If unseasonal rain ruins a celebrity’s makeup, then how they actually look becomes exposed. 

Makeup can generically refer to the carefully crafted appearance that people wish to portray to the world. When something unexpectedly provocative happens, that facade crumbles and how they really are is seen. Suppose someone appears to be calm and cultured. But when something dear to them is lost or broken by someone else, they may fly into a rage and start screaming at that person, using words that they would never use normally. While everyone gets angry, the extent to which they deviate from their normal behavior under the pressure of anger reveals what they are made of. 

While people shouldn’t be judged based solely on what they do when they are at their worst, still how bad their worst is tells important things about them: the nature of their culture and the strength of their conscience, for example. The Bhagavad-gita (16.13-15) depicts how the demoniac people in their greed for wealth can even become murderers, something that would be unconscionable for most people who all have a normal human craving for wealth. 

When we are provoked, our reactions will reveal what we are made of. Thankfully, if we strive to grow spiritually, that changes what we are made of by changing our inner impressions. Spiritual practices such as bhakti-yoga purify us of the impressions of failings such as lust, anger and greed. Through such purification, bhakti-yoga strengthens our conscience and intelligence both at a conscious and subconscious level, thereby ensuring that unconscionable becomes unconscionable to us even amid provocation. Indeed, if we start practicing spirituality, we will see that disruptions won’t disrupt us that much, thereby demonstrating that what we are made of has become refined and strengthened. 

One-sentence summary:

Our makeup doesn’t matter as much as what we are made up of — when life ruins our makeup, take that opportunity to check and change what we are made of. 

Think it over:

  • What happens when life ruins our appearance?
  • How is people’s demonic nature exposed by life’s provocations?
  • How can spirituality change what we are made of?

 

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