The Soul's Mirror

Uncovering who we really are takes patience and courage

Every day I check my reflection in the mirror several times, brushing my hair or applying some lipstick. I pick out clothes that I hope will project the image of an interesting and current woman. I watch what I eat and work out so that I'll be comfortable with the look of my body. I am not unusual. All over the city and nation many people repeat these kinds of rituals. People in our time are concerned and at times obsessed with the image we project. Bestselling books include titles such as The Hipster Handbook or What Not to Wear. Western culture accepts the legitimacy of putting time and energy into our appearance, so it can be an accurate reflection of who we think we are.

But who are we?

When we ask this question from a spiritual perspective, our outward appearance drops in significance and everything that we think, say and do rises in importance. Our words and deeds can be seen as the reflection of our deepest self. The mystical traditions of the world's religions ask each of us to be aware of this, and offer observation and meditation as important tools in our spiritual journey.

Rabbi Michael Berg, in his book The Way, discusses the importance of introspection and meditation as spiritual tools of the Kabbalah. "Meditation takes us deep inside ourselves for an encounter with the true purpose of our lives, and what we must do to accomplish that purpose both now and in the years to come." There are steps preceding meditation. "The first step is an unflinching self-assessment. Before we can understand any of the complex issues that meditation can help to clarify, we must make a sincere effort to understand ourselves."

Understanding through self-observation is also stressed by Anthony de Mello. He was a Jesuit priest who wrote and lectured widely. In his book Awareness, de Mello asserts, "Most people, even though they don't know it, are asleep. They're born asleep, they live asleep, they marry in their sleep, they breed children in their sleep, they die in their sleep without ever waking up. They never understand the loveliness and the beauty of this thing that we call human existence." He states, "There's nothing so delightful as being aware. Would you rather live in darkness? Would you rather act and not be aware of your actions, talk and not be aware of your words?" If you want to wake up, he says, "If you're ready to listen and if you're ready to be challenged, there's one thing that you can do, but no one can help you. What is this most important thing of all? It's called self-observation. Self-observation means watching‹observing whatever is going on in you and around you as if it were happening to someone else."

We may make some surprising discoveries when we observe ourselves. In I Am That, Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, a 20th-century Hindu mystic, reminds us of the contradictions in the way we live. "You do and undo at every step. You want peace, love, happiness and work hard to create pain, hatred and war. You want longevity and overeat, you want friendship and exploit. See your net as made of such contradictions and remove them‹your seeing them will make them go." He says that the "primary purpose of meditation is to become conscious of, and familiar with, our inner life." This "deeply affects our character. We are slaves to what we do not know; of what we know we are masters."

This thread is picked up in the Buddhist tradition, a place where one most expects to find discussion of observation and meditation. In The Places That Scare You, Pema Chodron talks about the value and difficulty of learning to stay present with ourselves. "In meditation we discover our inherent restlessness. Sometimes we get up and leave. Sometimes we sit there but our bodies wiggle and squirm and our minds go far away. This can be so uncomfortable that we feel it's impossible to stay. Yet this feeling can teach us not just about ourselves, but also about what it is to be human. All of us derive security and comfort from the imaginary world of memories and fantasies and plans. We really don't want to stay with the nakedness of our present experience. It goes against the grain to stay present."

We are challenged to stay present and be honest by the 13th-century Sufi mystic, poet and teacher, Melvlana Jalaluddin Rumi. In his introduction to a collection entitled The Soul of Rumi, English translator Coleman Barks says, "Rumi's poetry means to take us beyond the personal into the mystery that is here, the source of dream vision, the spring of longing, into a presence that asks the question, ŒWho am I?' Ramana Maharshi and Rumi would agree: the joy of being human is in uncovering the core we already are, the treasure buried in the ruin."

The world's great spiritual teachings remind me that the reflection in the mirror tells me nothing about who I really am. When I pay attention to what I'm thinking, saying and doing throughout the day, I can get a glimpse of my Self.

You're from a country beyond this universe,
yet your best guess is
you're made of earth and ashes.

You engrave this physical image everywhere
as a sign that you've forgotten
where you're from!
-RUMI

Copyright @copy; 2003 by Nancy Hirsch. You can contact Nancy at njh02@earthlink.net.