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
8 comments
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October 24, 2011 at 10:03 am
catlas
I love the story of the dogs looking at their reflections. That is really some food for thought today! /bows humbly to Zen 🙂
December 28, 2011 at 11:30 am
zendictive
bows (~_~) humble to you
I remember the days when I saw your smiling face on this blog
where did they go?
October 24, 2011 at 10:05 am
Jackie L. Robinson
Love this…the very first story of the dog looking at his reflections defines it so clearly. Could feel the emotions on both sides–the joy seen and returned, and the sadness deeply felt and reflected. We are what we choose to be. It’s all a matter of which lens we put on to greet the day. Thank you my friend. xo
October 31, 2011 at 9:07 am
zumpoems
Great post!
December 6, 2011 at 8:41 pm
Pocket Perspectives
I read the House of Mirrors story today with some 4th and 5th grade boys…they got it! I’ve been trying to help them get this idea through a variety of ways for the past few years…they really appreciated this story…thanks! (my work life would be sooo much easier if one of them in particular could get this idea….here’s hoping! )
December 13, 2011 at 8:58 pm
Pocket Perspectives
Hi Art….here are the pages I came up with and am using in my classroom…all of the kids…and I work with 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th graders…. really seem to be getting this idea. Several of the kids would be much happier if they develop the understanding in here…and I think they are. We’re now at the point of how to get back over to positive, once we’ve noticed we’re on the negative side… thanks so much for the story.
so….a draft of some pages and ideas…
http://pocketperspectives.wordpress.com/other/the-house-of-1000-mirrors/
January 4, 2012 at 6:49 pm
What do you want to see?…House of 1000 Mirrors | Pocket Perspectives
[…] from zendictive, posted this story, “Reflections of Self,” in December. I thought that it was such a powerful story that I decided to try to create some […]
January 4, 2012 at 7:06 pm
Pocket Perspectives
Hi Art…I decided to try to do an actual post about the House of 1000 mirrors…. I got a bit tangled up in explaining the various pages…but did as well as I could…. I find the ideas extremely helpful as I go into both positive and challenging interactions with others… but it sure was difficult to try to explain in the post….thank you so much for that story. kathy
btw…there is a response comment for you on reflections…about the “giving advice” idea