Mirror, Mirror...
A randomly philosophic post. It's long, so I'll toss it behind a cut.
What do we see when we look into a mirror? Physics tells us that we see light waves, bounced back at us by the reflective silver backing behind the glass. But is what we see what the light tells us, or do we see something else? Do we see only what we want to see? Do we leave out details we don't want to see?
Or, like some believe, are we seeing into another world, where another us is looking back at that same moment? If it is another world, is it the same as this one, only backwards? Is it better? Is it worse? What would happen if we could walk through that pane of glass into the other world? Would we end up in a similar place as this, or, like Alice in her Wonderland, would the other side of that be something totally different, unique, and strange?
The reality is it doesn't matter. No matter how tempting it is to walk through, when we try, we hit that solid barrier, and are left with a slight pain in our nose, and a smudge on the glass. The world on the other side of the mirror will always be there, just out of reach of our body. It is our mind that must cross the invisible barrier.
But why stop there? An open mind can go anywhere! To another world, to many other worlds. Worlds of light, of darkness, of pain and of happiness. Worlds filled with unusual creatures, like furries; or perhaps with familiar races, like humans; or even something unique, and, thus far, unseen by our eyes and minds.
These worlds, we tend to think, are our own creations, but what if they're not? What if they were to really exist, and when we see them, or read about them, or write about them, these things did happen, and we were told about it in a way that seemed like our own thoughts. Most any writer can tell you that they've got a story that seemed to "write itself." What if these self-writing stories weren't fiction, but fact in some other universe?
Who is to say I am wrong? Who is to say I am right? No one. This is not science, nor is it religion. It is philosophy, plain and simple. Philosophy... and an open mind. And that's behind my mirror.
What do we see when we look into a mirror? Physics tells us that we see light waves, bounced back at us by the reflective silver backing behind the glass. But is what we see what the light tells us, or do we see something else? Do we see only what we want to see? Do we leave out details we don't want to see?
Or, like some believe, are we seeing into another world, where another us is looking back at that same moment? If it is another world, is it the same as this one, only backwards? Is it better? Is it worse? What would happen if we could walk through that pane of glass into the other world? Would we end up in a similar place as this, or, like Alice in her Wonderland, would the other side of that be something totally different, unique, and strange?
The reality is it doesn't matter. No matter how tempting it is to walk through, when we try, we hit that solid barrier, and are left with a slight pain in our nose, and a smudge on the glass. The world on the other side of the mirror will always be there, just out of reach of our body. It is our mind that must cross the invisible barrier.
But why stop there? An open mind can go anywhere! To another world, to many other worlds. Worlds of light, of darkness, of pain and of happiness. Worlds filled with unusual creatures, like furries; or perhaps with familiar races, like humans; or even something unique, and, thus far, unseen by our eyes and minds.
These worlds, we tend to think, are our own creations, but what if they're not? What if they were to really exist, and when we see them, or read about them, or write about them, these things did happen, and we were told about it in a way that seemed like our own thoughts. Most any writer can tell you that they've got a story that seemed to "write itself." What if these self-writing stories weren't fiction, but fact in some other universe?
Who is to say I am wrong? Who is to say I am right? No one. This is not science, nor is it religion. It is philosophy, plain and simple. Philosophy... and an open mind. And that's behind my mirror.