A MIRROR IN THE DESERT

The aphorism goes: “Be careful on how you see the world, because the world will look like you see it.” And the Persian poet Rumi illustrates this thought with a short story about a physically unattractive man who walked across the desert.

On his journey, the traveler saw a shining thing in the sand, and came close to pick it up, a piece of a some kind of dirty metal in his hands. He cleaned it with his fingers and it turned out to be a piece of a mirror. He looked at it, surprised and puzzled as he had never seen a mirror, and even though he was reflected in it, he did not recognize himself.

–How awful! –he claimed. How ugly! No wonder why they got rid of it!

And threw the mirror back down, and followed his way.

(…)

How often we see what we are in the other.

Many times the other is a mirror for us, and we are not being aware of it.

How often we project to the world what we think without realizing.

A short story that goes a long way.

Hugs and kisses,

Álex