The Mask We Wear: When Personalities Hide Principles

This is the second blog on this theme. Last week, I discussed the importance of principles; they create our personalities.

This week, another thought.

If personalities are before, or in front of, principles, they can hide the truth. For example, I can hide my face by putting a mask before my face, and I can hide my principles by putting a performative personality before them.

I can wear a performative personality mask for a day or an hour. I can be a good and serene AA for an hour-long meeting, kind for an evening with a first date and a considerate spouse for as long as it takes to get what I want.

I can hide my principles with a personality mask.

To live honestly, I must constantly ask: Am I manifesting my principles or displaying my personality? Am I temporarily performing, manipulating, and masking to hide my principles, or am I living authentically? Am I virtue-signaling or living and acting in accordance with my principles?

The answer to these questions might be part of the ‘rigorous honesty’ mentioned in ‘How It Works.’ Am I living our principles with rigorous honesty or displaying a performative personality to hide my principles, which, if seen, would be met with disapprobation?

Principles before personalities, and if we reverse this proposition, personalities can hide principles.