The Seventh Veil
Bonus - Thoughts 35 Years In The Making
Crushed Velvet Sofa Cushions
Unusual start, right?
Have you ever had one of those moments where you suddenly think “I’ll remember this moment forever” and then you actually do, for no reason whatsoever? I’m not talking about anything momentous like your first child being born or that time you punched a dolphin. Just a regular, nothing moment that you suddenly decide to commit to memory.
Years back I had one of these moments while half asleep with my head between two crushed velvet sofa cushions on the floor of a relatives house vaguely listening to the adults talking. That however, is not what this post is about.
What is it about, is a little known film from 1945 and how it relates to the world around us. Let’s dig in and see where we end up.
1984ish
Back in the mid to late 80’s I was wandering around in my parents house one day, probably trying to avoid going to bed. I would have been around 14 years old I imagine. As I walked into the lounge there was an old black and white film on, not something I would have ever taken notice of usually. However, at the exact moment I walked in, this voice came forth like some kind of spell from the TV screen. Even better than the voice, was what it said. I was absolutely spellbound immediately. The combination of the voice and the content of that 5 or 6 sentences dug into my brain and stayed there. It’s something that has stayed with me for 35 years and will probably stay with me for another 35 years (assuming we survive that long).
Enough with the teasing though, what was actually said? The movie was called “The Seventh Veil” and here’s the exact part of the movie I heard, direct from the script;
“You know what staple says, the human mind is like Salome at the beginning of her dance.
Hidden from the outside world by seven veils. Veils of reserve, shyness, fear. Now with friends, the average person will drop first one veil, then another, maybe three of four altogether.
With a lover, she will take off five, or even the sixth, but never the seventh.
Never you see, the human mind likes to cover its nakedness too and keep its private thoughts to itself.
Salome drops her seventh veil of her own free will but you never get the human mind to do that.”
~Herbert Lom (Dr Larsen) “The Seventh Veil”
If you want to hear it in the actors voice (hint: you definitely do) then here’s a link direct to it. It should open at the exact start of the line, but if it doesn’t then skip to around the 5m mark.
This thought has managed to worm its way through my brain for the last 35 years, digging in and growing. Like a story of a drunken night out that gets more interesting with every new telling, this idea has grown in my brain over the years, without me actually having bothered to watch the rest of the movie, ever.
I’ve always loved language, clever or coarse. A good pun always raises a giggle (even if no one else gets it) and if anyone wants a good double entendre then I’ll definitely give them one.
What though, have these particular lines from an obscure movie from 1945, randomly heard during the late 1980’s and memorised - for no apparent reason - for 35 years got to do with anything at all?
The Veils
The idea of the seven veils is actually relatively simple, though not something you would necessarily think of without it being pointed out. Let’s imagine that we meet for the first time, the first veil of secrecy would be anything that I can immediately discern about you, without you having even told me anything.
I could perhaps see that you are a white male of approximately 20-30 years of age, let’s say 5’8’’ tall. From this I may make an assumption that you probably don’t play basketball. This is obvious stuff, not private or secret, something you can’t hide.
The second veil of secrecy could be your name and your actual age, the third could be things like your address and phone number. Not things that are obvious just by looking at you, but things that you would be generally willing to share to almost anyone.
By the time you think of veils four and five, we are talking about much more private details. Perhaps the number of sexual encounters you’ve had, details of the times you were arrested for punching dolphins or the full story of that time you trusted that fart on the Underground at Piccadilly Circus and had to throw your pants out of the KFC toilet window. For example. This is the kind of thing you would only ever trust to a good friend or possibly a partner (maybe not the pants thing).
Once we get to the sixth veil of secrecy, we are talking about extremely private information or dark secrets. Things that you will almost certainly never share with anyone. Your tearful heartbreaking failures, your secret loves, the fact that you once bought a Westlife CD. That kind of thing.
So what is behind the Seventh Veil? These are the random, momentary thoughts you have that you would never share with anyone at all. That split second thought when someone who’s been annoying you ties their shoelaces in front of a busy road, and for a split second you think about … well you get the point.
Whats this got to do with the world at large today?
Lifting The Veil
These terrible, deeply personal and private thoughts are not a true reflection of our personalities. They are brief flickers of darkness or deviancy that are never meant to be shared. They are meant for us and us alone.
However, technology has us fooled. Thanks to the magic of our smart phones and tablets, we can indulge our terrible thoughts and deviancy in ‘privacy’. We can sit alone and look at deviant sexual practices, watch videos of people actually kicking friends into a busy road or - if we are truly truly sick - find tickets to a Westlife reunion gig.
Our brains tell us that we are doing all of this in private, with no witnesses but that isn’t actually true. Anyone who has watched the Snowden movie will know that all of our devices can be hacked, all of our data is available for use by the intelligence agencies and that nothing we do is actually private. If you haven’t watched Snowden yet, I highly recommend you do.
I can hear you asking though, why would the Government be interested in what I’m looking at on the internet? It’s a great question, and the answer is that they probably aren’t interested in you at all. However, all of our leaders and ministers also have these smart phones, all of them (believe it or not) are actual real people with secrets, foibles, affairs and (maybe) recordings of themselves having sexual relations with a farmyard animal dressed as Herman Munster.
What would a compromised politician do to protect their most secret thoughts and ideas from being made public? What would you do to hide your darkest most embarrassing secrets?
Next time you see a politician make a statement that entirely contradicts their apparently long held beliefs, or back away from a pre-election promise, or start to enforce damaging rules that are deeply unpopular - seemingly against their re-election chances, consider why they are doing it.
By the time someone gets to the top of political office, they will almost certainly owe a lot of people a lot of favours. They will have secrets, have made private deals and will certainly have some personal history that would be damaging to their standing if made public. Are they just power mad, win-at-all-costs, immoral unfeeling sociopaths?
Or does someone know something about that them they don’t want to become public?
Has someone pierced the Seventh Veil?
~Z.