Veils

The concept of Orual's veil has brought up a lot of talk on the subject, so I guess I'll continue on with my own thoughts. When Orual veils herself, she isn't only putting on a literal veil to hide her face, she's placing over herself a figurative covering, hiding her true self, her true face. She's not just covering up her physical ugliness, but the ugliness of her soul--her inner darkness. Her true face is the one she fears most--that selfishness which not only caused Psyche grief, but Orual and the people around her pain as well. Because of that fear of what lay beneath the veil, she "locked Orual up or laid her asleep as best I could somehwere deep inside me; she lay curled there. It was like being with child, but reversed; the thing I carried in me grew slowly smaller and less alive" (226).

Do we all hide away our true selves when they are too painful to reveal to the world, and more importantly, ourselves? Is the darkness of our hearts something we try to put a veil over, deceiving ourselves that it's to hide from the "world", when really it's us we're trying to hide from? A piece of Scripture comes to my mind when thinking of this: "And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit" (2 Corinthians 3:18).

"We, who with unvelied faces"...Scripture tells us that it's when the veils are off, we "reflect the Lord's glory" and become "transformed into his likeness". It's when our true faces are before God that He truly blesses us, that His glory shines upon us, lighting up the inner darkness and shadows left by the veil. In a sense I can reflect upon Lewis' words "How can they meet us face to face till we have faces?" (294) I don't think God wishes to meet with a lie; He knows who He created us to be and it is that that He most wishes to be with--our true selves, no veils, no self-deceptions; just us laid bare before His immeasurable love and grace.

It's painful to see beneath that veil, to see the ugliness of our humanity. I think Orual exemplified this with the painful experience of her "complaint". Yet there is redemption to be found, like we discussed in class. Jesus redeems us from the veil, from the lies we built because of the shame of our ugliness, our selfishness. His Love is enough to bring out those "unveiled faces". We're called to live and be free, not let those things beneath the veil become "smaller, and less alive." It's time to take off the veil--"But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away" (2 Corinthians 3:16)