THE MASK OF THE PERSONA

This is a work by Francis Bacon and myself. Although I have to mention that contributed by Bacon was done so posthumously. On the very left, in the middle is my interpretation of his own self portrait. I was laying in bed a short time ago, thinking how different people can hold very different images of us. Even ourselves. I know this from hard personal experience, growing up as I did from the age of two, developing a personality disorder. That though was cured in the six years I spent in hospital, from the age of twenty two.

So in my late twenties I emerged as from a chrysalis with an wholesome, productive personality and a loving creative spirit, yet still lacking spiritually due to my ego! That took the tragic death of my beloved wife and my brain injury. Back to personality, or persona. Persona meaning mask, was used during ritual drama in the Mystery Schools. We sometimes use drama in our church, All Saints in Luton. The secret imparted to the initiate in these mysticalrites was that the `personality` was no mor than a mask, and behind this mask lay his soul - his`higher self` which the ancients called the `genius`. This higher self is presently imprisoned within the physical body, which is no more than a shadow of the true self. From the point of view of the personality, the genius is experienced as a separate being - a guiding angel or inner guru. As the Greek philosopher Plato said, `We should think of the most authoritative part of our soul as a guardian spirit given by God, which lifts us from the earth towards our home in heaven. Having written that last sentence, a song from my youth came to mind. Im coming home I`ve done my time! Blessings, Love and peace to you all, from your brother Peter