The Image In The Mirror: Two Possibilities

Life is full of mirrors. A reflective mirror shows us our body. From social mirrors, or the minds of others, we receive positive or negative feedback. In our personal and professional activities, we can view our behaviors.

Of all the mirrors available to us, only one allows us to see our true or essential self. The mirror of consciousness – a quiet mind, the inner mirror – is where we can glimpse our self undistorted by the numbers on a bathroom scale, the opinions of others, or our own self judgments.

Here are some quotes that may help us release the dysmorphic ideas we attach to our mirror images, and recognize our undefinable self or essence that “just is.”

Return To Yourself

“He allowed himself to be swayed by his conviction that human beings are not born once and for all on the day their mothers give birth to them, but that life obliges them over and over again to give birth to themselves.” ~ Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Love in the Time of Cholera

“The ability to observe without evaluating is the highest form of intelligence.” ~ Jiddu Krishnamurti

“A self is not something static, tied up in a pretty parcel and handed to the child, finished and complete. A self is always becoming.” ~ Madeleine L’Engle, A Circle of Quiet

“The greatest hazard of all, losing one’s self, can occur very quietly in the world, as if it were nothing at all. No other loss can occur so quietly; any other loss – an arm, a leg, five dollars, a wife, etc. – is sure to be noticed.” ~ Soren Kierkegaard, The Sickness Unto Death

“You are who you are when nobody’s watching.” ~ Stephen Fry

“Self-rejection is the greatest enemy of the spiritual life because it contradicts the sacred voice that calls us the “Beloved.” Being the Beloved constitutes the core truth of our existence.” ~ Henri J.M. Nouwen

“If you feel lost, disappointed, hesitant, or weak, return to yourself, to who you are, here and now and when you get there, you will discover yourself, like a lotus flower in full bloom, even in a muddy pond, beautiful and strong.” ~ Masaru Emoto, Secret Life of Water

“You are — your life, and nothing else.” ~ Jean-Paul Sartre, No Exit

“You are a function of what the whole universe is doing in the same way that a wave is a function of what the whole ocean is doing.” ~ Alan W. Watts

“The mirror confronts us with these two possibilities: we may acknowledge the source of the images – namely us, I, man, woman – as forever unknowable and unidentifiable, or we may reduce ourselves to the image in the mirror. Unfortunately, this second choice is the one we usually take;…by reducing ourselves to the image in the mirror, we have chosen to live in the mirror.” ~ Antonio T. De Nicholas, Fourth Dimensional Man

Photo credit: maf04