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Mirrors in Magic

Mirrors have a historical starring role in magic shows. Illusionists use them to create their spellbinding, entertaining deceptions, making things like an elephant disappear or levitate. Of course, all but the more basic of tricks are carefully guarded secrets. What fun is a magic trick if you already know how it is done? Don’t worry. I’m not going to give away much. Mostly because I can’t! Instead, I’ll just share a brief introduction of mirrors in magic.

Mirrors can strategically bounce light in different directions and make one think one is seeing what he or she isn’t. Mirrors can also conceal what is hidden behind them. Add controlled light to the mix, and you have the ability to fool the eye and convince the mind of all kinds of things.

Magicians aren’t the only…um…magicians who use mirrors. Mirrors are used in theatre and film (and increasingly in art) for special effects as well. To get a taste of what they can do, check out this brief video introducing mirror magic and this link of surprising mirror art.

If you do want to know more about how a couple of traditional mirror tricks were done (and are still done), check out this cool link or this one.

As far as Mirror Spiritus is concerned, it’s all light and mirrors. The world we see around us, the life we live, is the grandest illusion of all.

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Nichiren Daishonin

“A mind now clouded by the illusions of the innate darkness of life is like a tarnished mirror, but when polished, it is sure to become like a clear mirror, reflecting the essential nature of phenomena and the true aspect of reality.”

~Nichiren Daishonin

 

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Day 19: The Right Track

An ongoing personal exploration of Divine Guidance and distinguishing between the voice of fear and the voice of love reflecting on the article, How to Distinguish Between Divine Guidance and Fear/Ego/Imagination, on Sir Froggie’s PositiveNews Network .

Today’s pairing is:

Divine Guidance is always respectful, even when dealing with a truthful situation
that may need your attention to change.
Ego is disrespectful…to yourself, others and even to God but tries to convince you otherwise.

I guess that voice that says, “Stop it, you idiot! What the f*&$ are you doing?” isn’t Divine guidance, then? Joking aside, and as I’ve said before, I don’t think Divine guidance speaks to us in words, though it can certainly influence them. I think Divine guidance is more apt to use the emotional body to get its message across though. It can show us how we have misaligned and stepped out of integrity by bringing into our awareness those subtle or even not so subtle turns in the gut. We know we are misinterpreting reality somehow…not facing up to something…because we just don’t feel at peace…we know we’re not on the right track.

Everything that ego stirs up…confusion, frustration, attachment…these uncomfortable things become the sign posts that we’ve been on the wrong track. It’s a built-in mechanism within the illusion to let us know when we are identifying too strongly with illusion: suffering. There is no accusation. There is no judgment. There is just an increased feeling of separation. If we can just train ourselves to see it, trust it, and instantly realign, we’re back on track. Easier said than done, perhaps. But like anything, it just takes practice.

Once we wake up to the message, then we can ask for more information. Maybe this is the trickier bit. The mind will want to interpret the message and bend it to its preconceptions and habits. It will want to blame someone that we haven’t yet been able to change what needs changing. It will play its usual role. Maybe the best approach, at this point, is a prayer:

I know something must change, but I don’t know what or how. Please guide me to take the next step.