Self-Deception

I recently went to see a play and the director chose to use a rather abstract stage, which is to say that there were few set pieces and few props. The characters would remark about being outside or would sit on a couch to let the audience know where they were. In between scenes, the stagehands would carry on/off various pieces of furniture quickly while music would play to set the mood of the upcoming scene. A deep disdain began to grow inside me for these moments. At first, it was just a simple confusion of what was happening, but as the night went on I grew anxious when I could tell one was coming. Every time I was abruptly pulled from the Victorian England countryside, full of its decadence and romance, and flung headlong into the twentieth century where I sat in a squeaky chair in a high school auditorium. The drama into which I had become not only a viewer, but a participant, faded away. My mind would instantly wander. I would think of things I had to do or of why the actor had made a certain artistic choice. I wanted to live inside the play. I wanted it to be more real. I wanted to stay there forever.


Of course the curtain call was the worst part. The cantankerous, decrepit father ran out beaming from ear to ear. The villain was given a grand applause and great respect from the rest of the cast. The star-crossed lovers were simply coworkers.


As humans, we have such a great capacity for self-deception. This is one of our greatest strengths. The ability to grow and learn through art stems from this very ability. We see ourselves in a work of art; it resonates with something inside us, and it changes us. But what happens when this ability rules our life?


All too often, we live our lives being willfully deceived by the "drama" around us. I am not only talking about immersing ourselves in art as a form of escapism, though that is certainly part of it. We get all wrapped up in little stories we have created for ourselves. We host a play of small mundane tasks and even the great things that we want to accomplish and do. Every once in a while, God interjects and we are reminded of His overarching reality, but we quickly rush back to our comfortable delusions.


The sad irony: we would rather stick to our simple productions than take part in what the creator of truth, love, and beauty has made for us. He is the author and director of the story that our souls long to be a part of. We must seek constantly to see God's world for what it is - His world - created with us in mind so that we might fill the voids in our hearts with His unfolding drama.