Are We God in Drag?
By: Chelsea London
Tags: God, Authenticity, Spirituality, Vulnerability, Self

At first, I wasn’t particularly eager to write this piece because the topic of “living authentically” has become watered down, packaged and marketed to the masses. Still, there is a reason why the idea resonates deeply with people.

The Deeper Meaning

Naturally, we are born whole, free and contented, but we and society add layers on top of ourselves, which can cause the disturbing tangledness we experience. Some of these layers are painful individual inflictions at the hands of others, such as abuse in any form. Other layers are systemic and placed upon us by our cultures, such as racism, toxic masculinity and greed, and some are self-inflicted.

Spiritual quests and psychological therapies are attempted remedies for untangling. They are pieces of the puzzle in the long journey home to ourselves, and if this spiritual and psychological work is without its counterpart of activism, it is a failure. Individual work is for healing the one. Activism is for healing the collective. Archbishop Demond Tutu spoke about this when he wrote, “There comes a point where we need to stop just pulling people out of the river. We need to go upstream and find out why they’re falling in.” (Or who is pushing them in!)

Performance is the layer we place upon ourselves to portray how we want the world to see us. It is natural but can come at the cost of our contentment. The beneficial element of performance is when it stays in its proper place of play, as RuPaul’s signature phrase beautifully captures when he says “We’re all born naked, and the rest is drag”. Ram Dass framed it as “Treat everyone you meet like they are God in drag”.

Both RuPaul and Ram Dass understand that life as we typically think of it is an illusion, and we are creating worlds upon worlds as we go, including the outer expressions of ourselves. We create personas and then believe that is who we are. How can it be who you are if you are the one who designed it? Who is the You creating you? To me, this is what living authentically truly means — understanding who you are at your essence and recognising the layers are a dance by design. The game turns sinister when our cultures or other people place layers on us, and it becomes self-destructive when we install them upon ourselves and call it our soul.

Back To Basics

Authentic living can be much more profound than self-help teachers give it credit for, but there is still a joy to be gained from the basics of the topic. A year ago, I left my job to strip my life down to the fundamentals of “being”, and it has led me to a place of deeper authenticity. I no longer make decisions based on expectations or how I want my life to appear. I’m the only one who has to live it every day. Plus I’ve learned no one cares because most of us are relatively self-involved, so why torture ourselves living the life we thought we wanted, the one we believe appears desirable, or someone else wanted for us?

I thought I had mastered authentic living years ago when I became inspired by the embrace of vulnerability, but blowing up my life over the years by leaving the church, divorcing my husband and quitting my job has shown me there is always room to become freer. My focus on vulnerability was about honesty with others; I now understand it’s also about being brutally honest with myself.

I now spend my days out in green fields where I’m happiest, and through my decision to live authentically in the basics, I have deepened my understanding of the profound aspect of authentic living. It’s when you realise the jig is up that you can truly begin to dance.