This is a enjoyable read and a fantastic blog post!
I wonder whether it's easy to discern the activity of changing your role (or mask) from the activity of changing your "authentic self". I'm not sure I'm very good at making that distinction- in fact I'm not sure what an authentic self even is! Is it anything other than the overlap between different roles? After all I play a role when I'm with friends too, in a manner of speaking- Maybe that means I'm at risk of being such a "serious man"?
> Power is an antidote to humiliation.
I'm not sure that's true! Or rather, whether it's a healthy antidote. All powerful people have others who have power over them, and even Elon Musk had to bury the hatchet with Trump. I think it's a matter of personality whether having power means you're able to weather humiliation, or whether humiliation means you can't wield power responsibly.
I wonder whether it's easy to discern the activity of changing your role (or mask) from the activity of changing your "authentic self". I'm not sure I'm very good at making that distinction- in fact I'm not sure what an authentic self even is! Is it anything other than the overlap between different roles? After all I play a role when I'm with friends too, in a manner of speaking- Maybe that means I'm at risk of being such a "serious man"?
> Power is an antidote to humiliation.
I'm not sure that's true! Or rather, whether it's a healthy antidote. All powerful people have others who have power over them, and even Elon Musk had to bury the hatchet with Trump. I think it's a matter of personality whether having power means you're able to weather humiliation, or whether humiliation means you can't wield power responsibly.