Costuming

Halloween has arrived: hungry, costumed hands scoop treats from large crucibles of sugary delight. Sweet-tooths take center stage, while other ghoulish figures lurk in the shadows, tending to the stock of chocolate surprises.

The 19th c. Unitarian Minister and his Shadow.

As Parisa mentioned this morning, the growing passion for the holiday may reflect an increasing awareness of the thin line separating life and death. In experimenting with who we are in costume, we cannot help but notice that some day we will not be at all. Our imaginative revelry cannot fully hide the truth of a death that is real, ultimate, closed to zombie re-awakenings.

That is not to say, of course, that death necessarily curtails our fantasy - or that it marks the end of our journeys. But its certainty provokes fear. And Halloween is when we get to act that fear out.

Perhaps it is worth considering: who will you be this year - in costume, and in your daily life? What personality will you take on? And might this safe, holiday fantasy make way for a more sustained experimentation with you who aspire to be in your un-costumed world?

May this Halloween season shine new light on old shadows. May it invite you to see yourself in another way. And may it reassure you that despite the truth crouching behind plastic gravestones, there is still some more time to dress up!