Friday, January 24, 2020

Reflections on mirrors

reflections on  Windows and Mirrors

As we  stare into the night sky we see  stars.  They are millions of  miles away  and millions of years ago.  The light you see  started out so long ago that it’s source may no longer exist as we know it.  even the sunlight of our days takes 8 minutes to get here, however, the energy that produces  that light takes a couple years to  get from.the center of the sun to the  outer surface where we see it about 8 minutes later...so even sunlight we see is not  the sun as it is.  

What does this have to do with  Windows and  mirrors?  Well  to be quite frank we often say “seeing is believing” and yet if if it requires light to see we are never seeing what  exists in any given moment no matter. How fast the speed of light is.  Maybe that’s a really good. Argument for  praying and meditating with ones eyes closed.  Also maybe most the time we see what. We believe we are about to see  and believing is seeing instead.  

So now let’s move along to mirrors.   The objects we think of  as mirrors today—you know the silvered-glass we hang in our  houses and on our  cars, are not all that old historically.  In fact they were the  brain child of a German named Justice Liebig and their invention  is dated at 1835.  What in the world did  egotists do before then?  Is that?  I think. That’s. Why wealthy. Folks hired  lady’s servants/maids.  The lady of the house  had someone they trusted to ask “Does this  dress make my  hips look big?”  The  men of the house  were  able  to dodge that question only so often.  Anyway...did the  restricted availability of mirrors lead to less  self-judgment?  Did we worry less about aging?  Well  let’s grab some perspective on that too.  You  know that 110 years ago  the average life expectancy was still far less than 50 years old...so who needed a mirror?  We were always Looking good, right?  Another. Thing about mirrors that have come to make me wonder is do we use them to determine  what we look like to ourselves or what we look like to others?  How much  does this matter to each of us?  How well can a mirror tell us about  how our outsides match our insides?  The irony of mirrors is that  we can get an idea of what we looked like in them and we do that  so we think we can control what others think of our and how we look.  The reality is  people  look at their fellow human  beings  through so many sets of lenses that trying to control  that is  not the most efficient use of time.  If a woman prefers a tall brown haired  dancing partner there are no amount of times a short blonde can look in the mirror to determine how  to look good  for that person.  If a guy will only go out with a  Cubs fan then no mirror will change  the person looking. Into from bein a Cardinals’ fan.  Then  regardless of. What the mirror cannot reflect, there is always. The possibility it reflects things in a distorted manner.  This wouldn’t  be a problem, however, the mirror  has the reputation of reflecting things accurately or even  better magnified.  There’s a mirror I see on a fairly  regular  basis that have a slight  bend in it so from across a room the image is always distorted.  Oh and  your car maker will tell you objects may be closer than they appear—just saying.  
So stand and stare at yourself in the mirror if you insist... just know. You can only see your past and what lies behind you.  

Oh  before we  make a brief comparison. Between mirrors a and windows.. a bit more about the history of mirrors.  The  first. Mirrors were designed using  water placed in a dark container or just using a deep pool of water somewhere Now can’t you see this 7500 BC  when Fiona  sends her hubby  out to get dressed for a formal toga party and tells  Marcus to  go out to the pond to get dressed and  pick between a couple of. Tunics.  Then about. 30 minutes later Fiona. Goes out only to  find Marcus with a fishing rod in hand trying to catch the big one that got away when he was dressing for  breakfast?  

Well of course these first mirrors were.designed by  ancientEgyptians or so they say...because  they wrote down that they discovered. Them.  Then again Columbus discovered America where people. We’re waiting.for his ships when they came ashore.  I’m not sure we have. This discovery concept down quite in western.society.  

Windows

Well I talked about. These things earlier this week.  Windows.allow you. To see some of what exists outside right now and. Possibly  see what is oncoming if what we see is moving toward us or we are moving toward it.  However, windows only offer  a limited arc of vision even the windshield of an AMC Gremlin had a huge span and yet the driver’s view was not limitless.  


the point of all this?  If  knowing yourself is needed to get to peace and joy and having an accurate picture of what that. Looks like externally at given. Minute is critical....to you... you may have a bigger problem than you think.  

Maybe it’s a good. Idea to start with some internal silence and reflection in order to  see what we believe in instead of external means to believe in what we see?  Do we even  need mirrors...yes... but maybe we need the  kinds of.mirrors that friends can be.  Friends will tell you their honest. Views on  your thoughts if you invite them too and return that favor.  If you don’t like  what you see friends and sometimes family (they aren’t the same thing) will help you change the internal picture  you have of yourself and yourself indeed.  Just remember the thing about  friends and others is that you can wander around enough (just like wandering around in the “house of Mirrors”  to find those mirrors that  reflect just what you want to see.  Be aware that. There are. Many. Other. Perspectives of you and tthat you can’t control  many of those.  


I am certain I’ll have more to say about mirrors  in the future, however,for now that’s about enough.   I’ll wrap this up with a little  song about  mirrors and speaking of that... building block  number four and the chorus are  nearly forged for the weekend.  


Till then  know that your past  is in the mirror and your present and your possible futures exist within.  With that ..go out and create some peace and. Joy

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