Hmmm... I like this thread. I'm a bit out of touch with reality right now, so I can't actually consciously process any of the things I read... Umm.. (no drugs, btw, I'm just a bit weird today. Ok, I had some wine...)
In any case, this is one of the main issues for me. I think I will always in some ways return to it, since there is the "me" and there is the world. I don't think I know me, in fact, but I feel me, and the feeling I get isn't exactly the same as the feeling I get when wearing a mask. There is something there that I know is just to fit in to the particular situation. Nothing wrong with that I guess, as long as we live in this world. The thing is, I'm pretty much convinced already that this is not a world I would prefer to live in if I had a choice over the matter. So, where does this leave me? I can either go with the mainstream and just adapt like everyone else, or I can seriously try to be myself and see where it takes me.
I guess I am more strict about this than most people. Maybe even more strict than most INFPs here. I have some societal advantages here, I admit, which make it easier for me to just choose to go against the current more than is possible in other countries. I don't actually need to conform to any social rules in order to make money, in order to keep living. It's not that serious here, since I can marginalize myself all I want and I know the system won't just drop me out and leave me to starve. So that's a plus for me. Of course there will be some consequences for me, but still, I can choose to remain outside of the (very broadly defined) mainstream and not die because of this.
So, I am strict about it. What does that mean? I think it applies to almost everything I do. The core of this is the idea that the system has no right to ask me to be anything I am not. That's pretty blunt, but anyways I think it is true. If there are a certain range of different types of people in the world and the system doesn't take that into account, why should I adapt to the system? So, practically speaking, this excludes me from pretty much everything "normal". I don't hang out with normal people that much (well, I do, but only the ones that realize their normality is a choice they make, and not something people are born with) I don't do normal jobs (since if I do, I will sign in to work inside a dictatorship, where the boss has in fact more rights than the employee. I mean, wtf? I am supposed to live in a democracy! [yeah, I know representative democracy is not a democracy, actually]) I don't consume like a normal person, and I don't aim at the things normal people aim at.
Ok, you think most of these thigs have nothing to do with masks? Think again. They have everything to do with them. This is why it is hard to be genuine. The whole world is built around ideas that basically require you to be something you are not. Or they let you starve.
Of course, I'm not saying I am 100% genuine. I just try to keep the situations demanding inauthenticity to a minimum. And that's really hard when you go that road. It gives your whole life a different tone...