Drop your mask

A mask is a covering for part or all of your face. It is worn to disguise yourself or for protection. For instance, bank robbers wear stocking masks. Surgeons wear surgical masks.

In chemical warfare, soldiers use gas masks. Sometimes, children wear Mickey Mouse masks. Devil Dancers in the South wear different types of masks to be identified with ferocious demons.

These days we hear of masked gunmen robbing jewellery shops. In high society people attend masked balls at which the guests wear different kinds of masks. Painters use masked tape to cover certain areas of windows which need no paint.

All these masks can be made, bought and worn. You can see them with your naked eyes. However, can you deny that all of us are wearing masks all the time? We have different masks for important occasions. For instance, we wear one mask for funerals. We say, “Deepest sympathies” wearing a long mask.

We refrain from showing any signs of pleasure even if we stand to benefit from somebody’s death. Only babies and toddlers do not wear masks because they are too innocent to think on their own.

As they grow old, parents and elders teach them how to wear different masks. A child who attends a funeral is often told by his parents to be of good behaviour. The child does not know the gravity of death. So, he prefers to play and laugh rather than wearing a long mask.

When the child begins his schooling be learns more about wearing masks. Education makes him to suppress all his natural feelings. He begins to learn not to show his real self because it is dangerous in a civilised society. By reading books and newspapers he comes to know that those who refused to wear masks were either condemned or killed by civilised men. They had to do so to save society from those who spoke the truth.

Socrates (c.470-399Bc) was condemned to death for introducing a mystical inner voice, and ridiculing the Gods of the State. Even when his friends planned, his escape from prison, Socrates preferred to obey the law and die for his cause. He could have given up his way of thinking and pleaded for clemency. However, Socrates refused to wear a mask even when his life was at risk.

To talk about truth and freedom appears to be dangerous in civilised societies. If you call spade a spade, your fate is sealed. Those who are willing to wear masks and wish to remain silent like dumb - driven cattle are elevated and praised by society.

However, people of high calibre are born in the world from time to time. Jesus Christ asked people to develop a new consciousness. His teachings on moral sincerity rather than strict adherence to Jewish ritual incurred the enmity of the Pharisees who feared that their authority on the people would be eroded. He was arrested and brought before the Supreme Council of the Jews.

Finally, Jesus was taken to Golgotha and crucified, the Roman punishment for political offenders and criminals. In modern societies most politicians wear masks. You can see their smiling faces during the election times. However, they change their masks after winning the election. This is done to keep the voters who come to him for various favours at bay. When the voter sees the elected representive’s stern face, he beats a hasty retreat.

You cannot blame politicians for wearing different masks for they are our modern-day heroes. No democracy can survive without them. So, whether you like it or not we cast our votes for them once again. This happens regularly for two reasons. The voter knows that the politician is wearing a mask. Similarly, the politician also knows that the voter is wearing a mask by not showing his real feelings. Eventually, both the politician and the voter get what they deserve.

Honourary and bogus doctorates serve as masks to hide your ignorance. Those who have never been to a university pose as doctors of various disciplines. This does not mean even doctorates conferred by certain universities carry any weight. For that matter, you do not need a doctorate to be an educated and versatile man.

Those who are hankering after doctorates are playing the fame game all their life. They amass wealth, get into a high position and then seek recognition. I doubt whether you will be recognised when you use “Dr” in front of your name. May be, you get some self satisfaction.

Rabindranath Tagore, one of the great poets of India, published most of his poetry and novels in Bengali. However, nobody recognised him. Then he translated his own “Gitanjali” into English. What is strange is that the poor translation, in comparison to the original, earned him the prestigious Nobel Prize. If he had written only in Bengali, nobody would have taken any notice of him.

This reminds me of a recent funny statement made by Gunadasa Amarasekara, an author I respect. He says that authors should write only in their mother tongue. I think Dr. Amarasekara is wearing a mask to hide his incompetence in writing in English. Some of his books have been translated into English by others. If he had written them himself, he would have been a world famous author.

Some of my readers suggested that I should write this column in Sinhala as well. Here again I do not wish to wear a mask and say that I write only for English readers. With my limited knowledge of Sinhala I do not think I can convey my views clearly in that language.

At the outset, it may be difficult for you to drop some of your masks. On the other hand, do not try to drop your masks simply because somebody has asked you to do so. The urge to drop masks should come from within.

Most of you may have heard of Mahavira who went naked because of his childlike qualities. He had no need for clothes because he had nothing to hide. Some of his cunning followers also walked naked. Their thinking was that if they went naked, they could become another Mahavira. But they became rogues because wearing a mask could not change their inner self.

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