On Masks & Telling "The Truth"

“Man is least himself when he talks in his own person.

Give him a mask , and he will tell you the truth.”

Oscar Wilde

I like these words because they make me think, and wonder. Indeed these are the best kind of words, no?

They make me think of the masks we wear everyday. The ones we are aware of and the ones we don without knowing. They make me think of all the ways we hide from each other, and ourselves, and the world. They make me think about the power of language, of how much it matters how we speak, and communicate. They make me think of how we often learn most about other people not by asking them questions but by watching them live.

These words make me wonder about whether this world, this blogging world, is a big masquerade party where we all peer out from behind masks of our own choosing, obscuring artfully and artificially the people we are for fear that others might actually see who we really are. Are these screens just that - screens - or are they means of masking essence, of morphing self?

And what is "the truth" anyway? Isn't it as fluid as we are, ever-changing? Mask or no mask, could we tell it if we tried?

(Deepish thoughts on a Tuesday morning. Indulge me please.)

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What do you think of Wilde's words? Do you love words that make you think and wonder? Do you think we all wear masks everyday? Is this avoidable? Is this blogging world a virtual masquerade party of sorts? What does it mean to tell "the truth?" How cool is the mask that Big Girl made at camp?