How is it that you see yourself? Do you see yourself through the smoke and mirrors of what is presented to you as the way to be by your culture, religion, creed, or public opinion? Do you create your own smoke to cover things you don’t want yourself or others to see? Maybe you use others as your mirrors to see yourself as they see you viewing yourself through their eyes living up to their standards or expectations? Is any of it real even to you? Are you living a lie? Do you live a lie and don’t know it or have blinded yourself to the lie(s) of your life? Are you happy with who you perceive yourself to be? Are you happy with who you think others perceive you to be or does that even matter? What purpose is there for your life? For what or whom do you live? Is it for yourself? For someone else? For something bigger than you? Do you know? Have you ever taken the time to blow away the smoke, break the mirrors, and take a long hard look at who and what you are? Who the real you is? What the real you is?
Very few have. Very few dare to do this. Very few have the courage to pull back the curtain of their soul and acknowledge the reality of their inner self. It is a frightening thing to admit to one’s self all of the things lurking in the darkness. The darkness itself is threatening by itself much less all of the stuff we are afraid to look at. Those things that we know are there but that society has told us is not acceptable. Those things that we know are true but that our religion has told us that we would go to hell if we thought that way. And yet we do….(think that way) secretly….(of course). We live it like everyone else in our religious domicile… at least openly… at least until the religious organization either changes their stance on it or just ignores it. In which case they can use it to cause anxiety, guilt, and cause you to feel that you need to give them more money so that you can feel like you’ve done the right thing. Then there are those things that our culture says is this way or that but that no-body really admits is a reality but we know it is.
Oh, oh, oh… And what about those things that we know about ourselves that we just don’t LIKE about ourselves? Things like, how we look, how much we weigh, how much money we make, what our status or position in life is, what the color of our skin is, how that skin looks, how tall or short, how our ears look, what our nose looks like, the color of our hair, if our eyes are the right size, shape, color, distance apart… the list goes on.
And what if we have a physical deficiency. Does that count as something to be scared of? How about our education level. What WE ourselves think of our own intelligence level. Are we lazy, workaholic, over organized, disorganized, are we spiritual enough, too spiritual, caring enough, care too much, smooth, sophisticated, romantic, attractive, do we wear the right perfume/cologne, use the right soap, have the right house, live in the right part of the country, live in the right country, have the right government, care about government, like the right sports team, like the right sports, care about the planet, do we recycle or did we fail at that last week?
Did we marry the right mate, have the right mate, are looking at the right potential mate, fail in our marriage, fail in marriage more than once, more than twice, more than five times? Did we pass over “The One?” Have we had too many lovers, not enough lovers, the right lovers, the wrong lovers? Did we ever love at all? Did anyone ever really love us? Does anyone really love us? Do we really love anyone? What IS love?
What is it that keeps us so engulfed in our own little minds so as to encapsulate us to the degree that we can not see past the windshield of our car? Why is it that we are so closed off to the reality of the world around us? Why do we hide from all that is? Is it self-preservation? Is it, as my friend Allen says, evolutionary survival of the species? Is there a greater meaning to all of this? Why do we let all this smoke come into our lives? Why can’t we get away from seeing ourselves through the mirrors WE have placed in our own lives? Yes. I said WE! I believe it is WE that do most of this to ourselves. If we do not do it, we allow it.
So…
If you can…
Take a moment…
Release that smoke machine…
Take down the mirrors…
Be still…
Be quiet…
Be honest with yourself…
Look deep within the center of your being and see.
You’ll be surprised, but….
The answers will come. They are already there. You just have to have the courage to look at and accept them. You DO already have the answers.
Dark-Light 