The grandiosity gap
"Society is a masked ball, where every one hides his real character, and reveals it by hiding"
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson ~
Wkdwych says: An individual reveals their character (and character disorders) through their actions; and how very transparent most people are.
In one's own mind, the fragile self image is maintained via an inflated perception of a grandiose self and this preserves one's self delusion and keeps the fear at bay. It blinds one to the true persona others see.
"Acting deals with very delicate emotions. It is not putting up a mask. Each time an actor acts he does not hide; he exposes himself."
~ Rodney Dangerfield ~
The mask serves to hide one's true character from the wearer more than it does from his audience. The audience is well aware there is an actor under the mask, the actor sometimes comes to believe he "is" that role. This is the abyss those blinded by their insecurities fall into, to hide from themselves. The fool not only represents annihilation of the ego and a return to childlike innocence; the dark side of the fool is the ignorance and lack of self awareness that hinders one's true self knowledge, love and inner joy, and ultimately costs them their personal evolution.
We are each only fooling ourselves.
Michelangelo said "In every block of marble I see a statue as plain as though it stood before me, shaped and perfect in attitude and action. I have only to hew away the rough walls that imprison the lovely apparition to reveal it to the other eyes as mine see it."
In the same way we need only hew away at the rough walls of our neurosis and character deformities that imprison our deific selves from emerging.
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson ~
Wkdwych says: An individual reveals their character (and character disorders) through their actions; and how very transparent most people are.
In one's own mind, the fragile self image is maintained via an inflated perception of a grandiose self and this preserves one's self delusion and keeps the fear at bay. It blinds one to the true persona others see.
"Acting deals with very delicate emotions. It is not putting up a mask. Each time an actor acts he does not hide; he exposes himself."
~ Rodney Dangerfield ~
The mask serves to hide one's true character from the wearer more than it does from his audience. The audience is well aware there is an actor under the mask, the actor sometimes comes to believe he "is" that role. This is the abyss those blinded by their insecurities fall into, to hide from themselves. The fool not only represents annihilation of the ego and a return to childlike innocence; the dark side of the fool is the ignorance and lack of self awareness that hinders one's true self knowledge, love and inner joy, and ultimately costs them their personal evolution.
We are each only fooling ourselves.
Michelangelo said "In every block of marble I see a statue as plain as though it stood before me, shaped and perfect in attitude and action. I have only to hew away the rough walls that imprison the lovely apparition to reveal it to the other eyes as mine see it."
In the same way we need only hew away at the rough walls of our neurosis and character deformities that imprison our deific selves from emerging.