Truth and the Masks We Wear

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The Emperor’s New Clothes: sometimes it takes the innocence of a child to reveal the truth others are afraid to see

I came across this quote a couple of days back: “Trust cannot come unless one is honest.” In all its simplicity lies a profound truth.

There is nothing that degrades the soul more than untruth, because the foundation of our existence is based on Universal Truth. With every lie, every pretence, every fakeness, we distance ourselves from this singular Truth. The point is, if we are seekers of Truth, how can we be untrue?

Entire lives may be spent propagating and upholding an image of the self that is based on falsity. It is like wearing a mask which appears so real that it becomes permanent, impossible to tear off. In such a situation, trust comes at a premium, because one is dealing not with a person but with a version of that person, a mask steeped in untruth.

This reminds me of the story of The Emperor’s New Clothes. The Emperor is deceived into believing that he is wearing magnificent new clothes, whereas in reality he is stark naked. He parades through the town thinking he is dressed in finery, and the crowds too, for fear of being punished, join in falsely admiring them. All this pretence is finally shattered when a small boy points to the Emperor and laughs, declaring that he is naked.

Because of societal pressures, cultural orientations, peer pressure, political correctness, or mere conformity, one often forgoes truth for the sake of groupthink. We are silenced into accepting “false truths”, whereas Truth itself is transparent.

In a way, the imagined clothes are the pretences and prejudices we proudly parade around. It takes the innocence of a small boy to strip them away and reveal Truth in its stark nakedness, in its essence.


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