What face are you wearing today? Your life is nothing but a series of Masks!
Photo Copyright Suresh Gundappa 2007. Buy photo from gallery
Have you looked at yourself lately?
When you look at mirror you assume you are looking at your face! But that’s the lie you have been trained to live with. You actually see what you want to see. You get up in morning and Start wearing masks for the day, one for wife, One for Boss, One for friend and One for Kids- So on and on. Based on what you want you project you wear a face.
It’s not accidental that more people love actors than any other profession. Deep inside you are nothing but an actor. You play roles based on whom you meet and what you feel. Only difference is nobody gives you star status for daily acting!
Situations change so you need many false faces, masks. From the morning till the evening, from the evening till the morning, thousands of faces are used. When you see a man approaching who is powerful, you change the mask; when you see a man who is a beggar approaching you, you are different. The whole time, moment to moment, there is a constant change in the face.
One has to be alert about it because it has become so mechanical that you need not be aware of it, it goes on changing by itself. If a servant comes in the room you don’t even look at him. You act as if he is not a man, as if he doesn’t exist, as if nobody has entered. But when the boss comes in the room you suddenly jump, you have a smiling face, receiving, welcoming, as if God himself has entered into the room.
Watch your face, the changes that occur continuously. Look in the mirror and think of the many faces that you can change. Look in the mirror and bring the face that comes when you approach your wife; look at the face that comes when you approach your beloved; look at the face when you are greedy, when you are angry; create the face when you feel sexual; create the face when you feel dissatisfied, frustrated. And watch in the mirror: you will find you are not one man — you are a crowd. And sometimes it will be difficult even to recognize that all these faces belong to you. A mirror can be a great blessing. You can meditate in the mirror, change your faces and look at them. This will give you a glimpse of how false your whole life has become. And none of these faces is you.
All these relationships — enemy or friend, father or son, wife or husband — have so engulfed you that within yourself you can neither find nor know your own being.
In Love and meditation you can come face to face with your own face. That’s why people in love keep looking into each other eyes and face. In Love you don’t wear mask, you carry real face. As love wears out in relationship you constantly start wearing masks and the only thing you avoid is looking into each others face.
The day you find your real face, you don’t need a mirror because whole cosmos reflects your face and that’s face of God too!
What face are you wearing today?
Love
Suresh
mmm, It’s strange that You say our life is nothing but series of masks. Very shocking and provoking statement!
brilliant thinking and I like the way you club faces with our character. Honestly I do put atleast 5 -6 roles everyday. I can’t help it. May be writing on your site is one Mask I wear.
I loved your Blog. Very captivating and Motivating!
Beautiful photo! and sir you have very spiritual site here. Very peaceful to read your blog and I feel very uplifted.
Suresh, I see whenever and whatever you write you come back to Love. I like the way you build a story to connect to Love at the end.
I always was limited my thinking about Love becasue I never have experience of Love beyond physical but your writing so deep that I feel empty about what I ahve misssed in my life.
but thank you because i am learning to love from you
you never posted photo like this before! Interesting to know what all you capture.
Suresh, You should talk about “Bhooth” meditation of aghoris which is nothing but face meditation. I remember you once spoke about it in meditation camp.
Suresh,
Great post. Even when blogging, I find that I wear many different “faces.” Depending on my mood, I can eerily adapt to just about anything, as you describe. I have tried to find out which one is really me, but no luck so far. I find the concept of God, whatever that is, to be a pretty accurate mirror for me. Thanks for provoking some thought!
Brilliant - and my mask of the moment is of a woman who needs sleep
Thats very true. I wear a mask of a woaman in love a few weeks ago. And i look and feel so beautiful. But now i cant see it in the mirror anymore.
That is a terrific photo, and goes well with your post, of course. It’s true the face is an ever-changing mask. My face always shows right away what I’m thinking. It is not much of a disguise.
Reminds me of my (late) dad, whod advice me to be consistent. Because sometimes when I wanted some favor I’d be a real nice son and when I didnt need anything I’d be an indifferent son (sometimes).
Don’t know to what extent I’ve reduced them but this reduction of different faces has atleast been an endevour for quite a few years.
