Mirrors in Mind

With Muinro
Part I.

Once upon a time, there was a prince, who lived at the edge of the world. And as was the
custom of the land, he was sent away from the capital to the summer palace, and there he
was taught by armies of scholars and artisans and musicians and farmers and engineers,
so that when it came time for him to assume the throne he would have the wisdom to
rule, and knowledge of all the workings and the doings of the people in the land
And while he had many teachers, highest esteemed amongst those teachers was the court
magician. But the magician never taught him anything. He would take the prince to the
lake at the very edge of the palace grounds, and sit there with the prince on folding chairs
at the lakes edge, telling tales far-off lands, and intrigues at court, and of his personal
adventures (where it seemed he was always single-handedly saving the kingdom from
perils within and without, to the enthusiastic public gratitude of the monarchy and the
citizens, and the even more enthusiastic private gratitude of limber noblewomen, saucy
chambermaids, and exotic foreign princesses)

Often, he would drink wine and become very merry, and then he would recite
astonishingly racy limericks involving buxom young peasant girls, and sing songs of the
most unbelievably scandalous nature.
One day, the prince asked the magician.
I have teachers for every subject known to humankind. What is it that you teach, master
magician? ---for sometimes I am not sure you teach anything at all.
The magician smiled and said Ah..that is because I teach..kingship
Finally, youre saying something important. Tell me magician, how am I to learn
kingship?
You must spare an hour or two from your studies every day, and come alone here to the
lake, and gaze into the water.
You must be joking magician I can see the lake very well already, weve been here
hundreds of times--- really, with nonsense like that I dont know why my father pays you
as much as he does.
ah. my princeyou must realize that this is no ordinary lake. It holds the greatest
magic in the world, magic that generations of kings and queens have used to protect and
preserve the kingdom
Really?
Really.
Intrigued, the prince asked What is the nature of this magic, and how can I use it?
That I cannot tell you for the laws magic insist that the secret of the lake cannot be
spoken ofit must be discovered. Come here by yourself, at a different time each day,
and look in the lake.
The prince then asked What can I see in this magic lake?
Whatever you want the magician replied.
Greatly excited now, the prince said Can I use the magic to see my kingdom in the
lake?
If thats what you wish, my prince. and with that, the magician smiled and walked off
to dinner, leaving the prince alone by the lake.
And as he was instructed, the prince came to the lake every day, at a different time. And
he watched, and he watched, and first he saw nothing. Only water, and he knew the
magician was mocking him.
When I am king I shall have that old rascal clapped in irons and leave him to stew in the
dungeons for a few years. How can my mother and father be so stupid as to give that
charlatan the run of the kingdom? he muttered while glaring into the water.

But, being prince, he was not one to give up a thing until he had tried it thoroughly, and
there came an evening when he came to the lake as the sun was setting. And it looked
like it was on fire, with sparks of gold, and copper, and red.
And as he sat and he watched he felt something flicker inside himself, and wondered
if perhaps the magician was not so crazy after all.
So the next day he came to the lake, and the day after that, and the day after that. And
every day he saw something new. He saw fish swimming in the lake, and how they
moved, and where they went. He saw the water-bugs that miraculously walked upon the
water without sinking. He saw the storks and the herons, and heard their calls to one
another as they walked up and down the shallows. He saw the plants that grew around
the lakeand the water-lilies that floated on its surface like little boats. And he saw how
as the daylight changed, the lake changed completely.
One day, he came close to the banks, and he saw himself reflected in the still waters of
the lake.
ah--- this is it! This is the magic of the lake! I am my kingdom!
Excitedly, he rushed back to the palace to tell the magician that he had learned the secret
of the lake--- but the magician was gone, off to the capital to assist the king in some
matter. His governess, and
For since the magicians absence, the cook seemed distracted and burned the roast, the
chambermaids were often tearful and the beds went unmade. And his governess became
sad and irritable and snapped at him for little reason.
But it did not matterfor he knew he had solved the mystery of the lake. And day after
day he would go there, and gaze at his reflectionknowing that he was his kingdom, and
that was that.
But, after a while, he began to miss the time when he was still seeking the magic of the
lake, and when he marveled at the birds, and the fish, and the water, and the insects, and
the plants, and the light.
And, in his kingdom, he began to grow lonely. Still, on and on he came to the lake, and
looked at himself. Until one day, when he realized that while he had been to the lake at
every hour of the day, he had never seen the lake at night.
So, under the light of the full moon, he picked his way down the path to the lake.
And in his haste, he did not see the magician, watching him quietly from the tree line at
the far side of the lake, as he had watched countless princes and princesses before, and
would watch countless others in the future.
And he came to the lake, and looked into its surface, and was bitterly unhappy to see only
himself again, reflected in the moonlight. And he wept. And as his tears fell in the lake,
broke the stillness of the water, and dissolved his reflection. And all at once, he could see
below the surface of the lake again, to the things that lived in the water.

