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“People” (in Latin, Persona) originally meant “mask.” It gave character and expression to what was behind the mask. Today, few words are as popular as “transparency,” but this works for any form of mask. People judge politicians and other public leaders by their private lives rather than their abilities. Integrity is shaped by public perception and means nothing is hidden.
In the Western world, masks were still widely used in the 18th century as symbols of social status. For the upper classes, personal appearance played an important role in setting the stage. Both men and women wore red facial makeup. The purpose was to decorate and dress the body with symbolic meanings, allowing privileged people to assume different identities and play different public roles.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, more than any other public thinker of his time, promoted the modern idea of transparency. He advocated authenticity and sincerity over the pretense of social masks and roles. Rousseau's open society, paradoxically, required total surveillance and absolute authority. He wrote, “I have always admired the Romans, who designed their houses with complete visibility, making all their activities easily observable.” Transparency must be enforced and controlled.
Rousseau was considered a freethinker, but he admired John Calvin, another key figure in the Reformation. Both men advocated strict civil regulation while proclaiming freedom from coercive constraints, spiritual or political. Rousseau's ideal of freedom and the way it was realized were at odds, like a father who tells his daughter to be herself on a first date, not just what her boyfriend wants, but then adds, “No ripped jeans, neat hair, no cell phone, no curfew at midnight.”
Calls for transparency run the risk of leading to an outcome similar to that of the campus protests of the 1960s.On behalf of parents(More open and autonomous environments may re-emerge the authority and deference that was initially resisted. “Microaggressions” and “safe spaces” are now HR department funded. Boundaries that began as corrective measures have become ideologies and new moralities, often more rigid than the old. The language of victimhood equates disagreement with guilt. After a personal tragedy, rock star and public thinker Nick Cave called this “militant dogmatism” and this cultural moment “an outrageous insult.” He added, “A little humility would not go amiss.” Keep the devil in the hole“
From another angle, a little mystery is okay. Romance is built on a certain lack of transparency. The allure of intimacy lies in something ineffable about the other person. Mystery is inherently intriguing.
His ConfessionAugustine states that God purposely made the Bible mysterious and difficult to understand to ensure humility and reverence. In the Hebrew Scriptures, we learn that Moses spoke with God face to face but was betrayed by God when he sought His glory. In the Christian Scriptures, Jesus explained that he spoke in parables so that people would “hear but not understand” (Mark 4:12). Those who truly seek understanding will understand, while others will remain in darkness (Matthew 13:10–13).
Barbara Ehrenreich, known for her political writings and a self-described atheist, Living with the God of the Wild Encounters with God are inherent to human experience, she says, and these moments defy transparency, are experiential mysteries rather than answers.
Transparency assumes its own value, and we expect others to mirror our feelings and empathize with us. It assumes that understanding will naturally follow. Ta-Nehisi Coates calls this “one of the definitions of an asshole.” I remember a pastor visiting me in the hospital while I was recovering from serious surgery. He told me he empathized and understood my pain, because his mother had also endured excruciating discomfort and sleepless nights after surgery. His sister’s stroke nearly drove him back to drinking. It took me a while to explain all this, and he was in tears. I called for the nurse.
For better or worse, a mask can shield others from our own feelings, or us from the feelings of others. Although it is not often associated with kindness, Nietzsche wrote that “behind the mask there is not only cunning, but also the elegance of cunning. Actions motivated by moral obligation are not very efficient.”
What may seem like pretense may be compassion and reveal the best in us. What may seem shallow may have depth. Joan Rivers said, “They say beauty is only skin deep. So what? Do you want a lovely liver?”
Sometimes, what is on the surface is what is true.
Sometimes a mask is necessary to reveal the truth.
Notes and reading
Nick Cave – Australian rock icon, “post-punk's most lascivious fallen angel”:
“On the brink of collapse and annihilation,” he writes, “paradoxically, there is an advantage rather than the expected disadvantage: it is a delicate place, full of possibility as well as danger,” in Cave in the Future's “Faith, Hope, and Carnage: The Terrible Beauty of Grief.” Church Life Journal – Notre Dame (Dec. 14, 2023). More details below.
Rousseau The quotation is taken from a letter he wrote in 1758 on the subject of theatre: Politics and art, Translated and edited by Allan Bloom (1968). The letter foregrounds his dispute with Voltaire and his rejection of the ideals of the Enlightenment. Julie – originally published as “Letters from Two Lovers Living in a Small Town at the Foot of the Alps” (1886, 2003), translated and edited by Philippe Stewart and Jean Vaché (1761, 1997).
Rousseau and the Politics of TransparencyJonathan Marks, Politics (Summer 2001), pp. 619-642. Marks teaches political philosophy at Ursinus College. “Rousseau's political transparency is more illusion than reality, encouraging the appearance of patriotism while eschewing true transparency. Rousseau believes true transparency is dangerous and unattainable between equals.”—Rousseau's theory is relevant to contemporary debates about political transparency and accountability.
Nietzsche's quotes teeth Beyond good and evil, Translated by R. J. Hollingdale, with an introduction by Michael Tanner (1886, 2003). Chapter 2, “The Free Spirit” – “Every deep spirit needs a mask” – Refers to Carl Jung's concept of “freedom”. Persona— Closely related to the concept of the mask, but more about social adaptation: Nietzsche's mask protects and conceals deeper truths that are threatened or obscured by transparency.
Ta-Nehisi Coates – “The working definition of an asshole: someone who demands that all social interactions take place on their terms” – From How Quiet Cars Explain the World Atlantic Ocean (March 11, 2013).
Barbara Ehrenreich – Living with the Wild God: A Nonbeliever Seeking the Truth in Everything (2020). Ehrenreich is best known for his books. Five Sen and Ten Sen: On Surviving in America's Boom Economy (2001).
“Hope is optimism in a broken heart.” – Nick Cave He is currently Insights into art, religion and personal life. Inspired by Van Gogh, Caravaggio and former Archbishop Rowan Williams, Cave's theological leanings have led to an active involvement in the Church, despite his concern with the “loss of mystique” in the Church. Through his blog, The Red Hand Files, and his new book, Faith, Hope, and GenocideSince then, Cave has attracted an ever-increasing number of fans and curious readers. (“Nick Cave Discusses the Encounters that Inspired His Latest Album” “God of the Wild.” (August 30th) – NPR Newsletter August 20, 2024.
Approximately 2 + 2 = 5: https://williamgreen.substack.com/about – revision
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