Taking the Masks Down

Recently, I attended a concert which was a part of the U2's Innocence and Experience tour. Our seats were pretty close to the stage and I could see Bono and the team pretty up close. Although any superlatives on the experience of the concert will let the truth down, I had to pen down something that moved me beyond words. Bono is 55 years of age and is a smaller frame than I would have thought him to be. From the first note he hit, he seemed to be possessed. Possessed with a power to move mountains just as he moved the crowd. His voice reverberating and piercing through the walls at the United Center, it was pure magic. I just watched him, intently. Yes, its years and years of practice. And yes, he was a master of his craft. But there is something more. He was channelling an internal power that seemed recognizable. Using his body to aid this internal Godliness wholly and completely, not a second seemed like real effort. I couldn't help but mutter the words "He is just himself". Just an unadulterated form of being. Is that what happens when we reach complete congruence between our internal true self and our external body - a state of no effort that feels like pure magic. 

I was raptured by a jealous feeling, in a not so negative way. I wanted to feel that, feel that so bad for myself. So far, I have only been in a deep pursuit for this congruence when internal and external boundaries subside. Where struggle and effort vanish. I am not there yet. 

What comes in our way? Why is it such a struggle to let our true selves shine? As much as I want to take responsibility for it, I cannot but think of the several masks we are forced to wear in our lives. Starting way early in school where our grades decide what happens to us and the only way forward is to imbibe the qualities that the boy/girl with the first rank possess; we were never just enough in of ourselves. Modelling ourselves to a successful pattern was our Darwinism. Surviving and ensuring societal success is the journey and the goal. By now, we are far far away from who we really are. This is the success and the punishment of this generation. We have been successful in creating job warriors who will propagate the economy forward by doing whatever it takes.With that we have created perfectly unique and healthy human beings who now find themselves sweating out long hours at a desk and introduced them to obesity, depression and sleeping pills and a whole generation of young people who stare at their ceilings at night wondering where life is going. There is inhibition around accepting our inability to find meaning and purpose in what we do. Remember the mask that still has not come off? The respite comes in small flashes of introspection where we recognize the incongruity or just feel the growing discomfort. That's when we, even if it is just for a moment, become an observer instead of a participant. 

My hope and prayer is all of us in the journey reclaim our true selves, in spite of how our egos have evolved. Instead of trying to mold ourselves into who we think we should become, we listen to what life is saying to us and calling us to do.That we embrace our limitations as much as our strengths - our "wholeness of being". That not fitting into a successful job classification is not a matter of shame anymore - its just not who we are.That parents nurture and protect their child's uniqueness fiercely. I read somewhere that our calling is not a goal to be achieved but a gift to be received. Sometimes our quest to meet the purpose of life can drown out our own voice on what life is gifting us every day, every second. My  prayer is that humanity learns to recognize and respect their true self and let others just be. I cant wait to see the world in that state of congruency...I can only imagine miracles sparking everywhere!

The reason I am obsessed with my niece is she is just wholly herself. There is no adulteration. Just like Bono when he is performing. Her vicissitudes and idiosyncrasies are completely hers. She doesn't know how to not be herself. Fortunately, she has not been handed any masks yet. I find myself watching her and wishing she never ever loses her own spark, uniqueness and chutzpah. That she always chooses her own self above being anyone else in any life situation. My hope and prayer for her is to know a life without any masks.