Are things ever what they seem?
Someone said to me once, "what you perceive, isn't always what is."
At the time I wanted to find the nearest blunt object and bludgeon him to within an inch of his life. But time and insight can do wonders for the desire to maim. Because frankly, what he said was truth. But one of my struggles is understanding and accepting that people find their own truths and their own light, in their own time. To me, it mattered not that I knew truth as much as I was supposed to accept that what was projected on the surface was false. And for the life of me, I just can't imagine why everyone one in this world wouldn't want to be absolutely in the light. Living and being who they truly are. Saying what they really think. Free. Why wear a mask?
The short answer I guess is because they feel they must. And who am I to determine for others how valid or invalid their fears are, or the reasons they feel they are locked in their own spiritual or mental prison?
That thought stays with me. Haunts me. Partially because of the person who said it. Partially because I've been fascinated by my own frustration with it, and partially because I see so many examples of that statement in the stories that swirl about me.
Nothing is ever as it seems. When we covet what we think others have, when we compare it to our notion of how much bigger, better or broader our lives would be if we lived in someone else's skin...we're as far from the truth as we could ever be. How many times have I looked at the surface of a situation, thinking or even envying what I believe I see, only to find out later that the characters have their own demons they are wrestling. And so many are about the business of working on the appearance of things that they don't stop to deal with the murky waters of their own mess until it's pulling them under. Varying in our levels of self awareness, we either just stop spending time working on the pretty packaging and deal with the stuff inside, or we wait for the stuff inside to come busting out to scare/shock/amuse the hell out of everyone...but the worst, in my opinion...is pretending that it won't happen.
It always does. Truth is a lot like gas. You just can't keep it in. But you do have a choice about the kind of stink you make when it happens. And it's only when you recognize your ability to choose, that you take the first step to finding your own personal freedom.
Comments
The better part of two years has seen me working on that muck below the surface, and while it's tedious and painful, there is freedom to be found in being real, to myself.
Although things are never how they seem, and each situation does have its own set of circumstances, that isn't to say that sometimes, just sometimes, the grass really can be greener. It's usually when people stop inhibiting their own growth that they can experience the greener grass, when they stop holding themselves back.
Excellent post!