The Transparent Self Author:Sidney M Jourard copyright 1971 A choice that confronts every one of us at every moment is this: Shall we permit our fellow men to know us as we now are, or shall we seek instead to remain an enigma, an uncertain quantity, wishing to be seen as something we are not? — This choice has always been available to us, but throughout history we have chosen to conceal ou... more »r authentic being behind various masks. We usually assume that the other man is hiding or misrepresenting his real feelings, his intentions, or his past because we generally do so ourselves. We take it for granted that when a man speaks about himself he is telling more or less than the unvarnished truth as he knows it.« less