"Who? Who is but the form following the function of what and what I am is..."
Well, what am I? A husband? A Son? A Father? A brother? An Australian?
Yes, I suppose. But metaphysically what am I? To continue the quote;
"a man in a mask."
We all wear masks. The "workplace" mask, the "church-place" mask. The "soccer" mask and the "school" mask. The "drinking friends" mask and the "movie friends" mask. What I am is a man in a mask.
Yet this raises many question of itself. What form the mask? Of what substance is its making? Is it a smiling mask made of sadness? Is it a grotesquery made of love? Is it distress made of joy? Where must one begin to be able to answer this question? I cannot see my mask because I look through it. So I need a mirror.
In the physical world we can see what our face wears only by looking into a mirrored surface. Whether a still pool of water or shining metal, it is our reflection that allows us to see the face we present to others. So for the metaphysical mask I need a metaphysical mirror. It is often said that art mirrors society and society mirrors art. But am I art to look to society to see myself? I can only hope not or else my mask is a hideous monster made from the broken lives of the innocent. What about others people? Do their masks mirror my own? Can I determine what form my mask and what substance in its making by looking at you? If I look to the best of people then I will think the best of myself. If I look to the worst of people then I will think the worst of myself. But that does not tell me what mask I am wearing, only what mask other people are wearing. I then have to assume that I am the same as others.
No, locating my identity perceptions in others is the same as staring at a photograph whilst doing your hair. No matter what you've done it looks the same every day because it is no true reflection of yourself, just a frozen picture of a time.
So how do I determine my mask? What can possibly give a clear reflection of the mask I wear? External sources are either blurry or lies. So with no external source of relflection I am left only at looking for one internally. Only, I have already said that I cannot see my mask because I look out of it.
But I can feel it. I can feel it on my face. The texture against my skin. I can run my hands over it to determine the shape, building up an image in my mind of what it looks like. If I close my eyes, and look at my mask with other senses I can determine what form it takes. Then, because this is a metaphysical mask, I need to listen to how I feel, what I think. I can determine the substance of the mask because I have made it. It looks and feels like, and is made up of me. I am that mirror.
I am a reflection of the mask I wear, and the mask I wear is a reflection of me.
But... who am I?
Edited by Caulfield, 11 August 2012 - 06:10 AM.
