(287) Pingouin

Individuation: you can't not have a mask—to think you can't have a mask is the greatest illusion; however, the illusion most people suffer from is not that you can't have a mask—the common illusion is that they don't know they wear a mask in the first place; and then are killed by the mask—which is synonymous with the mind. So Jungian individuation and ideas connected to Zen gnosis are meant to give you distance from the mask; and, in that process, you might destroy all previous masks, be "egoless" for a moment, and then recombine them in a consistent mask—so that home and work mask aren't completely different, or the home mask isn't worn in the workplace or vice versa.

Although you can't escape masks, you can have a minimal mask—a mask that is hardly a mask. Certainly, you can know that any mask is only an illusion and then hold masks lightly. It's what Alan Watts means by to be "an original fake"—that is when the mask is crafted in a conscious way, from the self (observer) outwards rather than being an unconscious mask imposed by society-family-institutions. So Zen people say, "No need to drop out—no need to call out the game; if you understand our way, you play the game but you're always in nirvana." The kingdom is now.

But people are going to do what they do—if people want to call out the game or drop out, then that is part of the game too. The game needs people to drop out, the game needs people to conform and lie—you can move between or not; from the view of the self, the observer behind the mask (eternity), there is no difference—ultimately, it's all "good" either way. Win or lose, no difference. You do what you do, people do what they do—there's no point trying to control it (although it is part of the game that some people will try).