What is the TRUTH about your SELF?

Cristaiza R. Dumpit from 1BSA4

I wear a mask when interacting with other individuals, and it is called my persona. It is when I
filter myself to be accepted and represent myself in the society, and that is the truth about myself. Is
having a persona being pretentious and dishonest? I believe that this is a nature of human and is a
necessity in your social life. A nature of human to develop a self that has the characteristic that is
accepted in the society, that is a persona. Dishonesty is deceiving a person intentionally through lies or
twisting the truth. There is a difference between persona and being pretentious or dishonest. In order to
defend my argument, I will be using the psychological perspective of the self of Carl Jung’s concept of
archetypes, William James concept of the Me-Self and the I-Self, and David Lester concept of Multiple
self.

Is having a persona makes me a pretentious or dishonest person? Persona and dishonesty are a
different thing, I also believe that everyone has a persona and is a necessity. While some people believe
that everyone should be honest about everything about themselves, there is a part in yourself that is not
appealing to disclose in public and we’d rather keep to ourselves for the sake of our image and other
individual.

According to Carl Jung’s concept of archetypes, one of the archetypes is called persona. This
archetype refers to the self that we present to the society. Persona is a social mask that we wear depending
on the situations and different social groups that we interact with. It acts as the shield for our shadow.
Shadow is one of the archetypes and this is the repressed ideas, desires and the part that is not socially
acceptable therefore, persona is made to cover our shadow and be socially acceptable. As human being it
is also our way to adapt to our environment. This explains my main argument, the Carl Jung’s concept of
archetypes proves my point that having a persona is different from being pretentious and dishonest,
persona is our way to be one of the norms and to fit in to be socially accepted.

Based on the concept of William James Me-Self and I-Self. One of the subcategories of the Me-
Self is the social self. Social self is the self that is changed based on specific social situations. In this
concept, it is stated that we change our actions based on the people we are interacting and based on the
situation. This further proves my point that we have a persona to represent ourselves in different
situations.
 To further prove my argument, I will add David Lester’s concept of Multiple selves. He argues
that we are made up of multiple selves and it is a normal occurrence to us as a human being. We adopt on
different situations using one of our multiple selves. All of this multiple self is all part of us and they are
not false. Therefore, proving my point that having a persona is not being dishonest and pretentious.

Meanwhile, some people might argue that being transparent and not hiding anything is more
essential when it comes to relationships, this characteristic is just essential for people that we are close
and intimate with, this won’t work in a society. That is the reason why we make our persona and multiple
self, for us to first build relationship and later on we can be transparent as close and intimate relationship
will accept you for whoever you are, but unfortunately this is not the case in our society.

All things considered, Persona is not being pretentious and dishonest. Persona is a part of ourself
that we disclose to the society and shield our shadow that is not socially acceptable. We have multiple self
and all of this is a part of us and never false, therefore it is not being dishonest and pretentious. I want to
fit in the society therefore I have a persona. I used to think that I am being dishonest to the people around
me but I soon realized that it is essential as a human being to have a persona to be accepted and fit in. I
am not being dishonest as I have realized that even my persona is a part of me. I have multiple self and
every self is my true self and will never be false. This concluded the truth to myself.