A Mirror Reflection of You
If you’ve been reading books and articles on self-development and spirituality over the years, I’m guessing you’ve heard this principle many times: your world is a mirror reflection of you.
On one level, this makes sense to us and is consistent with spiritual texts. The Bible tells us that “as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he” and “as within, so without.” The law of sowing and reaping also appears to confirm this notion that what we think - and what we do - is returned to us. What we give out comes back to us.
It’s not that difficult to grasp this idea when it comes to our own thoughts and actions. If we think positive, we tend to create positive results. If we are consumed with hatred, we tend to attract hatred. Thus, the outer world we live in is generated from our inner world. This may not be a precise science where we can predict outcomes with regularity, but we can understand how we may be setting the pattern in motion.
However, there is one area where this concept is very difficult to accept - and that is when we look at conduct of others that we find extremely annoying. We are then certain that this couldn’t be a mirror reflection of ourselves. I, too, struggled with this concept for many years.
The breakthrough for me was reading the book Loving What Is by Byron Katie. She takes you through a variety of simple exercises which she refers to as “The Work.” After reading this book, I saw the principle very clearly.
As an example, I always got very annoyed when someone lied to me. It didn’t happen often, but when it did, I would get angry. I consider myself to be very honest in dealing with others, so I couldn’t understand how this could be a mirror reflection of anything inside me. After all, I don’t lie to others.
In this book, Byron Katie points out that the mirror reflection is not always something that you are doing to others. It is often an activity you are doing to YOURSELF. Thus, in my example, I was observing the following:
“I don’t like when someone lies.”
This observation was a mirror reflection of: “I don’t like when I lie to MYSELF.” (and I had to admit there was truth in that statement). There were instances where I was not doing some of the things I wanted to do in my business. My heart said one thing, but I wasn’t following the advice. In essence, I was lying to myself.
Over the years, many readers of my newsletters have written to me, citing this example: they say that they don’t like when someone criticizes or puts down another person. They find this to be cruel - and they are certain they don’t engage in this behavior. In this example, “I don’t like when people criticize others” - perhaps it is a mirror reflection of the following:
“I don’t like when I criticize myself.”
Is there any truth in that statement? Most people will admit that there IS truth in that statement. Thus, you may not criticize others, but you are constantly criticizing yourself.
My point is that the mirror reflection can be a little subtle, but if you want to find it, you will. In some instances, you ARE engaging in the same conduct you identify in others. For example, you dislike when people are critical, but you, too, are critical of others. In other cases, it is a reflection of conduct you are doing to yourself, but not to others (such as criticizing yourself).
The mirror reflections include what you consider positive behavior and negative behavior. The world serves as your mirror and will reflect back to you all the feelings, judgments or thoughts you project. So, if you see love and joy all around you, that reflects what is inside of you.
Byron Katie has two web sites that I think you might find
interesting: http://www.thework.com and http://www.byronkatie.com . Each website has videos where she does “The Work” with many people and shows them how their world is a mirror reflection of their beliefs and judgments. She also shows them how to release some of the thoughts that are causing them to suffer.
Be open to the idea that your world is a mirror reflection of you. Do your own investigation. What you learn will be of tremendous value to you on your spiritual journey.
– Jeff Keller
© 2007