Veil of Disguise

Its interesting at times to see how people live under a veil of disguise fooling themselves and the whole world at the same time. Pretense is a quick and easy answer for those who want to become what they know they are not. A person is identified, acknowledged and adjudged by his or her actions and actions form a person that one becomes. So it is natural for some people to imagine themselves as someone that they may not 'really' want to become but based on to their perceptions and as the world appears to them, they find a social and mental acceptance in performing those actions that make them appear, what they think they should be. I call such people wearing a 'Veil of Disguise'.

If we look around us, it won't be difficult to find such people. A person under a veil is easy to spot and often not because they are unique but because they belong to the stereotype community of people who are not happy with what they 'really' are. I fear these people the most. No matter how kind and humble these people may appear to be, there is something about them that tells you that something is not natural. Its like sitting on a beach on a clear night, listening to jazz and hearing a noise in the background from a rave party. You just can't focus on the jazz any more. The noise doesn't mix up with the whole package. Our mind is trained to pick up the anomaly. We always want to focus on the small little things that are odd and not going with the theme. Ever found yourself missing a whole conversation through out a meeting or a seminar because you noticed the speaker is wearing different colored socks. 

Same way that actions make you a person that you are, your actions are regulated and defined by the person that you become. It is often quite difficult for people wearing the 'veil of disguise' to find a perfect resonance between their actions and their personalities. It is this imbalance that make them vulnerable to the world and easy to spot. Consistency or rather lack of it, is the attribute that most easily differentiates between the 'veiled' and the 'naked'. They falter to do what comes naturally to them in the quest of doing what is expected out of them. Some people quote it as a conflict between the heart and the mind. For heart does not perform the function of thinking at all, it is actually the two sections of the brains that are conflicting with each other. One has developed to do as you please and the other bounded by the social dilemmas of what is right and what is wrong. 

But the social principles keep changing. What was once thought to be norm of life a thousand years ago, is often ascribed as ancient or pre-historic in this modern society that we live in. Most of us would concede that at least in terms of social liberties and way of life, we are better of now than ever before. Some people find it 'evolution' while some may call it 'breaking the rules'. The world today as it stands is divided between these two kind of people. One who wants to break the mould and move forward is often branded as 'maverick' while the majority accepts the usual. Evolution finds no place in such a society where the majority rules and if not for the leaders who had the courage of questioning whether the earth revolves around the sun or as was popularly accepted for thousands of years, the earth was the centre of the universe, we would be living in a completely different world. 

"The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man." These were the words quoted by George Bernard Shaw. It requires great courage to be yourself. For if you are an 'anomaly' in the currently accepted society, you become the point of attention for everyone. It is easy for people to miss the bigger picture while focusing on the anomaly that our brain has been naturally trained to spot. The leaders stand out for the reason that they are unique and the people wearing the 'veil of disguise' often get blended in the stereotypical society in order to become what they are expected to become.