When we pretend, who are we fooling but ourselves? Why must we all feel the need to pretend? What does pretending "do"? When we create a comfort zone for ourselves, what are we doing but restricting our own potential? When we are in that comfort zone, what we doing but merely existing. By leaving your comfort zone, you being to truly live, you begin to truly experience, you begin to truly explore. Can you imagine how many people in the world stay in the same spot for their whole lives? So many don't discover the limitless ways of being, ways of experiencing, ways of seeing and perceiving, ways of thinking and ways of feeling. Why would one imprison oneself for their whole life? Take it or leave it, but we gotta expand into non-expansion. For therein lies true expansion that never needs any additional expansion, because it is naturally beautiful and forever expanding in itself. Ya dig?
On second thought, is there truly only one form that truly captures who we really are? It seems to be that we are so complex that we need different versions of ourselves to truly encompass our true being, and when we pretend we are only exploring and creating new versions, discovering what works and what doesn't. I absolutely agree Madrid. So, is a person only one person... or is he/she much more than that? How far can a being extend to, as in how many 'people' per say does it take to accurately describe a being? How many facets does everyone have, how many versions and what do we do to keep updating these versions so they genuinely depict who we truly are? And where is the line between being authentic and being superficial? Even so, are the superficial aspects of us still just as authentic as the authentic parts, are both manifestations of our true nature or is one lost in translation, is one fake even to ourselves, essentially not us? How much more is there in us than just "us", and how do we get rid of the extra baggage?
Wow, interesting. But I dig. I think each person has a different number of 'facets'. Everyone needs a different amount to exist, and a different amount to represent truly who they are. I myself find it difficult transitioning between them. I think people most commonly refer to these different versions as 'masks'.
I think we are the accumulation of all the different facets of ourselves. You can't act one way around certain people, and another way around others then turn around and say "Oh no that isn't the real me, this is the real me". Unfortunately we don't have the power to decide - we are what we do, and no amount of self-denial can change that. Like you said, when we pretend we are only fooling ourselves, but I'd like to take it a step further and say by pretending to be a certain way, you become that. Like method actors who become absolutely engrossed in their character, by pretending to be something you aren't, you take on a little bit of that character. At first it may be so minute that you don't even realize it, but bit by bit you'll eventually become this character that is so far removed from who you actually are. I think that's the reason so many people are unhappy with their lives. They're stuck in these roles (mother, sister, career woman, etc etc) and they've pretended for so long, that when they want to go back to who they really are (whether in their thoughts or actions), they realize they've lost touch with themselves on such a level that they don't know who they are anymore. As for the line between superficiality and authenticity, I think the line is defined by consistence. If you consistently act like a negative, bad tempered asshole you will be defined as a negative, bad tempered asshole no matter how much you try argue that you're actually a really nice person. It's easy to be biased when deciding who we are; everyone wants to give themselves more positive attributes than negative. It's like a job applicant saying "Oh, my negative traits? Well, I'm a perfectionist and I work far too hard. I can't stand to leave something unfinished, I just work, work, work." Oh please, shut up. I think the closest we can come to defining who we are is to look at who we surround ourselves with. If you look at your close circle of friends and see people who you respect, admire and trust it's a good indicator that you are respected and trusted. If your close friends are a bunch of assholes who gossip and are mean, you have to ask yourself : Am I like them? If not, why are they my friends? ..Woah