And then, you stop feeling.

I have been having these thoughts lately – about masks and mirrors – about humans, and our abilities to hide from who we are – about our need to hide from who we are – because in reality, who we are is cruel – who we are is greedy – who we are is evil – And so, we put on the mask of beauty – we hide from mirrors – we avoid mirrors – mirrors that show our inner self – and who else can show you your inner self but the other – and then, you start running away from the other – or pushing the other away.

We put on the mask… of ignorance – we live in denial – we give ourselves reasons to celebrate atrocities – but why do we hide? – how long will we hide? – what are we afraid of? – is denial the only way out? – is escaping the only way out?

Why do we always stick to the illusion of reality and never get even close to reality itself?

Parable:

The world was created, and God was sending everyday new things to the world. One day he sent Beauty and Ugliness to the world. It is a long journey from paradise to the earth – the moment they arrived it was early morning, the sun was just rising. They landed near a lake and both decided to have a bath because their bodies, their clothes, were so full of dust.

Not knowing the ways of the world – they are so new – they take their clothes off; utterly naked, they jump into the cool water of the lake. The sun is rising, people start coming. Ugliness plays a tick – when Beauty goes swimming far away into the lake, Ugliness comes up on the bank, puts the garments of Beauty, and escapes. By the time Beauty becomes aware that “People are arriving and I am naked”, and she looks around … her clothes are gone! Ugliness is gone and Beauty is standing naked in the sun, and the crowd is coming closer. Finding no other way, she puts on the clothes of Ugliness and goes in search for Ugliness so that the clothes can be changed.

The story says she is still looking…but Ugliness is cunning, and goes on escaping. Ugliness is still in the clothes of Beauty, masked as Beauty, and Beauty is moving in the clothes of Ugliness …