Masquerade Party this Friday
Picture the Lone Ranger, riding up on his horse - without a mask. Think of the Phantom of the Opera, coaching Christine in a role - without his mask.
Now, think of history - all of it - without masks. The ancient Greeks performed drama in them. The Renaissance Venetians threw balls in them. And you and I hiked around the neighborhood, threatening dire consequences if we didn't get candy, safe behind the seeming anonymity of a Batman, or clown, or witch mask.
While the purported reason for a mask is to hide one's identity, the real reason would seem to be the opposite. Our true identities are brought out from behind masks, where we are free to be whatever we imagine the mask to represent.
"Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth." So said poet/playwright Oscar Wilde. And here is philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche: "Everything profound loves the mask."
The 20th century's greatest English language poet of mystical love knew that a literal mask is only a stand-in for the mask of personality reshaped by the mirror of Romantic love:
"In wise love each defines the secret self of the other, and refusing to believe in the mere daily self, creates a mirror where the lover or the beloved sees an image to copy in daily life; for love also creates the Mask." - William Butler Yeats.
Choose carefully the mask you will wear to the Masquerade Oct. 29. Make it speak for you. Make it more you than your ego-self. The eyes of a mask look outward - but they also look deep within.
- Kokopelli For more information and to purchase tickets go to meetup.com | October 2010
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