Thank you Afshani for sharing this interesting concept. I like to expand a bit about it. Of course, mirrors is just a concept and not “the real thing” but it is very useful. We need words and concept to communicate so here we are trying to make the best of the impossible, that is explaining the Mystery.
I like to begin with the start of life in this physical body. As a little baby you get defined by the closeness and body of your mother. She is there for you and by feeling her body you feel safe and confirmed or validated by your mother’s presence. By feeling her body you are mirrored and you get a sense of identity and that things are ok. But you are totally dependent on the mirror to feel safe. Then step by step you develop a sense of self-existence, a ME that is the center of your life. This me is dependent on many things, like relationships and concepts of what I am and how the world is. Thus we get mirrored by the world of objects and persons and we believe that the mirror and the object it contains are real. Through experience we learn to relay more and more on our own resources and experiences a make our way through the world. When we have gathered enough experiences, learnt enough, we start to see the passing nature of experiences. We long for good experiences and want to avoid the unpleasant. But we get disappointed when we see that we cannot keep the good and avoid the bad. We start to doubt our view of ourselves and the world. What is true happiness? Who am I, really? Questions like that keep coming when we get disillusioned and tired of struggling to get somewhere and to be someone. We start do question what we have learnt from other people and books. Our questions get more and more focused. Not so much what other people say is right or wrong but “What is right for ME, what makes ME happy, what is in it for ME?
The role of the mirror changes. It is like we don’t believe its content. It becomes more and more empty. When we look inside we experience the same thing. The previous belief in thoughts, emotions, and experiences becomes more and more transient. The space inside increases and at some point we discover that there is something there that does not come and go. Something that is there before, during, and after the thoughts. It is not dependent on the thoughts and it does not change. It is just there.
On the journey of exploring yourself and the world you will probably come across several people who have find this emptiness both inside and outside and discovered that it is one whole. When you meet such a person you can feel totally accepted. This person does not need anything from you and does not want you to be something or someone. She/he mirrors to you that you are ok just as you are, you don’t have to do anything or become anything. You can rest in this emptiness and acceptance. The mirror is empty, and if you go even deeper, never did exist. You have always been like this, empty, complete, and loved – yes even Love itself. This can both feel strange and at the same time natural and a relief. When this experience is new there is naturally mental activity going on trying to explain or grab the experience to make an object of it like the usual activity of the mind. By experience you discover that the experience cannot be explained or kept. It is just there and we will get used to it, the ME is dissolved and this Presence becomes our natural identity. I am That! So no inner mirror, no outer mirror, just one whole. This wholeness both contains the unchangeable and the changing world of experiences. Experiences come and go like the waves of the sea but the sea is affected by this.
In my work as a therapist this concept of mirroring is also useful. When a couple come to us we often use an exercise called mirroring when one is talking and the other is just there listening and mirroring back what she/he heard. This has a very healing effect. Being listened to without being interrupted is a rare thing for some people.
But back to your beautiful description of your mirrors. Yes it is true that we need persons to mirror us. When the mirroring is true, there is only emptiness and acceptance. Even the concept of mirrors start to fade and we are left with ourselves. No questions, no ideas, just Life itself.
I am a great fan of Rumi. He explains it so beautifully. In this story about starting to live from the Heart, the silent life in everything. This Heart or Love takes over everything and there is no more a personal heart. My heart becomes the whole world and the whole world is me. But there is no ME in the old sense, no center or limited existence. I also like how Rumi explains that you cannot find duality, and the effort to grab it like the two bottles, is not possible. Later even perception gets permeated by the wholeness. Your Heart looks through your eyes and you only see the Beloved, wherever you look.
Like in one of my tweets:
Beloved: Overflowing of love. Wordless, wanting nothing. Lost all control. I behold Your face, shining everywhere. No desires, just This.
Love,
Satyananda
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Mirrors
My dear Satyananda
There is a story by Rumi that explains well my mirrors!
Once upon a time, there was a master of glass making. One day he asked his squint-eye student to bring a bottle from a tent nearby. The student went to the tent and as he was squint, he saw two bottles lying down there! He came back to his master and asked him which bottle do you mean? The master said there is only one! So the student went back to the tent and again he saw two bottles. He came back to his master. Dear master there are two bottles which one I should bring for you? These conversations repeated over and over. The master fed up and ordered the student; Break one of them and bring the other one! The student went to the tent and broke the bottle, so both bottles vanished!
The eyes of student are the eyes of mind, the eyes of the master is the eyes of heart. We feel the oneness of mirrors yet not seeing it!
Love and gratitude,
Afshin
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My dear Satyanada
Your words are like the mirror to look at myself, but… I see no details, no colors, nothing to remember and nothing to say! How weird!
For me the world was the only mirror to look at myself, full of details, full of colors, a lot to remember and a lot to say.
Now! When I look… I love both mirrors, how wonderful.
Thank you dear Satyanada,
Love,
Afshin