Absolutely mesmerising photo. Very educational post in general, found this particular line fascinating because I can really relate to it…
Somehow I was reminded of the other post on eyes and energy and went and read it again.
Also, I wonder about the next line - how could love wear out in a relationship? (so that I could avoid that atleast from my side!) I feel maybe if we ever start taking it for granted, we’d probably start putting on masks…
Do you watch Upendra movies ? Seriously, it reminded his movie.. His famous dialogue sound like this…
‘neevella gaNtaligu naaligegu madhya filter itkoteera; adakke jana nimmannella oLLEvru anthaare, naanu iddaddu idda haage heLtheeni, nija nija heLtheeni..’
ella relationship swarthadde, niswartha prema annodu illave ilva haagadre ?
Suresh, Have been reading your blog for sometime now. Each and every post of yours is thought provoking!
On this post, what you call as “masks”, I call it “feelings”. We simply can’t feel the same for everybody. The day we acheive that, we have reached the “Paramathma” stage, the one who feels the same for anybody and everybody!
Fantastic blog and a very nice post
MysteryofIniquity, Nicola.Eloi, icedmocha - Many thanks for Your Comments.
Sanjay: when I say you wear out in relationships basically it means Mask with which you started the relationship starts wearing out. that’s why it is difficult to sustain long relationships because there will be let down of your mask once in a while.
Veena: No I haven’t watched Upendra movies much but I like your sentence.
Shark: welcome to my blog, I guess when I say Mask - I mean feelings But the trick is that over a period of time we become mechanical. that’s something we need to watch out for. For example if you do not like certain personality then you just tend to get put off by personality than by person, this is mechanical reaction.
In other words be careful about forming an opinion quickly and your opinion defines the way you behave with people.
On a lighter side : Once Veena Commented on me that ” She thought I was some guru from some mutt” - I rolled in laughter at least for a week. recently at my niece wedding they asked me leave Marriage place and stand outside because they thought I was a photographer and I had no business to sit close to Bridegroom. Lot of my office colleagues think I am an hardcore Investment banker whereas I am not..
I guess Masks are nothing but the way we are prejudiced about everything and it’s our inability to accept reality in patience.
Your earlier comment sounds more clear. Even I interpreted in a same way like what Shark felt(May be a Mask I wore :-))..
An example to quote, after certain talkings/transactions with a new person, we conclude few things about that person & what ever incidence that may occur in future we tend to say.. “oh avara.. haage swalpa” & try to connect our previous experiences with it to justify. Incidently also tend to fail to think in other directions like, MAY BE something must have gone wrong due to which that person behaved the way antha… ond sala taleli vyktitva bandre mugithu…
When I first read OSHO, I didn’t like his writings at all.. Even today I somehow dont like to read his books.. somehow am convinced to read your blog.. This is another MASK!!
On your niece marriage,photographer antha horage kalsiddu.. LOL!!
full biddu biddu nakkiddaaytu!
Wow suresh thanks for the clarification - that really raises some serious questions I’m almost afraid to ask myself.
Good laugh particularly reading about you being thrown out
…but particularly wrt prejudices, got reminded of the filters that Mark Shepard talks about in his excellent book Mahatma Gandhi and His Myths
Suresh,
Life is full of navarasas or nine different emotional contents - just imagine life is of only one rasa like humour or only aggression etc, I would be bored dead to live in that place!!
God had provided only one mask of love of divinity fragrance, all others are derived forms and mostly situational needs.
But, there are few folks who use this to cheat others and et all.
Masks are very much essential in this world, otherwise we need to get out of all this relationships with worldly objects. Necessity is the mother of invention.
cheers
mohan!
Mohan I completely agree with you.
I am only against mechanical reactions which creates masks in premeditated manner but like you said - to have different faces is the blessings of life! Thanks for pointing finger to important point.
superficiality and pretensions are the need of the day i suppose.
http://philososphyofalex.blogspot.com/index.html
hi suresh,
feel like crying (just feeling a little blue)….after reading this!! u r sooo good, i have no words right now to express how i feel!! have to come back to read more…actually feel more…..love!!
isn’t it love that has been masked actually instead of ur faces????
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Very well written.
‘masks ‘ appear sinister …
I will observe my face closely now..