"O, what a tangled web we weave when we practice to decieve"
A famous excerpt from Sir Walter Scott's famous literary work titled Marmion: A Tale of Floddon Field.
Consider the complexities we introduce into our lives through the art of deception.
Deception... To give the appearance of, to place up a front, a laying on of a facade for the purpose of causing others to see something that isn't really there. Pretenses, falsity, delusions, veils.... Whatever they may be called. They are, masks...
Masks... You will see them in all countries, cultures and customs all over the world varying in their representations and meanings, significances and.... no.... I will not bore you with the tedious factual details that masks can mean around this globe but I would like to bring to you what's in my mind and how my brain wraps around the deeper concept of a mask and how if figuratively plays the roles in each of our lives.
Let us Consider the Masks we wear...
What we place upon ourselves... Trying to conform to this socialized and cultural ideal of what we think we are supposed to be and then.... the painful disparity, the insecurity, the dejection that will always follows when we find we are not meeting up to such a standard... How we mentally beat ourselves black and blue because we are not able enough, talented enough, strong enough, and never near good enough.
Let us consider those Masks...
The ones we in turn, place upon others... When we expect them to conform to an image that is not them, the criticisms, the slander, the ridicule we give them because they are not like us, how we silence the essential core essence of what makes them, in an attempt to further validate ourselves, deflect our own inner turmoil... How selfish of us... How cruel of us...
How ugly are these masks...
I can remember growing up...
The whispers, the laughs, the slander, the rejection, the isolation, the misunderstandings, the utter loneliness, the Pain...
All of us have faced this...
All of us have been guilty of injecting this...
You're not big enough, small enough...
Tall enough... Short enough...
Lenient enough... Strict enough...
Black enough...
White enough...
Dark enough...
Light enough...
Smart enough...
Privileged enough...
Of course I could go on... These pains... These hurts... Let's hide them.
I hate myself... I'm too weird... Too strange... It doesn't matter anyway. There's nothing special here.
So here it comes... Crafted, styled, painted, ready to create that image that we can safely present to the world. Here is my mask.
My mask, my pretense, my facade... Here I am something. I am gifted far beyond... I am witty and charming, beautiful and interesting. With my mask I can keep up with today's standards and safely stay in place. With my mask I am conforming... Here I'm accepted... And maybe even loved to a conditional degree... Because now I fit in. I look like everyone else... I talk like everyone else... Im saying all the right things! I dress like everyone else... I am just like everybody else... I am so happy! This is awesome!
But deception...
What amazing pretenses we bring, what crafty words we say, what an amazing life we seem to have....
Oh the smooth yet elusive wrapping of our idealized minds, how we can intrinsically paint a picture with the ironing of our lines.
These are the masks. They are fake. Look at how we have to constantly position ourselves accordingly just to keep this face in place... It is tiring...
Such figurative placings over our face due to our inability to FACE up to the truth. Living to fall into the hands of pleasing others, keeping up an appearance, and conforming is the mirror of your own disgusting self-degeneration...
With our masks... No longer do we know who we are. All identity is lost.
With our masks... We hide the very qualities that God has given us.
With our masks... We attract those who were never meant to even be in our lives, vying for their acceptance... and in turn, never do we meet those who need us the most.
Masks rob us all in many many way...
Remove it...
We must find ourselves.
It's not easy... I will not say it is. However it is honest and it is truthful and it will set us free. It is limitless and we shall not be contained on the back of the likes of and on behalf of another, but upon the "limitless-ness" that is God's.
Express the you that God has fearfully and wonderfully created. Our accomplishments and our failures... They are what make you, you and me, me!
This is the start of unity and the end of conformity and Of course we should have unity amongst ourselves but that cannot happen without first understanding, coming to terms with, and accepting ourselves. This is to include shortcomings as well as accomplishments. When we align ourselves within, we can have alignment throughout...
Let us bring our diversity. Embrace the opposition which is presented through differences. Stand firmly in self but grow and learn from that which is the elusive and unfamiliar.
Let us throw away our masks, and unmask the beautiful reflection of diversity which is God's.
Let's create a judgement free zone...
"Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ." - Colossians 2:8
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