Ego has many masks

Two quotes by Osho on ‘Masks’; “When you come to a Master his work is to pull the mask away, to loosen the hold of the mask on you.”

You bring your original face with you and then you start wearing masks; those masks are your impurity. And ego has many masks because you have to relate with many people; in different situations you need different faces. You have to change your face constantly.

It is said of George Gurdjieff that he was such a great actor that he would be talking to two persons, one sitting on the left and the other sitting on the right, and he would show different faces to both of them. When he turned to the left he would show one face, when he turned to the right he would show another face. And both the persons would argue later on about the man; they would both describe him in different ways. One would say, “How loving he was! How compassionate! How blissful!” And the other would say, “What are you saying? Have you gone mad? He was so arrogant, so egoistic, so cruel, so violent, almost murderous!”

Gurdjieff used to enjoy that very much; he would leave such different impressions. He was capable of changing his mask because he knew his original face. You don’t know your original face. You change your masks, but that too is mechanical, almost autonomous – you don’t change it, it changes by itself. When you are talking to your wife you have one face, when you are talking to your beloved you have another face.

Just watch a little and you will be able to see the truth of it. When you are talking to your boss you can’t have the same face as when you are talking to your servant. When the boss enters your room you immediately stand up, wagging your tail – which does not exist but still you wag! And when the servant enters the room you don’t take any note of him at all. If you are reading your newspaper you go on reading, if you are smoking you go on smoking. He is a nonentity; there is no need to take any note of him. He comes and goes as if he has not come and not gone; nothing has happened, he is not an event. If even a rat comes in the room you will take note of it – you may stand on your chair – but the servant does not exist.

Watch next time when your servant enters the room or your boss enters the room, your wife, your child, your friend, your enemy, and look how different you are.

Osho, Philosophia Ultima, Ch 5

You can wear a beautiful mask and you can deceive others. And slowly slowly, when many people are deceived by you and they start thinking this is your real face, you become auto-hypnotized; by your own deception you create a self-deception. First you deceive others, then their eyes reflect your face – the mask – then you think, “This is my real face.”

When you come to a Master his work is to pull the mask away, to loosen the hold of the mask on you. And you have believed in it for so long, and you have rationalized in every possible way, “This is my real face, that whosoever is going to show you the real face, you will be angry with him. It is not accidental that always it has been the same; it seems to be the very law of existence that people like me are bound to be crucified in some way or other.”

Osho, Guida Spirituale, Ch 11

Quote published in The Book: An Introduction to the Teachings of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh

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