The time for masks to wear, and masks to fall

"There will be time to put on a face to meet the faces that you meet." T.S.Eliot

Halloween- a night with profound meaning and importance in my book, and of course just plain fun as well, always a bonus. :) 

A night when age becomes meshed together- grown-ups become children and children practise looking at the darkness of the world yet to be experienced.

A sort of Jungian night to forget who we're supposed to be and play out the archetypes. The night of exploring that very fascinating land of shadows and boundaries people normally tend to avoid. No wonder its my favourite holiday.

Its a night for realizing together that we are dreaming, whether on a conscious or subconscious level.

Its a night to realize we are active creators of our lives, in fact free to choose to play any role and any character at all. 

Its a night that feels more real for me than any other night of the year. When I am OPENLY a fictional character and another looks me in the face as a fictional character- what an experiential, real, shared sense of liberation, even for a moment. Its a night with just enough more carefree, just enough more egoless, just enough more playful interaction to make me always look forward to it. To look forward to see the masks put on and the masks of our ego somewhat falling.

Its a night to play in the dark. For so many to allow themselves to face fear in some manner, no matter how frivolous the outer level. How refreshing, be it once a year.

Maybe if we wear enough masks then we will discover our true identity? Why oh why does the celebration of masks make me feel such utter optimism, paradox is thy name- Life!

What your Halloween costume says about you

By NANCY CHURNIN / The Dallas Morning News 

Usually, most of us try to be on our best behavior. We dress appropriately, speak politely and try to fit in with others where we work, where we socialize and where we go to school. Then comes Halloween, where despite the economy, 64.5 percent of consumers plan to spend a total of $5.77 billion on the holiday this year, according to the National Retail Federation's recent survey.

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It's an opportunity for a shy musician to transform into a scary witch and for children to don fairy wings and imagine themselves in flight.
And that's great, says Ron Schenk, a Jungian analyst with private practices in Dallas and Houston.
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"Halloween gives a place for those parts of our psyche that don't fit in," Dr. Schenk says. "You can dress up as a princess and feel you are the center of the universe. If you're scared, you can deal with your fear by dressing up as something dark and powerful. You can give your inner yearnings a place at the table, to acknowledge that that they are part of you."
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Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung, the founder of analytic psychology, identified archetypes, such as that of the hero, as universal patterns that exist in our subconscious and emerge in a variety of forms. He also described what he calls the "shadow," such as the monster, as the part of ourselves that we deny and sometimes project onto others.

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An essential component of Jungian therapy is to accept our desires and fears and integrate them into our lives. Dr. Schenk believes Halloween can provide a great release, especially in tough times like these where many may be too tense to fully express our hopes and fears. And that makes it all the more important not to worry about what others think, but to be guided by your own inner voice telling you who you need to be.

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We talked with local Halloween fans who are doing just that. Here are their thoughts and Dr. Schenk's on what they chose to wear.

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HERO.
Richmond Punch, 28, artistic director of the Dallas Uptown Youth Orchestra, has been dressing up for years as the star of Undercover Brother, a 2002 film starring Eddie Griffin about a man who goes undercover to fight an evil establishment. At first glance, the mild-mannered Juilliard-trained musician seems as if he's going for his opposite when portraying this smart-talking, gold necklace-wearing toughie with the big Afro. But on closer inspection, Undercover Brother is a hero who saves the day. And a hero is very much how one can view Mr. Punch, who has devoted himself to the challenge of bringing music into the lives of underprivileged kids by persuading their parents to give them the opportunity to be in an orchestra for the first time.
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Why Mr. Punch likes it: "He rescues people. I feel strong when I wear this costume. I feel that I can change things in this world as he did."

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Dr. Schenk says this seems like a good fit for Mr. Punch, noting that the hero wears many faces, from Superman to the Lone Ranger to Harry Potter. "The hero figure is born in an unnoticed place, raised in obscurity, and emerges to try on a role that is larger than life. The hero often is an alter ego, wearing a mask or taking on a mysterious identity. He or she goes over the line, in an epic battle or quest to get the hard-to-attain treasure and bring it to the right place."
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FAIRY PRINCESS.. .
Jessica Shen, 7, and her sister, Crystal, 3, love Halloween. And Jessica says that this year, she will be trick or treating in her favorite costume ever. Two years ago she was a bumblebee, but the costume was a little hot. Last year, she was Sleeping Beauty, but the dress was a little loose on her shoulders. This year she thinks she has it just right as a fairy princess who can fly. It's even more fun that her sister likes to wear a costume just like it. 
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Why Jessica likes it: "I like when people say my sister and I are so pretty and so cute," says Jessica. "And I like the way the wings make me feel that I'm flying in the wind."