And then he stopped crying. And looking further on the lake, he saw the sky reflected
there. And he saw the passage of the moon, and the passage of the sun. He saw stars
whirl and dance and shift in their wanderings across the sky. And he remembered the
words of the teachers who told him that many of the stars he saw had already burnt out
thousands of years ago, because their light took time to cross the reaches of space. And
that there were countless stars up there that he couldnt see yet because their light hadnt
reached him.
And in the bright moonlight, he saw the lake, and the things that lived in it. And he saw
himself, appearing and disappearing on the lakes surface, and with him he saw the moon,
and the stars, and the night skies reflection.
And then, he looked up, and he smiled.

Part II. Mental Reflections

mirror facing mirror
nowhere else

 Zen Master Ikkyu

Within us is a mechanism (in reality, many entwined mechanisms) that

hold our personality together and create a consistency for experience.
A story of who we are. We tell ourselves this story over and over
again, in words, in pictures, in feelings, and in our interpretations of the
world. This process is how we know who and what to be, and where to
be it.
We can call this story many things (and in truth, we all contain many
many stories too) identity, ego, personality, mind. Each of these
words are slightly different perspectives on something that defies
definition.
If our story is a reflection of *how* we do the infinite processes that
make up our identity, our relationships, our life, our world, what might
happen to your world, your life, your relationships, and your identity
when you begin changing your story?......
Take a few minutes, with a blank piece of paper and a pen, and write
down or sketch out the answers you get when you ask yourself the
following questions:
1) What would I like to change about who I am right now?
2) What would I look when I had made that change? How would I
be standing, what would I be wearing, what expression would be
on my face? How would I be feeling inside? How would I move?
3) What would be different in who I felt I was, when I had made that
change?
4) How would that affect my relationships to other people?
5) How would those changes alter my life?
6) What would the collective ripple effect of those changes be on
the lives of distant people, and the world at large?
Be specific and detailed with your answers, and give yourself time to
mull over the questions. Jotting down whatever comes to mind when
you think about the questions, even when it doesnt make sense at the
time, is often very helpful.
Part III.
Mirror , Mirror, on the Wall..
So, now for the fun part. Take a wall of your choice, and walk up to it.
In your mind, turn the wall into a full length mirror, like in a ballet
school.

Allow your reflection to take shape in the mirror. Nowusing the

answers you generated in part II. Let that reflection change gradually
until it matches your answers. Now, holding all those elements
together, match the movements and posture of your reflection in the
mirror. Nowwalk slowly back and forth in front of the mirror, as
slowly as you can precisely match the movements, stance, expression,
and walk of your new reflection.
Keep doing this for a few minutes, until you can feel comfortable doing
it. Then, continue with your day. Do this exercise at least once a day
but you can do it more times if you want to (in the 30 minutes before
you go to sleep at night is an especially good time to do this). At least
once a day, quickly run through the questions you asked yourself in
part II before doing the exercise. And see if there are any new or better
answers you give yourself.
Also, every time you notice yourself in a real-life mirror, take a splitsecond to superimpose your created image onto the mirrors surface.
Then, when you dont need to do it anymore, stop, forget about it, and
go on enjoying your life
Best Wishes ---- Muinro

THE END

Water Lillies by Claude Monet

Mirrors in Mind brought to you BUY Muinro ;)