VV(7) - Persona

[David Morris]

http://www.cgjungpage.org/jplexicon.html

Originally the word persona meant a mask worn by actors to indicate the role 
they played. On this level, it is both a protective covering and an asset in 
mixing with other people. Civilized society depends on interactions between 
people through the persona.

"There are indeed people who lack a developed persona . . . blundering from 
one social solecism to the next, perfectly harmless and innocent, soulful 
bores or appealing children, or, if they are women, spectral Cassandras 
dreaded for their tactlessness, eternally misunderstood, never knowing what 
they are about, always taking forgiveness for granted, blind to the world, 
hopeless dreamers. From them we can see how a neglected persona 
works.["Anima and Animus," CW 7, par. 318.]"

[The above DOES sound like Benny]

A psychological understanding of the persona as a function of relationship 
to the outside world makes it possible to assume and drop one at will. But 
by rewarding a particular persona, the outside world invites identification 
with it. Money, respect and power come to those who can perform 
single-mindedly and well in a social role. From being a useful convenience, 
therefore, the persona may become a trap and a source of neurosis.

"A man cannot get rid of himself in favour of an artificial personality 
without punishment. Even the attempt to do so brings on, in all ordinary 
cases, unconscious reactions in the form of bad moods, affects, phobias, 
obsessive ideas, backsliding vices, etc. The social "strong man" is in his 
private life often a mere child where his own states of feeling are 
concerned.["Anima and Animus," ibid., par. 307. ]"

"The demands of propriety and good manners are an added inducement to assume 
a becoming mask. What goes on behind the mask is then called "private life." 
This painfully familiar division of consciousness into two figures, often 
preposterously different, is an incisive psychological operation that is 
bound to have repercussions on the unconscious.[Ibid., par. 305.]"




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