The Clothes we wear

Think of shopping for clothes.  You and your friend are looking at the same shirt that's folded on a shelf.  You say you like it, your friend says she doesn't.  So far there's no issue; just a shirt on a shelf and two different opinions.  How different is this scenario had the person who liked the shirt was alone when she purchased it and her friend sees her the next day with her new shirt on and gives the same feedback; "I don't like it."  Now it's not just an objective comment on a shirt that doesn't belong to anybody.  Now it's MY shirt and there's a someone taking it personally.  All the sudden there's no separation from the shirt and ME.

Ultimately that shirt is no different than my personality, my beliefs, my body, my gender, my religion, my god...all of which we either were clothed with at birth or layers of clothes which we have put on ourselves over the span of our lives.

The possibility is to see that these layers of "clothes" say nothing about who we are.  They have a function, a particular value for a particular time and then they go; just like fashion trends come and go.  We can look at a photo of ourself from a previous era and remember truly identifying with that look, or that belief system or whatever else and now it may seem silly or at the very least, outdated.  What if what you're wearing now is the same?  In noticing this, the opportunity is to see under the layers, something so real, yet untouchable; so true, yet unnamable; so authentic, yet so impersonal.