Sunday, October 31, 2021
Sunday Reflection: In Disguise(?)
Happy Halloween! It's a fascinating holiday, complete with disguises. Kind of.
I've long thought that many halloween costumes, particularly for adults, aren't really disguises-- they are a revealing of the hidden person within. For example, those many many cats are often people who are kind of feline to start with. And this year I'm seeing an unusual number of people dressed as Charlie Brown (which is surprising because of the the declining cultural currency of the entire Peanuts crew). But... a lot of us are feeling like Charlie Brown these days, don't you think?
One of my own favorite costumes was Boxhead Guy, pictured above. The idea was to wear the box to a party, and then not say anything at all-- to stand at the edge of conversation groups silently. Then, when people got frustrated not knowing who I was, they would yank the box off, and underneath I had this horrifying half-rat thing with a tongue-activated tail in my mouth. People screamed. And no, I don't know what that says about me, exactly, other than a general sense of anonymity I have always had.
One of the disguises many people wear is that of spiritual certainty. They project to others an absolute sense of belief in their faith. I suspect that underneath that is uncertainty, though-- after all, if God is unimaginable to us, a lot of what we believe is necessarily on shaky ground. But there we are, telling others what we know for sure.
But not Boxhead guy. He just stands there, quietly.
[I would note that AFTER I created Boxhead Guy in 1994, he appeared in this video, starting about 2:00:]
