to be ‘normal’. But River…she never did that. She remained an outcast and refused to learn how to step against it. I don’t know if it was by choice or limit, whether by bravery or cowardice. There are days where I just can’t stand faking it anymore. And then I realise that it’s to late. The Isabell that people know of is all an act and the real me has long become a stranger. I think in the end…I just envy her.”

Sometimes I feel like 'the person I really am' died sometime in high school.

 

[Cogs Of My Cranium]

You bring up a number of interesting issues here. What is the distinction you are trying to draw between a mask/persona and an image? Do you mean that the mask is a role someone chooses to play whereas the image is less in their control? I'm not sure I see the difference otherwise between an image and a mask. They are both about adopting a different identity, no? Or do you use 'image' to refer to someone grasping at, like, signifiers of identity or group-membership such as clothing and music taste, and 'mask' to someone comfortably taking on an individual personality?

As to your second question, I wish I knew how to stay internally centered. One of the quotes that really resonated with me when I first learned about Asperger's is from the indie videogame To the Moon. There are two female aspies in the game: the socially adjusted one Isabell, and the one who is more stereotypically 'aspie', River. Isabell reflects:

“With effort, it is possible to acquire a guise of social norms systematically. But you know what? I both envy and pity River. Me..? I’m an actress because I’ve been doing it all my life. Not only on-stage, but off-stage…and at practically every moment. I’ve gotten good at it because acting is the only option I have. It is the only way for me to be ‘normal’. But River…she never did that. She remained an outcast and refused to learn how to step against it. I don’t know if it was by choice or limit, whether by bravery or cowardice. There are days where I just can’t stand faking it anymore. And then I realise that it’s to late. The Isabell that people know of is all an act and the real me has long become a stranger. I think in the end…I just envy her.”

Sometimes I feel like 'the person I really am' died sometime in high school.

I think I mean a mask as in a role a person plays like in work for example or at a party. An image is a less defined thing and a collection of ideas. It's more based on a visual idea one is trying to project to others I think.

 

[royinpink]

I think I mean a mask as in a role a person plays like in work for example or at a party. An image is a less defined thing and a collection of ideas. It's more based on a visual idea one is trying to project to others I think.

Hmm...at first this didn't make sense to me because an image seems very specific (hard to have a single general or vague image), but then I thought maybe you mean a role is context-specific (to work, party, etc.) whereas an image can hold across contexts and in that sense is broader.

How it's formed? Imitation, I think, and rehearsal or practice. Components...all sorts of things: intonation, body language, scripts of what to say, etc. I think it's easier to be flexible with the 'script' once you've tried out various ones and can pick and choose.

 

[Kukabine]

When I was a teen I struggled fitting in and over time I started hearing a voice different then by own that took over in a sense when a stressful situation occurred. Over my life which I am almost 40 years old that I have 8 distinct voices or personality that takes over in a whole variety of situations, from work or a fight, to hanging out with people I just don't know Well, to even by kids. I never knew that it was my way of dealing with things because I never knew what was wrong with most of by life. Last two years is when I was enlightened of what has been my problem. I am a mother of 4 children and youngest was diagnosed with aspergers at age 5 and learning about him over these years showed me all my struggles was not new just loosing my mind and I learned to accept these different parts of myself which they have names that I call them to keep them straight.