The Persona - The Mask That Conceals Your True Self

The persona is one of Carl Jung's most well-known concepts, representing the social mask that we put on. We all embody different masks in different settings, as it is our way to adapt to the demands of society, playing an important part in shaping our social role and in how we deal with other people. But, it also has its dangers.

We will be discussing the dangers of concealing our true self. We may use the persona to help us conceal our vulnerabilities and other parts that we do not want to reveal about ourselves, or we may excessively identify with the persona.

The persona prevents us from what Jung considered the most important task in our lives, the process of individuation, bringing one closer to the Self.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

📚 Recommended Reading

▶ Man and His Symbols (1964)
▶ Modern Man In Search of a Soul (1933)
▶ Memories, Dreams, Reflections (1961)
▶ Two Essays on Analytical Psychology - C.W. Vol.7 (1967)

📚 Further Reading Material

▶ The Archetypes and The Collective Unconscious - C.W. Vol.9 Part 1 (1969)
▶ Aion: Researches into the Phenomenology of the Self - C.W. Vol.9 Part 2 (1969)
▶ Symbols of Transformation - C.W. Vol.5 (1967)
▶ Psychological Types - C.W. Vol.6 (1971)
▶ The Structure and Dynamics of the Psyche - C.W. Vol.8 (1969)
▶ Psychology and Religion: West and East - C.W. Vol.11 (1970)
▶ Psychology & Alchemy - C.W. Vol.12 (1968)
▶ Mysterium Coniunctionis - C.W. Vol.14 (1970)
▶ The Red Book (2009)

🎧 Prefer Audiobooks? Get a 30-day Audible Plus FREE trial:

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

⌛ Timestamps

0:00 Introduction: The Persona
1:23 Stages of the Persona
3:16 Being Unconscious of The Persona
4:57 Excessive Identification with The Persona
6:02 The Persona and The Self (Individuation)
7:10 The Persona and Bad Faith
9:10 The Persona and The Collective Unconscious

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

📝 Sources

- Carl Jung, C.W. Vol. 7: Two Essays on Analytical Psychology
- Carl Jung, C.W. Vol 9. Part I: Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious
- Living Archetypes: The selected works of Anthony Stevens
- Craig, R. P. (1994). The face we put on: Carl Jung for teachers. The clearing house, 67(4), 189-191.
- Taneja, N. Disintegration of Persona and Attainment of Self in Krishna in RK Narayan's “The English Teacher”: A Psychoanalytical Study in Relation to Carl Jung's Theory of Analytical Psychology.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🎶 Music used

1. They Got Away – Documentary Music – CO.AG Music
2. Anguish – Kevin MacLeod
3. Drums of the Deep – Kevin MacLeod
4. Evening Fall Harp – Kevin MacLeod

Subscribe to CO.AG Music

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases at no additional cost to you.

Thanks for watching, I appreciate it!

#persona #society #carljung

[Eternalised]

*“The persona is that which in reality one is not, but which oneself as well as others think one is.”*


Thanks to my Patrons:

Ryon Brashear, Jeanette, john cochran, Jay B, Reuben Markham, Evangelos Barakos, Mr X

[guyedwards]

This is actually comforting in a way. I'd be willing to bet that a lot of other viewers here have struggled for awhile with the split between being completely genuine with others for the sake of individuation versus putting on a show for the benefits it offers to their social, working, or family life. From Jung's perspective, the construction and employment of a Persona feels like it's something that humans as biological social entities do naturally, just like how birds sing songs to each other. We don't judge the birds for singing, it's just what they do, and it's very beautiful. Makes the whole "mask" thing feel a little less guilty as long as it's healthily maintained.

[MalMotorDedo]

I see the "mask" as a way of increasing your accessibility, if I was 100% myself all the time, ppl most likely would tell me to shut up or would say that I'm VERY pretentious.
I see it this way, we have the wild spirit, the real self that is displayed when we are alone, and the accesible spirit, the filtered self that we show to other individuals. We could be our wild mind, but we all know that we ALL have some awful traits that shouldn't come out of the studio, so that's what makes the "mask" and this "mask" has a good percentage of our real spirit no matter what.

[spacebear]

Perfect for us who always end up in deep thoughts on the holidays.

[Metaphix]

Losing a persona and the possible crisis that occurs after that i think plays a massive role in veteran suicide rates

[maybe.next.life.]

