The Symbolism of the Mirror
Introduction
For such a simple object, the Mirror is an exceptionally complex symbol.
The symbol only partly demonstrates
what it is trying to symbolically convey.
For it tries to describe the link between
the underlying spiritual realm
and the apparent physical world.
In other words what does this ‘quantum’ sandwich consist of
and how does it work?
We will try to keep this video short, as the ideas are mind boggling.
But we will do our best to explain.
So hold on tight because this is going to be a helluva ride.
In this explanation, we will be using an earth centric view of space.
C. S. Lewis - The Discarded Image
The spatial order is the opposite of the spiritual,
and the material cosmos mirrors,
but reverses the reality, so that what is truly the rim
seems to us the hub ...
A few astonishing lines from the Paradiso
stamp this on the mind forever.
There Dante sees God as a point of light.
Seven concentric rings of light revolve about that point,
and that which is smallest and nearest to it
has the swiftest movement.
This is the Intelligence of the Primum Mobile,
superior to the rest in love and knowledge [wisdom].
The universe is thus, when our minds are sufficiently freed from the senses, turned inside out.
The spiritual is described by the Cosmic egg,
one Egg for each Mind.
And Lewis describes a complete reversal,
such that the entire physical or material realm,
becomes the shell of that cosmic egg
as perceived from the inside of the Egg.
And the Signs of the Zodiac - the stars and the planets of the astronomical realm,
which from the earth [the earth centric model] look like a band round the earth.
In the ‘Mirror’ actually become the ring nearest the hub
[and are the Mayor Intelligences].
whereas astronomically, of course,
all the constellations surround the earth.
Thomas Traherne - Shadows in the Water
Thus did I by the water’s brink
Another world beneath me think
And while the lofty spacious skies
Reversed there abused mine eyes
I fancied other feet Came mine to touch and meet;
As by some puddle I did play
Another world within it lay.
Beneath the water people drowned
Yet with another heaven crowned
In spacious regions seemed to go
Freely moving to and fro
In bright and open space
I saw their very face
Eyes, hands and feet they had like mine
Another sun did with them shine
‘Twas strange that people there should walk
And yet I could not hear them talk
That through a little watery chink
Which one dry ox or horse might drink
We other worlds should see
Yet not admitted be
And other confines there behold
Of light and darkness, heat and cold
I called them oft, but called in vain
No speeches we could entertain
Yet did I there expect to find Some other world, to please my mind
I plainly saw by these
A new antipodes
Whom, though they were so plainly seen
A film kept off that stood between
By walking Men’s reversed Feet
I chanc’d another world to meet
Tho’ it did not to view exceed
A Phantom, ‘tis a world indeed
Where Skies beneath us shine
And Earth by Art Divine
Another face presents below
Where People’s feet against Ours go
But all laws are reversible
But the laws of the universe remain the same
in this upside down back to front realm
And the best way to show this is to quote,
and we will quote in full using his words exactly
William James Sidis - The animate and the inanimate
Chapter 2 - Reversible Laws
Now we shall attempt to find out
what are the physical laws which subsist in this "reverse universe."
To start with the simple laws of mechanics,
we have it given in the real universe that
a body retains its velocity
unless there is some external force to change that velocity.
Now,
as there can be no change of velocity in the reverse universe
without a corresponding change of the reverse velocity in the real universe,
and since all forces in both universes are respectively equal,
it follows that this same law of motion
applies also in the reverse universe.
In other words,
the law of inertia is unchanged by the reversal in time,
and is therefore what we may call a reversible physical law.
The second law of motion
is that change of momentum is proportional to force impressed.
Now, following the reasoning
which we have already followed in the case of accelerations,
the rate of change of momentum
remains unchanged in our reverse universe.
Furthermore, we have already seen
that, in the reverse universe,
the force impressed on a body remains unchanged.
Hence it follows that the second law of motion
subsists in the reverse universe, and is therefore reversible.
