The relationship between persona, myths and the unconscious provide reams and reams of material for discussion. Joseph Campbell dealt with this particularly well. I also wonder whether activities like cosplay become the outward reflection of an inner reaching for a value set which is bound in the costume itself. So many young men and women, for example, seem to seize on "The Force" as a set of values in which to immerse their real life, and which emerges in cosplay as a Jedi Knight. Another complete aside which I just started thinking of - so often an individual work desk is an expression of that inner life. The desk itself becomes a form of cosplay which is acted out in a socially acceptable way. Its very easy to pick the Star Wars fanatic for example - a persona one frequently encounters in software dev teams..
"So many young men and women, for example, seem to seize on "The Force" as a set of values in which to immerse their real life" - yes. The catch with 'The Force' is that it's kind of a vanilla-ersatz version of something that is actually real (as you'll know from your work with the Indigenous communities over here), and its cutesy gosh-wow schmaltz so easily gets in the way of our ability to see that which _is_ real. I saw the same problem with so much of the 'New Age' communities too, back when I worked in that space: it's one of the reasons I walked away from there. Oh well.
"The desk itself becomes a form of cosplay" - yes! Including, of course, those so-common photographs of family and the like - trying to connect the persona of 'family man' or whatever (to reference back to your previous comment) so as to _not_ get swamped by the corporate persona, and to provide a way to let go of the latter at the end of the day..
Its a fascinating piece of study to ready, for example, Jung on the relationships between masks and personas. That observation about meeting a senior person from your workplace in a casual setting is a great example of that. Whilst one has the persona of father and husband, to meet that senior person leaves one with the option of either changing the persona to the workplace one, or allowing the senior manager to see the father/husband persona. And - importantly, the senior person has exactly the same choice to make...
And rats! - I forgot to include 'persona' - literally 'that through which I sound', where the mask itself can filter how we speak (and, in turn, what we see and, though not directly, what we hear). Such an important point, and I forgot to include it! Too late to edit it now, too. Oh well, some other time, I guess?
The relationship between persona, myths and the unconscious provide reams and reams of material for discussion. Joseph Campbell dealt with this particularly well. I also wonder whether activities like cosplay become the outward reflection of an inner reaching for a value set which is bound in the costume itself. So many young men and women, for example, seem to seize on "The Force" as a set of values in which to immerse their real life, and which emerges in cosplay as a Jedi Knight. Another complete aside which I just started thinking of - so often an individual work desk is an expression of that inner life. The desk itself becomes a form of cosplay which is acted out in a socially acceptable way. Its very easy to pick the Star Wars fanatic for example - a persona one frequently encounters in software dev teams..
Thanks again on this, Slade.
"So many young men and women, for example, seem to seize on "The Force" as a set of values in which to immerse their real life" - yes. The catch with 'The Force' is that it's kind of a vanilla-ersatz version of something that is actually real (as you'll know from your work with the Indigenous communities over here), and its cutesy gosh-wow schmaltz so easily gets in the way of our ability to see that which _is_ real. I saw the same problem with so much of the 'New Age' communities too, back when I worked in that space: it's one of the reasons I walked away from there. Oh well.
"The desk itself becomes a form of cosplay" - yes! Including, of course, those so-common photographs of family and the like - trying to connect the persona of 'family man' or whatever (to reference back to your previous comment) so as to _not_ get swamped by the corporate persona, and to provide a way to let go of the latter at the end of the day..
Its a fascinating piece of study to ready, for example, Jung on the relationships between masks and personas. That observation about meeting a senior person from your workplace in a casual setting is a great example of that. Whilst one has the persona of father and husband, to meet that senior person leaves one with the option of either changing the persona to the workplace one, or allowing the senior manager to see the father/husband persona. And - importantly, the senior person has exactly the same choice to make...
Yeah, exactly - many thanks for that, Slade.
And rats! - I forgot to include 'persona' - literally 'that through which I sound', where the mask itself can filter how we speak (and, in turn, what we see and, though not directly, what we hear). Such an important point, and I forgot to include it! Too late to edit it now, too. Oh well, some other time, I guess?