“The
mask, therefore, is not the holy; it only suggests access to the holy” (Lane
72).
Two
years ago, I was on a mission trip in Africa staying at a church facility
overseen by a grounded missionary family. Before leaving, the younger son of
the family drew a picture of me and him. Seeing it, it touched me because he
did not have to draw it, he did not have to take his time, but he did, not
because he needed to, but because he wanted to. What he drew represented who he
was, the colored paper revealed his like for color and adventure, his drawing
of me playing basketball on the court and him watching, showed he was watching
and studying me (to a lesser or more extent), his unprofessional and childish
stick figures of our human shape, and squares for houses, expressed to me his
level of development as a child. The drawing was not the child but the drawing
helped me understand the child. It was an understanding that could have only
been revealed through the series of events that had transpired. It was a script
of a piece of his heart to me that could be interpreted and received. It was a
mask to the identity of the child, no so different to the elemental world,
revealing, but still concealing, God. One ought to honor the creator more than
the creation. So to every earthly journey, item, or person, it is an
opportunity, a door way to experience another lesson, another characteristic,
another attribute of the creator. Although we ought to honor the mask for the
splendor that it is, it will never be fully given that honor until the the one
who created it is honored. Therefore, one could say that the material thing or
entity is a reflection to a piece of the identity of the holy but it should
never take its place. Too many times, researchers, scholars, and even pilgrims
collect the masks and the description thereof, but forsake the meaning or
revelation of what’s underneath, either by ignorance or lack of desire, giving
only a portion of the beauty that it was meant to have. A mask, like a hat, is
not created to be hung on the wall, it’s usually designed to be worn and used,
giving the fullness of its function and purpose. The same is true for the masks
all around us, including the forests, mountains, and the people in front of us.
We look too often for the sacred in distant lands overlooking the doors all
around us, but it seems as if the holy has designed a doorway for every single
being to see the sacred, leaving none with excuse. He calls for us to take off
our own masks and gaze at his, evermore seeking the understandings of the
sacred and holy rather than of the carnal and superficial.
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