Musings on Reflections

Having some 'fun' on Trade Me tonight with a rather zealous young man of the Catholic faith. Unfortunately he is judgemental, accusatory and therefore he tends to rub people up the wrong way.... yeah OK, that is an understatement and a half, he's a right royal, loud mouthed, pain in the butt! But still he very firmly believes what he believes! What was amusing was that everything he accused someone of being was EXACTLY what he was doing to them in that very post! It was such a case of him looking at a mirror (or rather, seeing a reflection of himself in someone else) I confess I was rather amused by it. This of course got me thinking about the whole mirroring thing, the relections of ourselves we see in others, the saying "you teach best what you most need to learn" etc and the whole reflection of God part.

Using others, or even animals, as a mirror to ourselves can be a bit of a wake up call! It can show not a very pretty picture at times, but a relatively honest way of doing things... What bugs you most about someone? That is likely to be your issue too! Altho of course, don't be fooled, the polar opposite can actually be the same "issue", don't think you've gotten off that lightly! It's a bit like the bible quote, "And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?" Matthew 7:3. (yeah OK, I chucked that up to the young buck on Trade Me too, didn't help, I'm just satan quoting things I don't know about!) but it's true in this respect, we see the tiniest flaw in another but we don't see the glaringly obvious in ourselves.

So people or animals... both very honest reflections of ourselves if we have to courage to look into those mirrors with eyes open!

Of course outside of that aspect we are also a reflection of God, and better we are a reflector of God. I touched on this in an earlier post, the fact that without us to reflect God, it would be a nameless, voiceless energy force. It's a bit like that zen saying, if a tree falls in a forest with no one there to hear it, does it make a sound? Common sense says "of course it does!" but if no ear witnesses that sound, does that sound exist? (We are talking in more of a philosophical thing hear than a purely physical thing!) Like ET says, if everything in the world was blue, blue wouldn't exist... it needs something that is NOT blue for "blue" to be blue. So it is with God, without us to witness that God Force in creation, it would be but an energy, with us witnessing it, it is more than that. And we can only truly witness it because we are self aware (God bless the ego!) Animals are more in tune with the Source right? To them "we are One" is the obvious truth, so for THEM, the whole world is blue, they have nothing to compare the One too because that is all they see, therefore, God as the Whole, experiences what they experience but is not self aware through them. Because we see ourselves as separate, as an individual part of that Whole we can make the comparison, we can "see" God and when WE see God, God sees Itself through our eyes and is self aware just as we are. When that happens of course we both expand.

Two good and short quotes by Rumi on mirrors...

"If you are irritated by every rub, how will you be polished?"

"Criticism polishes my mirror"

Don't be afraid to be a mirror, but allow yourself to reflect the softer, Loving side of people too, do not be a judgemental, egoic mirror seeking to teach people a lesson by only reflecting their negatives, and don't be afraid to use others as your mirror. Look honestly and make your choice to do something about what you see there if necessary. Growth and change are not bad thnigs! And always strive to be the most complete reflection and reflector of God, anything less would be the 'sin' of separation.