Depends who I’m dealing with.

I yam what I yam.

We hide behind various masks depending on who we are with. What kind of world would it be if we let ourselves all hang out in the workplace for example.

It would get tiresome dealing with the personal issues of complete strangers and acquaintances.

We even wear masks with ourselves much of the time. We give ourselves little glimpses at the real us.

This is a very good question. In my view, we’re extremely complex beings. Many evolutionary biologists consider that we developed our enormous brain capacity so that we could better negotiate the intricacies of social life.

I think it’s a mistake to see your “true self” as being your feelings and opinions. Insofar as you have a self, it lies just as much in your social entourage as in your feelings. That’s what being a social animal involves. Your true self is just as much “out there” as “in here”.

All of the little dances we do to maintain our social selves and keep our relationships working smoothly are not necessarily “disguises” just because they may come into conflict with our feelings at a given moment. We just sometimes prioritize the needs of our social self over the urgings of feelings. That’s an important thing to be able to do.

Inattention to feelings is a problem. Inattention to the social self is also a problem. To be true to your “true self” requires attention to both.

Hi, i’m Lucy in disguise with diamonds…......looking simply fabulous darling, as per ;¬}

I’m a sociologist and a huge fan of Goffman so yes, of course, it’s all just masks, all the time.

In a sense, we are all wear disguises. We usually respond in a way that is appropriate to a situation. The persona we present when talking with our employer is likely to be different from what is displayed when talking with a co-worker. Likewise, interacting with a child will probably be different from an interaction with an adult. Such variations, when not a dissimulation, are means to enhance relating, and not a distortion of one’s character.

Yes, there is no way you can get through life without them. You can be yourself but you have to modify and transform yourself in different situations to get by.

I think of my different personas as costume changes more than disguises. Each is a very real part of who I am, embellished or stripped down to meet the situation at hand. Each has a purpose and a place. I don’t think any of my current costumes distort me, but that has not always been the case. The older/more mature I’ve gotten, the fewer (or less exaggerated) costumes I possess.

I feel that i’m more and more my authentic self most of the time – which isn’t to say that discretion isn’t involved when called for.

I’m a very authentic type. I don’t play a role in my interactions. I’m 100% me all the time.
Big difference in modifying ones energies to fit certain socially sanctioned behavior vs. being a duplicitous chameleon that goes around adjusting their persona to manipulate others for impression management. Gah, can you spell f-r-a-u-d?

After many years of researching some paranormal phenomena, including afterlife issues, I’ve come to a reasonable assumption that Silver Birch and his spiritual philosophies are likely the most accurate. We are our thoughts, not our looks, and in the mental realms of the afterlife spheres our true intentions show up in our physical appearences, much different from how it is on earth. I’ll agree with SB when he says “In the spirit world, each person’s thoughts are known and cannot be hidden. There can be no deception of pretence. Every individual is known for what he is. He cannot deceive anybody, for lying is impossible.”

@thorninmud And yours was a very good answer. There is a lot to think about in what you said.

Probably, I know I am as soon as I go out the door to work. At work my mask is one of patience, attention and willingness to help a lot of people I find boorish, annoying or vile.

If I didn’t care so much about money and living, I would choose to be a lethargic hippie. Reality dictates I be a bit competitive and act like a care about things.

<— social chameleon

No

<——Doesn’t shave and only showers once a day if by himself.
(However, still changes undies 2x a day.)

@LuckyGuy So do you shower more than once when with others?

@LuckyGuy Well…if you don’t shower then you have to factor in the surplus need of extra underware. Jeez dude, where’s your spread sheet? You should be able to engineer the proper ratio of showering vs. underware consumption.lol

Each of us are actually three people. We are the person that others think that we are. We are the person who we think that we are. Down deep and under our facade is the person who we really are.

@tups Yep, I shower in the morning and evening. I like starting the day all fresh and clean and don’t like sliding between the sheets dirty at the end of the day. Hey, you never know where a mouth might end up. I figure it’s a sign of respect for the partner.

If I am working with chemicals during the day I will also shower after work before supper. Those tyvek bunny suits get sweaty.

@gondwanalon All 3 of me are clean.

@LuckyGuy Good to know! :-)

It’s like using layers in Photoshop. You choose certain elements to be visible at one time. Otherwise, to be all you all the time, would look like a goddamn mess.