The third law of motion is that to every action (force)
there is also an equal and opposite reaction.
This law is also obviously reversible,
since in the reverse universe
neither the magnitude nor the direction of forces is altered.
Energy being the same in the reverse as in the real universe,
it similarly follows that the law of the conservation of energy
holds in the reverse universe, and is therefore reversible in time.
The same holds true of the law of the conservation of matter.
One of the principal methods
by which motion can be changed is by impact.
An impact may be elastic or inelastic.
In the case of the very smallest particles of matter,
that kind of collision only is possible which loses no energy,
but in which the kinetic energy remains the same as before,
that is to say, an elastic collision;
for, in the case of ultimate particles,
none of the original energy can be changed
into internal motion of the particles.
Hence only elastic collision is possible
in the case of ultimate particles;
and it is not difficult to show that, in the case of elastic collision,
the reversed final velocities of the same masses will cause,
as an effect of the impact,
the reversed initial velocities.
Now, since all the matter is made up of these particles,
whatever they may be,
and therefore all collisions of bodies of matter
are made up of countless elastic collisions of ultimate particles,
it follows that, in the reverse universe,
where impact occurs,
all particles of matter follow the same course
as they would in the real universe under the same initial conditions.
Hence the laws of impact,
when brought down to ultimate particles,
are perfectly reversible and also remain unaltered
in the reverse universe.
The various laws of attraction and repulsion
that are found to subsist in the objective universe,
such as gravitation, electrical and magnetic attraction and repulsion, etc.,
dealing as they do with the directions of forces,
must also remain unchanged in the reverse universe.
Similarly with many other general physical laws.
Even the laws of reflection and refraction of light
will remain unaltered in the reverse universe,
and are therefore perfectly reversible.
The Quantum sandwich
But this leaves us with a real conundrum,
both slices of ‘bread’ in this quantum sandwich
certainly mirror each other in a most peculiar way.
But how?
If you prefer ‘What’ is the jam that keeps them together?
Mullā “al-Musin” “al-Fay” al-Kāshānī
was an Iranian Twelver Shi'i Muslim,
a mystic, a poet, a philosopher,
and a muhaddith living in the 1600s.
Muhsin Fayz Kashani - Kalimat Maknuna
[translated by Henry Corbin and Nancy Pearson]
There is no existent thing,
whether in the intelligible world or in the sensory world,
whose image is not recorded in this intermediate universe...........
.... this is an immense world,
so vast that it contains
not only the forms of the immaterial substances above it,
but also the material realities below it.
It is the intermediary,
the medium through which the connection is effected.
The senses and sensory perceptions rise towards it,
as the supersensory realities descend towards it.
From the place it occupies
it continues to gather in the fruits of each thing ...
This is the world
in which the interrogation of the tomb takes place,
with its delights and its torments;
and it is in this intermediate world
that the faithful believer
can visit those near to him after death.
But we don’t talk about the jam in a quantum sandwich in mysticism.
This intermediate realm is ‘the mirror’,
however an imperfect symbol it is.
Rabindranath Tagore - from On the Sick bed
Can you polish your mysterious mirror
And leave no blemish? ...
When the gates of heaven open and shut
Are you capable of keeping to the role of the female?
When your discernment penetrates the four quarters
Are you capable of not knowing anything?
It gives them life yet claims no possession;
It benefits them yet exacts no gratitude;
It is the steward yet exercises no authority
Such is called the mysterious virtue.
Yung-Chia Ta-Shih
When the absolute Reality is known,
it is seen to be without any individual selves,
and devoid of any objective forms;
All past [mental and physical] actions which lead to hell
are instantly wiped away.
After the Awakening, there is only vast Emptiness;
this vast universe of forms ceases to exist
Here, one sees neither sin nor bliss,
neither loss nor gain.
In the midst of the eternal Serenity, no questions arise;
The dust of ignorance which has accumulated
on the unpolished mirror for ages,
Is now, and forever,
cleared away
in the vision
of Truth.