Unmasking the Ego
I’m sure you’ve noticed, like me, that wearing a mask takes the fun out of everything. And It’s also really difficult to talk to strangers. I keep wondering if the Trader Joe’s bagger can see my smile through my eyes or if my head nod adequately expresses my gratitude to the Postmates guy (or, let’s be honest, whether my scowl is communicated to the person who cut in front of me at the store ☹️).
I know the idea of wearing a mask has caused a lot of division with those who feel like their freedom has been infringed upon. I personally see it as a polite gesture that communicates: I will not add more fear of possibly infecting you with a virus, be it coronavirus or even a cold.
The astrological alignment that was the first domino of this pandemic was the Saturn-Pluto conjunction in January. Astrologers would call this a Pluto transit. When you’re in a Pluto transit, you go into the underworld, AKA a Vitamix blender. I know because Pluto is hitting my Sun at the same degree of this alignment 😝
Pluto doesn’t ask, but insists, you to take off all your masks, one by one. It can do this through a health crisis, major loss, or whatever is necessary to break you down, in order to get to the essence of who you are.
The coronavirus has been the catalyst for our collective breaking down. In addition to the financial fallout and health crises its caused, being confined to our homes has forced us to look into a big mirror of ourselves, and perhaps our partners, without the usual escapes. Grey roots and all.
In working from home, everyone from celebrities, to musicians, to coworkers have unmasked their unmade bed, their precocious toddler, their two-year old barking terrier, and some have been caught without wearing pants (which I don’t understand how that’s comfortable).
While we’ve been wearing masks in public, we’ve unmasked ourselves at home.
We’re still in this collective metamorphosis that’s personally affected all of us. As we start to wind down this quarantine time and re-enter public life once again, who will you be once the final mask comes off?
The messy living room in me sees the messy living room in you.
Masked or unmasked, there have never been so many ways to express ourselves in the world right now. Learn to play an instrument, write a poem, cook a gourmet meal, or bellow out a song in the shower. We can even immediately publish our creations to a blog, Instagram, a podcast, Tiktok, or even sell it on iTunes.
I look forward to when masks are no longer needed in public, but I’m also enjoying this time of discovering who I’ll be when I finally take my mask off.
"Unmasking is the spiritual path. It’s not about creating new masks - not even spiritual masks. It is not about going from being a worldly person to a spiritual person or trading a spiritual ego for a materialistic ego. It is a matter of authenticity and of the capacity to trust life, even if life has been tremendously tough." -Adyashanti in The Most Important Thing