The world we live in is a giant costume party, and it ought not be.

Mankind, dissociated from true Being, lives not in reality, but in a show—a tragic and unnecessary pretense. In this self-created world, man hides from reality, fearing the discovery of his ruse and the unraveling of his wellintentioned disingenuousness. This was well summarized in the story of the fall of man, one of our oldest and most enduring stories.

You are not who you think you are, neither are you who you’ve convinced yourself and others you are. You probably know this, but like a swindler sitting atop a pyramid scheme, you keep inventing and reinventing to perpetuate the feint. The self-image you create is an echo of reality, a crippled version of your true identity, and this is the underlying cause of your unrelenting unrest.

The good news is that you can know who you are while living here on earth. In fact, you were designed with this central purpose in mind. It has been done before by others and it can be done by you. It’s not too late. You’re not too far in to the game to break free of it.

You can and must let your self—your true self—be known, but you must first be willing to let go of the costumes you’ve worn until now before you can let go to the revelation of the reality of you.

Think about the statements of identity you’ve made for yourself. Any time you have said “I am…(fill in the blank)” you are making a statement of identity. You may for example have identified yourself as shy, happy, a father, a fireman, an American, a Republican, an atheist, a creative type, a straight guy, an Asian, a failure, an imperfect human, an outgoing person, a stud, an honorable person, or any other number of combinations of outer identity, but these are not the reality of you. These are but costumes, costumes made for a costume party.

The reality of you is far more impressive, far less limited. The reality of you is in harmony with the reality of Being and is an eternal, vital, powerful, and valuable aspect of the universal whole. You cannot manufacture the reality of you, for reality IS.

N.B., you cannot manufacture the reality of you, must reveal it.

That is the hard part (especially from the standpoint of a participant in the costume party hiding behind a mask or masks), but it is also the easy part because the reality of you is at hand, no matter how many layers of false identify you may be wearing at present.

You will not rest until you begin revealing the reality of you.

In fact, you can only rest when you are being authentic in this sense. Beware, however, and know that authenticity is not the unfiltered expression of feelings or a prideful parade of costumes. Authenticity is the revelation of the real you. This is what is meant by being true to yourself.

You are invited to know yourself. In fact, you are called. Draw near to the reality of you and you will finally find rest, here on earth…here and now.

The reality of you is at hand.