I'm a recovering alcoholic.. these talks and others like it are incredibly helpful to me when I'm frustrated with others, or situations, etc.
I wish I had a better way to explain how, but it really does.
Thanks for the heads up and insight!

[ironsnowflake]

I think many people (including myself) consciously deploy the persona because we know our true self is too caustic & would cause negative reactions that we simply don't have the mental energy to engage with (aka picking the "hill" one dies on, if I'm arguing with you, I adore you)...hence the sugary persona that is a true barrier against interaction, but make no mistake, I'm very aware of the mask 🎭
Great vid, subscribed

[blac_gat]

I don’t think I have a persona anymore I used to act out a lot for the attention but I realized that it went against what I am as a person, I think looking so deep into myself has made it all to difficult to understand myself so now I just live and note my reactions to situations

[garyoverman]

I am a husband, a father, a grandfather, an artist, a technologist, a designer, a Lions Club member, a friend, a philanthropist, a sensei, a believer, a non-believer, a philosopher, a musician etc. etc. etc.

I am a Jack of all trades and a master of some. I am but one person, and many persons, but not the exact same person for each of the roles.

I try to be authentically “me” in each of those labels without artifice. I can change my role as faster than one can mask up. But I suppose that is what a persona really is.

As soon as one attempts to wear a mask that does not genuinely belong to them then they aim to deceive. And only then does a persona become a impedance rather than an asset.

[fretnesbutke]

Eternalised has some things in common with very few other channels like Academy of Ideas..great thoughts accompanied by great artworks. Entertaining while being ennobling. What an accomplishment and what a concept.

[TinyMaths]

First time I realized this 'persona' thing, I didn't have a name for it.
I was around 14 years old and happened to be walking home from school with a couple of other kids.
I was all animated and enjoying the interactions until one of them parted ways onto his home street.
All of a sudden there was complete silence between the other kid and I. It was almost as if I had become a different person.
It felt so weird and I was glad I had to turn off onto another street shortly after that.

I understood it had to do with the 'relationship' between me and the remaining kid (or lack of relationship); but that was the first time I awoke to it.
I get the feeling nowadays all these years later that a lot of it has to do with how I'm trying to come across to other people, as opposed to just being totally relaxed with what I present as a 'person', which might be an impractical possibility, at least some of the time.

[zenspqy]

For those fortunate enough to be here - I recommend you play the “videogames” Persona 5 & Persona 4 Golden. Phenomenal stories and implementation of Jungian shadows and personas. Incredible experiences

[ReynaSingh]

This channel deserves way more viewers. Keep up the great videos

[siorai]

I was aware of my persona yet still immersed in it heavily and didn't develop my own individuality. The awareness makes it so that it can't be shattered by other people but you are starting to feel extremely tired after every day. I couldn't take it anymore and shattered my persona 3 years ago and still trying to develop my own individuality. I think i did pretty good job considering that i am writing this under this video. But it was really hard and i still have suicidal tendencies. But it feels good to keep moving on the right trajectory at least i think it is right.

[infinitelyconciousness]

Remember my persona developing in the adolescences. Suppressing all my impulses and wishes because of shame. Remember seeing other teens suppressing their intuition too and walking mechanical like a robot. And others being more fluent. I Couldnt interpretate my strong new perception and awareness of my body. Now I want achieve this state of being again and listen to my body instead of suppressing its function.

[thedothandle]

Psychic equilibrium is a balance between oneself and the collective conciousness
I love this

[Luipaard]

Personas are necessary to simply get through life in a civilized fashion. They can become dysfunctional but they're simply a part of being human, as natural as breathing.

[bettermanchannel]

Accept the roles for each part of your life. Let the persona be integrated with one aim. Kicking life's ass!!

[manuellanthaler]

Crazy how I learned all of this as a young teenager and that video explains why I am seeing people so differently than everyone else. I always see their true self. And most people are just NPCs thats very... dystopian

[janicestevenson]

The writings of Marshall Vian Summers refer to these different aspects of the mind as personal or surface mind and Knowledge or Impersonal Mind. He writes "Knowledge represents your bond and your intrinsic relationship with all life. Knowledge is your connection to everything. Knowledge is the part of your mind that is spiritual and permanent.... You live life at two levels. You live life at the level at which you think, and you live life at the level at which you know. It is to bring you into life at the level at which you know that is the purpose of true religion in all of its forms. This reunites you with your Creator and with your greater purpose for being in the world. This brings you back to Knowledge, for God can only be known." (Greater Community Spirituality, MVS)