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Dr. Schenk finds this a very positive choice, especially for younger children. "Girls need to have the feeling of being the center of the universe, a quality which is at the core of positive self-esteem. You can't build a healthy personality if you don't feel worthiness at your core."
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WITCH 
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Erin Hannigan, 36, principal oboe of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, usually crafts her own funny costume, like a moose, or a slice of pizza or a candy bar, to make kids laugh when she performs at the DSO's annual Halloween family concert. But when she goes to a Halloween party for adults, she prefers dressing up as something scary like a witch. 
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Why Ms. Hannigan likes it: "I'm a pretty shy person. It's empowering when I dress up as a witch because they're aggressive, and that's not who I am. Also, every day I try to get myself to look as good as I can. So it's fun to go out there and look as hideous as possible, which is completely different than I do the other 364 days of the year. It feels like an adventure." Dr. Schenk describes the witch as a figure that would appeal to someone who is creative. "

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Witches are powerful. They have a connection with supernatural forces. The image of the boiling cauldron transforms even the mundane act of cooking into something magical."
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MUMMY
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Humberto Gallego Montes, 5, has been obsessed with mummies ever since he started hearing about them at his preschool at the Museum of Nature & Science. His mother, Maria, says he talks about how he wants to live forever and take all his treasures with him. He also tells her he doesn't want to scare anyone. Humberto wants to be a "funny mummy" that makes people laugh. During the phone interview, Ms. Montes says he made a mummy out of aluminum foil and wrapped it with toilet paper.
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Why Humberto likes it: "I want to feel how it is to be wrapped around. I like the idea of preserving my body forever so they can remember me."
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Dr. Schenk notes that this choice touches on the desire for eternal life and a hunger to learn. "In a culture like ours that denies death, mummies suggest that chemical treatments and special concoctions can help you live forever. Also, there's a sense that wisdom will come if you can live through the ages."

VAMPIRE 
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Stephanie Kozlovsky, 16, has wanted to be a vampire ever since reading Stephenie Meyer's best-selling Twilight series. She brought her friend and fellow Twilight fan, Audrey Hodson, 16, to get their pictures taken as what she calls "newborn" vampires. She is drawn to the idea of eternal life, of the romance of the story and the allure of being different.

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Why Stephanie likes it: "I like the sense of power that vampires have and that they have such a hard choice between good and evil. I like the way Edward [the vampire in the book] has to overcome his thirst for blood not to hurt Bella. And I like the way that for one night I can look so wild and crazy. It helps me get all that out of my system so I don't mind going back to school the next day in my uniform."
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Dr. Schenk speculates that the growing interest in vampires in popular culture may be a reaction to cultural repression. "The popularity of vampires might be attributed to a thirst for soul or life in its raw, pristine form, not homogenized, not sterilized or white-washed, but with all the passion and instinct, grit and guts, which are associated with the 'dark side.' Blood is the flow right at the core of life. It signifies essential experience which is often painful, yet makes life real.

The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock- T.S.Eliot

What a wonderful reading and a short version of this full poem here-

Let us go then, you and I,
When the evening is spread out against the sky
Like a patient etherised upon a table;
Let us go, through certain half-deserted streets,
The muttering retreats
Of restless nights in one-night cheap hotels
And sawdust restaurants with oyster-shells:
Streets that follow like a tedious argument
Of insidious intent
To lead you to an overwhelming question ...
Oh, do not ask, "What is it?"
Let us go and make our visit.

In the room the women come and go
Talking of Michelangelo.

The yellow fog that rubs its back upon the windowpanes,
The yellow smoke that rubs its muzzle on the windowpanes
Licked its tongue into the corners of the evening,
Lingered upon the pools that stand in drains,
Let fall upon its back the soot that falls from chimneys,
Slipped by the terrace, made a sudden leap,
And seeing that it was a soft October night,
Curled once about the house, and fell asleep.

