The Unmasking Event: To Be Authentically Known Is To Be Authentically Loved

By Cincinnatus Hibbard

Inauthenticity, Imposter syndrome, social media addiction, social anxiety, disconnect, loneliness, and depression . . . these are the mental health issues of our times.
They are endemic, rife, and they all have common cause – masking. Masking is that social habit of concealment by which we represent an inauthentic self (or mask) to others. The impulse to be inauthentic in our relations with the world might be the demands of our personal reputation (for availability, for self-control, for excitement, toughness, or gratitude) or they might be those of expectations set by a relationship, or a role (being a friend, man, or a mother) but the underlying motivation for masking is fear and the repercussions of masking are those mental health issues listed.
The common cure for all of those issues is social unmasking. Author Cincinnatus Hibbard explains why unmasking needn't be ourselves before the world needn't fearful or brave. And he proves his conviction by reading his private diary over loudspeaker in the coolest park, in the fakest neighborhood, of the richest city in America, San Francisco. This reading, recorded via transcript here, was the first Unmasking Event. Read it to witness an unmasking. Read it to be inspired in your own unmasking. Read it with someone you (want to) love – unmasking is the only way how.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: May 1, 2020
• ISBN: 9781098311766

Book preview

Copyright ©2020 Cincinnatus Hibbard

ISBN: 9781098311766

All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the US Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage/database system and retrieval system now known or to be invented, without prior permission in writing from the author, except by a reviewer who wishes to quote brief passages in connection with a review written for inclusion in a magazine, newspaper, website, or broadcast.

Cover Art : Mateo De La Rosa and Beth Rose Tisthammer

Photography: Anthony Jimenez, Antiphony Life Film Productions

Creative Line Editing: Ann Castro, AnnCastro Studio

DEDICATION

The Unmasking Event, a multimedia project of book, music, live performance, and film was inspired by my experience with two work-study groups at Esalen Institute.

Simply by practicing self-awareness paired with honest speech and nonjudgmental listening, two groups of divergent strangers came together as a family in the ideal sense. We fell in love. Within these loving families, I found the strength to do the self-work necessary to survive my second life crisis. The healing was profound.

The Unmasking Event is my attempt to understand what happened within these groups and facilitate its occurrence in other communities.

Credit for this work must be shared with those who inspired it. So, on the occasion of my moving from the city of San Francisco to the suburb of Santa Rosa, I dedicate this project to them.

To The Group: Kate, Stasha, Sara, Beth-Ann Dorian, Krissy, Rhea, Bess, Emily, Ashley, Sean-John-Paul, Annie, Jessica, Flaam, Megan,