Life: A Hall of Mirrors
What you focus upon you
become.
You are more what you
'think you are' than you think you are. – Sufi AminThe first and the last lesson for one on the spiritual path of awakening is the cosmic law that consciousness is a mirror.
Like a mirror, we become what we reflect. The more constant the impression reflected, the deeper the imprint.
Hazrat Inayat Khan: “The different minds
in the world may be likened to various mirrors, capable of projecting
reflections, and reflecting all that falls upon them. No one, however great in
wisdom and power, can claim to be free from influences. It is like the mirror
claiming, 'I do not reflect all that fails upon me.' Only the difference
between the wise and the foolish is that the wise man turns his back to what he
must not reflect; the foolish not only reflects the undesirable thought, but
most proudly owns to it.”
Add to this the interaction between mirrors and we find we are living in a 'hall of mirrors'! Reflecting each other, we often think or feel something that is not really us.
Hazrat Inayat Khan: “The heart of man, as
the Sufis say, is a mirror. All that is reflected in this mirror is projected
upon other mirrors. When man has doubt in his heart that doubt is reflected
upon every heart with which he comes in contact; when he has faith that faith
is reflected in every heart.”
“When the mind is troubled it is confused, it cannot reflect anything. It is the stillness of mind that makes one capable of receiving impressions and of reflecting them. In Persian the mind is called a mirror. Everything in front of the mirror appears in it; but when this is taken away the mirror is clear. It does not remain. It remains in the mirror as long as the mirror is focused on it, and so it is with the mind.”
The way one
masters the 'confusion of self' caused by the ‘Hall
of Mirrors’ is by developing strength (not rigidity) and clarity of mind through
concentration. By this you can practice watching what is reflected in our own
mirror. When you can do this, you can learn to seperate the impressions that are you from those that are 'not you'.
Hazrat Inayat Khan: “This is the first
lesson and the most important lesson that you have to learn in Spiritual work;
this is the foundation of the whole of mysticism, that you are able to move
your thoughts about as you wish. When you wish to think of a rose, a lily must
not come in your thought; when you think of a horse, an elephant must not
appear before you; you must keep it away. This teaches you to create a thought
and hold it, and to expel every thought that you do not wish to have. In this
way you become the master of your thoughts; you train them, you control them;
and then you use them for your benefit.Two poems by Rumi worth contemplating that reveal the spiritual importance of the mirror nature of consciousness (from the book "Rumi Daylight" by Camille and Kabir Helmminski)...
Know the mirror of the heart is infinite.
Either the understanding falls silent,
or it leads you astray,
because the heart is with God,
or indeed the heart is He.
Those with mirror-like hearts
do not depnd on fragrance and color:
they behold Beauty in the moment.
They've cracked open the shell of knowledge
and raised the banner of the eye of certainty.
Thought is gone in a flsh of light.
