Is image everything?
Image is everything.
Nobody wants to be made a fool. There’s a fear that runs deep within our bones of the kind of rejection wrought from shame, being exposed, being laughed at, being humiliated.
Image is everything.
So you’ve learned, over the years to put away foolish things, silly things, things considered immature and improper, and you’ve also learned to project an image of everything you think you needed to be to not be humiliated.
When I was 28, I had a four-month-old baby, was working with my partner Jesse at my Dad’s church, when everything cvhanged over night. we dicovered something that changed the shape of my family, my workplace, and my faith, in an instant. In the aftermath, one of the most prevailing things I felt was shame. I felt humiliated. I’d been fooled. Hoodwinked. Taken for a ride. I didn’t see it coming.
The image I had of what my life was, who I was, what my family had, was shattered. I scrambled to project an acceptable and workable image of myself and my life so I could keep (the appearance of) myself from completely falling apart.
Maybe you’ve had an experience where the idea of who you are and what you thought your life was about, came apart at the seams. The image burned to the ground.
What happens after this kind of experience is usually some kind-of projection, putting on an image you think will be more acceptable and likeable than what’s really happening inside of you.
It doesn’t have to be some earth-shattering tragedy for the images we project to become masks that we wear… the world and the narratives at play within it do a good enough job of demanding that we play certain roles to get the outcomes we’ve been told we should want.
But what is it that you really want?
What you believe about yourself, what you allow others to see, what you allow yourself to recognise, accept, and face about yourself, the image you see of yourself (and others, more on that later) - is everything.
In the beginning, so the story goes, God (whatever God is) created the heavens and the earth and the stars and the moon and the sun and the seas and the animals and the bugs and the flowers and the trees, and God created
You. Me. Humanity. People.
Legend says that God created you in Gods own image.
Imago Dei - The Divine imprint burned into your createdness, forming your foundational self, serving as your atomic DNA. You were created from love, in love, by love, for love - love is who you are. The Imago Dei is who God is in you and who you are in God. It is what some call your True or Essential self. It is who you are before shame and projection and anything else try to place other images on you to bear.
Richard Rohr said:
“The single and true purpose of mature religion is to lead you to ever new experiences of your True Self. If religion does not do this, it is junk religion. Every sacrament, every Bible story, every church service, every sermon, every hymn, every bit of priesthood, ministry, or liturgy is for one purpose: to allow you to experience your True Self—who you are in God and who God is in you—and to live a generous and just life from that Infinite Source.”
Image is everything, but not in the way you’ve been told. Because every other image apart from that true and essential self deep within you, keeps you from seeing yourself (and others) in your full, beautiful, and holy glory.
In this series, we’ll explore which and what image you should be protecting, and I can tell you now from the outset, if you have to project an image, it’s not the one worth protecting.
LISTEN: You will find yourself not when you reach some pinnacle of success and achievement, but when you drop all the masks you wear to be acceptable, likeable, and good, and decide that you are already loved before you do and achieve anything.
I’d love to see you in the App, xo
Liz Milani
Instagram: @thepracticeco
From this week’s series titled "Protecting Your Image," with a subscription in the App. Hope to see you there.
