You Are Not Who You Think You Are: Buddhism, Ego and Anxiety (or How to Wear Your Identity Like a Loose Garment)

This article is adapted from Lodro Rinzler’s new book “Take Back Your Mind: Buddhist Advice for Anxious Times”

“We’re all born naked and the rest is drag.”

— RuPaul Charles

RuPaul Charles has revolutionized drag culture and has made it accessible like no one else. He has a number of catchphrases he is fond of repeating including “We’re all born naked and the rest is drag,” which is perhaps the most accurate depiction of the Buddhist notion of samsara I have ever heard.

Samsara is a Sanskrit term which denotes the cycle of suffering we perpetuate in every single moment of our lives. It is how we constantly wrap ourselves in a cocoon made up of our passion, aggression, and ignorance, chasing after pleasure, and desperately trying to avoid pain. This tension between only wanting the good things in life and desperately fearing anything going wrong is where anxiety lives.

We are indeed born naked, free from anxiety and stress, but over time we are influenced by not-so-helpful stories offered up by our parents, our friends, our school teachers, celebrities — just about everyone. The stories may be:

• People who have my skin color are good people.
• People who do not have my skin color are scary or unsafe people.