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Layers of self-deception (LSD)  
-the censored chapter of our lives-

I wouldn't be interested in doing what I know

I can do or what I have done before.

I want to be both the spectator and the artist.

I have to be surprised myself, otherwise, it will be just another manipulation of art in whatever form. 

“With all that which a person allows to appear one may ask: what is meant to hide? What about it divert the eyes from? How far does he deceive himself in his action?” --- F. Nietzsche, The Dawn

Our subjective experiences are not always straightforwardly and transparently self-consistent.

Self-deception is very human, and we are inclined to deceive ourselves because our tendency is to try to deny and escape from what we don’t want to admit. But mostly, we lie to ourselves because we want to be a certain way. 

The discussion of self-deception is more than just another intricate subject of philosophy. It is an existential concern, morally problematic, that is making us strangers to ourselves. It affects our behaviour to the extent of becoming an obstacle to self-knowledge. 

Every aspect of self-deception, starting with the definition is a matter of controversy. What are the thought processes that lead us to self-deception?

My work questions the relationship with the self which is arguably the most important. It is the foundation of our character and reveals how we interact with the world.  

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The film burns on the face of Bibi Andersson.

© auralcrave.com (Mattia Bonasia, Ingmar Bergman’s Persona: The Soul and the Mask, cinema as a theatre) 

HISTORICAL CONTEXT

Ideas and concepts

 

What define us? What makes us who we are? According to C.G. Jung, the Persona represents the social mask that each of us wear in our social interactions with others in society – the personality that we try to portray to others. 

In this regard, my interest grows to research the amalgamation of our being, and the expansion of self to the interpretation of the whole concept. But how can one confront the unconscious? How can we truly know ourselves? 

Both Sigmund Freud and Carl C.G. Jung referred to the unconscious as having the most important role in personality and behaviour. Expanding Freud’s idea of personal unconscious, C.G. Jung included in the human psyche three other components: the shadow, the sexual archetype, designated as anima (men) and animus (women) and the collective unconscious, the latter believed to be a unique component that contains all the knowledge and experience that humans collectively share.

Another question we often pounder is What is our purpose? or more generic What is the purpose of life? Jung believed that most of our sufferings come from the distress of the human psyche. To start looking for answers we must first go back to the ancient temple of Apollo in Delphi on which forecourt was inscribed “Know thyself”. In Plato’s Phaedo Dialogues, Socrates explains that wisdom can only be attained after death for is only then the mind (the psyche) is liberated from the distractions of the body. Therefore, Socrates argues for the immortality of the soul. Yet, in another platonic interpretation “knowing thyself” is a matter of freeing from the allegorical cave and crawling into the light of genuine knowledge. From Nietzsche’s perspective one must recognize and embrace individuality, own unique perspectives, and creatively define oneself. 

Regardless of the many interpretations of the “self” when we begin the inner dialogue, we take a step forward in becoming the better – authentic – versions of ourselves, overcoming the identity crises through decompression of inflicted boundaries and breaking up the stereotypes imposed by society, education, and cultural frames.

One of the most explicit portrait and visual narrative of C.G. Jung’s archetypes is Ingmar Bergman’s Persona (1966) and although as an art film is open to interpretation, it is cultivating a mindful awareness of the C.G. Jungian core concepts. 

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