Long ago in a small, far away village, there was place known as the House of 1000 Mirrors. A small, happy little dog learned of this place and decided to visit. When he arrived, he bounced happily up the stairs to the doorway of the house. He looked through the doorway with his ears lifted high and his tail wagging as fast as it could.

To his great surprise, he found himself staring at 1000 other happy little dogs with their tails wagging just as fast as his. He smiled a great smile, and was answered with 1000 great smiles just as warm and friendly. As he left the House, he thought to himself, “This is a wonderful place. I will come back and visit it often.”

In this same village, another little dog, who was not quite as happy as the first one, decided to visit the house. He slowly climbed the stairs and hung his head low as he looked into the door. When he saw the 1000 unfriendly looking dogs staring back at him, he growled at them and was horrified to see 1000 little dogs growling back at him. As he left, he thought to himself, “That is a horrible place, and I will never go back there again.”

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(moral; All the faces in the world are mirrors. What kind of reflections do you see in the faces of the people you meet?)

food for thought

so, does a dog see itself when looking in a mirror or do they see another dog looking back at them?

 

When you look in the mirror do you see yourself,

or a reflection of what is your shell?

 

It is the irony of life that this ‘I’ is so very strong in us and yet we cannot see it without the help of the mirror. In Greek Mythology Narcissus saw his reflection in the water and fell in love with it! It is only through the reflection in the mirror that we can get nearest to the self in us.

Long time ago mirrors were nothing but sheets of metal that were highly polished. Silver and copper were commonly used. The mirrors that we see today consist of aluminum layer lining the back of piece of glass. This layer is known as Tain.

Dr Bertamini said: “People tend not to understand that the location of the viewer matters in terms of what is visible in a mirror. A good example of this is what we call the Venus Effect, which relates to the many famous paintings of the goddess Venus, looking in a small mirror.

 

“If you were to look at these paintings, you would assume that Venus is admiring her own face, because you see her face in the mirror. Your viewpoint, however, is rather different from hers; if you can see her in the mirror then she would see you in the mirror.”

 

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Mirrors are very much of part of our beliefs and superstitions interwoven in our legends and literature. 

Do not break a mirror. It will be followed up with seven years of bad luck.

Perseus killed Medusa by using a mirrored shield so that he did not have to directly gaze at her fearsome form as he slew her. Had he done so he would have been turned into stone.

Tennyson’s Lady of Shallot frees herself from a curse when a mirror breaks.

The reflection of Count Dracula would never fall on a mirror, because he was a ghost.

The wicked Queen in Snow White used the mirror to tell her the truth about her beauty.

 

The greatest wonder of all about mirrors is that although the majority of animals do not know its virtues there are some who can recognize their own images. Among them are the elephants, great apes and dolphins.

Last but not least, does a mirror allow one to see the true self? Even with a mirror do you see what others see in you?

have a dog-gone good day

 

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