The real reason that we believe in any public performance\u2014be it that of some well-known star or our own friends and loved ones\u2014is that we are all, to one extent or another, actors on a stage.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not too far from the mark to say that many of us have come to believe that being a good performer in life is somehow the same as fulfilling the purpose of life. Here\u2019s the strange logic behind the self-created misery that follows it:<\/p>\n
For each successful \u201cperformance\u201d we pull off around others or within ourselves, it feels as if we\u2019ve won, for the moment, what we\u2019ve imagined will make us whole and happy\u2014but the drawback here should be self-evident. Not only is it wearisome to walk around having to juggle the masks one needs to wear, but no one knows better than the actor that he or she is not the same as the character being played.<\/p>\n
Conflict mounts between the role we are playing and what is real within us until the inevitable collapse onstage. In fact, there\u2019s really only one reason we ever \u201clet loose\u201d and outwardly express any negative emotion: it\u2019s because we can no longer maintain our role of being cool, calm, and in control. In other words, the mask has come off!<\/p>\n
In today\u2019s world it is commonly accepted that social masks serve the purpose of the one who wears them. But this is not true, as evidenced by the pain in the lives of those who believe that putting on a loving or fearless face is the same as having realized those same qualities. The true purpose of any mask, whether that of others or our own, is to cover up the pain that hides behind it.<\/p>\n
The first step in uncovering any lost treasure, whether that of sunken gold or to realize one\u2019s true purpose in life, is to remove the overburden, the accumulated debris that conceals it. Which brings us to this one last thought for those who hope to see the face of the immortal Self: it is spiritually impossible to hide and see at the same time.<\/p>\n