Beware of the Trade Offs

Choosing to where a mask instead of living a life of authenticity is a natural choice.  Choosing to reject a growing relationship with your creator and taking charge even seems wise.  These seem like effective strategies to avoid pain, rejection and to meet the expectations of others.  Self-protection on the surface seems necessary.  On deeper examination this strategy is self-destructive.  The consequences lead to an illusionary life.  Thomas Moore speaks of this in terms of “forgetting”.  He states that we forget who we were and who we might be.

The first thing we forget is who we were.  Masks are powerful things.  They can become real to us.  We buy into our own illusions.  The past informs us.  The false self you create by design buries any reality and negates any growth.  It is an avoidance of truth and attempts to distances you from pain.  Your new persona (or mask) is escape from reality and the creation of an illusion.

The second thing we forget according to Moore is “what we might be”.  The journey of life is revealing new things to us every day.  If we live in reality we will be continually discovering new aspects of our true, authentic self.  The cost of pretense is the loss of the future.  God has created you with great potential and over your life you will experience new elements of “what you might be” gradually.  The excitement of the gradual revelation of new things about yourself is part of the wonder and fulfillment of the Kingdom of God.  You have a special place in that plan.  But you cannot grow from a defensive posture.  In your created, illusionary world the false self closes the door to self-awareness.  It specializes in self-protection.

These two traps are places of deception and pretense.  There is no advancement and no reality.  You are cut off from the source of all insight and self-knowledge.  You are alienated from Abba Father.  He is the source of all truth.  Your alienation and self-protection cuts you off from all reality.  This are the true trade offs of your choice of pretense.  Your choice of faith in and union with the transcendent, creator God and the revealer of all truth allows life, fulfillment, and revelation to flow.  You open the door to relationship and life.  So the choice is yours.  The trade-offs are real and costly.  Faith is the only healthy choice.  The faith to join in union with your creator is the beginning of a love affair that will bring growth and fulfillment for the rest of your life. He is waiting for you with open arms.