Real or fake,which is which.

Last night, I watch an episode of criminal mind and there is an interesting saying at the end of the episode ; we are wearing a mask most of the time and if we wear it long enough, when we take off the mask, the skin on our face will come out with it. In simple terms, if we pretend to be who we are not, this faking will change part of us if you decide to be the real you.

In Buddhism, what we see is not the real thing and if we shift our angle to watch the same thing, its shape and image changes as we shift our focus. It is not funny because to see a real thing we should observe all the angles carefully and be aware of this wisdom.  This thought reminds me of a story of 4 blind man trying to describe an elephant. Each blind man was asked to hold and feel part of an elephant  and after that , each is requested to describe what is an elephant.  The one touching the trunk describe the elephant describe the elephant as a trunk and one touching the leg, describe the leg and one touching the tail , describe the elephant as a tail and one touching the head , describe the head as an elephant.  So, we have four different people describing the elephant from four angles.  There are a lot of fakers and we have to observe for a long time before we spot one.

In this world, there are alot of fakers and we have to be careful and not to be trusting. People change and behave according to the situation, timing , place and people.  One moment, one can be passionate and loving and another moment, the whole expression can change immediately. During an encounter, some people change their opinion and their stand if we infringe into their area or welfare or it threatens their survival.  Of course, not everybody is like that and there are really true people who behave and act as the real them.

To be truly oneself , it can be hurting to the people around us because we have to be frank and direct and if we add abit of tact in our speech to soften the impact, it is like faking or Hippocratic.  The softer our tone to add cosmetic to our action, it is like adjusting the tone of our faking. If we are angry, we should show our anger and if we disagree, we should maintain our stand.  Hence, based on our body condition, we have to express our true feeling at any moment of the time.  If we look deeply, our frank expression can make us look like a stubborn bastard. Hence, we have to manage our feeling to a stable level so that we can express our thoughts as true as possible reflecting our emotions at a point of time.

It is a difficult thing to do. If we express our frank thoughts when we are angry, it is hurting and if we adjust our tone to move away from our true feeling , it is faking.  So, to be true to our self , we have to manage our feelings to a stable level and then, we can be true to our self without hurting other people.

Life is difficult and to act as a true you , we need to manage feelings to be our true self.

Namaste.