And indeed there will be time
For the yellow smoke that slides along the street
Rubbing its back upon the window-panes;
There will be time, there will be time
To prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet;
There will be time to murder and create,
And time for all the works and days of hands
That lift and drop a question on your plate;
Time for you and time for me,
And time yet for a hundred indecisions,
And for a hundred visions and revisions,
Before the taking of a toast and tea.

In the room the women come and go
Talking of Michelangelo.

And indeed there will be time
To wonder, "Do I dare?" and, "Do I dare?"
Time to turn back and descend the stair,
With a bald spot in the middle of my hair--
(They will say: "How his hair is growing thin!")
My morning coat, my collar mounting firmly to the chin,
My necktie rich and modest, but asserted by a simple pin--
(They will say: "But how his arms and legs are thin!")
Do I dare
Disturb the universe?
In a minute there is time
For decisions and revisions which a minute will reverse.

For I have known them all already, known them all--
Have known the evenings, mornings, afternoons,
I have measured out my life with coffee spoons;
I know the voices dying with a dying fall
Beneath the music from a farther room.
So how should I presume?

And I have known the eyes already, known them all--
The eyes that fix you in a formulated phrase,
And when I am formulated, sprawling on a pin,
When I am pinned and wriggling on the wall,
Then how should I begin
To spit out all the butt-ends of my days and ways?
And how should I presume?

And I have known the arms already, known them all--
Arms that are braceleted and white and bare
(But in the lamplight, downed with light brown hair!)
Is it perfume from a dress
That makes me so digress?
Arms that lie along a table, or wrap about a shawl.
And should I then presume?
And how should I begin?

. . . . .

Shall I say, I have gone at dusk through narrow streets
And watched the smoke that rises from the pipes
Of lonely men in shirt-sleeves, leaning out of windows? . . .

I should have been a pair of ragged claws
Scuttling across the floors of silent seas.

. . . . .

And the afternoon, the evening, sleeps so peacefully!
Smoothed by long fingers,
Asleep . . . tired . . . or it malingers,
Stretched on the floor, here beside you and me.
Should I, after tea and cakes and ices,
Have the strength to force the moment to its crisis?
But though I have wept and fasted, wept and prayed,
Though I have seen my head (grown slightly bald) brought in 
upon a platter,
I am no prophet--and here's no great matter;
I have seen the moment of my greatness flicker,
And I have seen the eternal Footman hold my coat, and snicker,
And in short, I was afraid.

And would it have been worth it, after all,
After the cups, the marmalade, the tea,
Among the porcelain, among some talk of you and me,
Would it have been worth while,
To have bitten off the matter with a smile,
To have squeezed the universe into a ball
To roll it towards some overwhelming question,
To say: "I am Lazarus, come from the dead,
Come back to tell you all, I shall tell you all"--
If one, settling a pillow by her head,
Should say: "That is not what I meant at all.
That is not it, at all."

And would it have been worth it, after all,
Would it have been worth while,
After the sunsets and the dooryards and the sprinkled streets,
After the novels, after the teacups, after the skirts that trail along the floor--
And this, and so much more?--
It is impossible to say just what I mean!
But as if a magic lantern threw the nerves in patterns on a screen:
Would it have been worth while
If one, settling a pillow or throwing off a shawl,
And turning toward the window, should say:
"That is not it at all,
That is not what I meant, at all."

. . . . .

No!I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be;
Am an attendant lord, one that will do
To swell a progress, start a scene or two,
Advise the prince; no doubt, an easy tool,
Deferential, glad to be of use,
Politic, cautious, and meticulous;
Full of high sentence, but a bit obtuse;
At times, indeed, almost ridiculous--
Almost, at times, the Fool.

I grow old . . . I grow old . . .
I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled.

Shall I part my hair behind?Do I dare to eat a peach?
I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach.
I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each.

I do not think that they will sing to me.

I have seen them riding seaward on the waves
Combing the white hair of the waves blown back
When the wind blows the water white and black.

We have lingered in the chambers of the sea
By sea-girls wreathed with seaweed red and brown
Till human voices wake us, and we drown.