There are times when donning that mask is the best way to drop into the state that we need at any given moment and there are times when we need to drop the mask if we’re going to connect with others in a meaningful way.

Like most things in life, the question is one of balance. It seems to me that there is value in knowing ourselves and the masks we employ and even more value in using that awareness to choose when we wear them instead of allowing them to dominate and become a misrepresentation of what and who we really are.

There is nothing inherently manly in donning or eschewing our masks – but there is in wearing them appropriately.

“The ‘mask’ indeed frightens women, but sometimes also draws then in to a man, like a moth to the flame. ”

Good point. And I can guarantee from experience that some women actually WANT the mask and desire it over whatever may lie inside a man. The mask is protection and strength. And this isn’t to say that women are drawn to the bad boy image. They also need the humble father who isn’t afraid to carry a bat downstairs at night when there’s a bump.

As Brett alludes, we need to master the mask. It has its place.

Hyperbole R’Us to make a counter-point, yes.

Yet, do not get me started upon the portrayal of men in TV programs and in advertising as bumbling idiots in need of female supervision. And if you don’t think there is ‘conspiracy’ afoot to emasculate men, read Christina Sommers book “The War Against Boys” and then get back to me, ok.

We should use our ‘mask’ to “frighten women and children” in the same way the dancing Shamans used the masks of gods or demons …. to help inculcate proper behavior in the tribe. It’s funny though. The ‘mask’ indeed frightens women, but sometimes also draws then in to a man, like a moth to the flame.

All’s I’m saying is that masks are socially useful …. like Shamanistic manifestations of the gods and spirits, only in this case, manifestations of masculine drive and power.

Who controls things, the mask or the man, is the critical point.

Meh, the little-known fact is that Siddhartha developed piles from too much meditating under the Bodhi tree.

But i do agree that sometimes we need the mask to defend against the evils of the world. There are different situations that a mask helps to navigate through but i personally don’t like the idea of masks all the time or using them as an expression. I guess i prefer to think of them as different forms of ourselves that we choose to exercise or not and not necessarily masks. But i am not entirely certain on the issue here yet, i mean there are a lot of people who either like the “mask” idea and a lot who don’t. i can only speak for myself.

Brucifer, what do you mean by we use the mask sometimes to “frighten women and children”?

In our overly-therapeutic culture, we (males) are often encouraged to take-off these supposed ‘masks’ and to thus somehow reveal our “authentic” selves. Emasculating Balderdash! Masks *ARE* our authentic selves as men!

Let us not become like bleating women, obsessively peeling-off psycho-social layers “in search of ourselves.” Bah! Like in a previous post, this searching for “authentic selves” behavior is modeled solely so that women will approve of us. Bah! We must deal with their ever-changing moods. Let *them* deal with our Masks!

As mentioned in some of the previous comments, men actually *admire* each others masks! Like Shamans, we BRAVELY wear Masks to deal with the evils and demons of our existence. We sometimes wear them to not frighten women and children. We sometime wear them *to* frighten women and children!

To twist Bret’s summary contention back around; inner values; pride, confidence, and strength come from within, but they are expressed through our Masks!