[1] The 'face' on the other side of the mirror

(a)

When you look in a mirror, what do you see? If you are true to your actual experience what you actually see reflected is the face of your body as it is in this moment in time. You do not see your 'self', as is commonly and wrongly said. What you actually see 'over there' in the mirror is the face that your body has now. And, furthermore, that reflected 'face' is on the other side of the mirror and is clearly different, if we check the facts, to this 'something' on this side of the mirror which is experiencing it. This is simply what the actual facts are when we check to see what the facts really actually are!

(b)

So the question is, what is this 'something' which is on this side of the mirror and which experiences that 'face' on the other side of the mirror? Given that this 'something' is that which experiences and is aware of everything we experience, it can be nothing other than what we actually are. It is our 'self', as opposed to that face on the other side of the mirror which isn't! That 'face', as said, is the face our body has at this particular moment in time. So let us examine what the characteristics of this 'self' on this side of the mirror actually are:

[2] The 'Unchanging faceless Open Awareness' on this side of the mirror

(c)

Well, firstly, this 'self' is a kind of 'openness' in which stuff happens, so to speak. It's a fact, when we look, that the shapes and colours of the various things we experience arise in or are presented to this 'openness'. Furthermore, this 'openness' is radically different to what we experience in that it is always the same unchanging 'openness', unlike the perceptual content of our lives (including thoughts and feelings) which are constantly changing. Also, if we check, this 'openness' (or 'self') has no shape or colour in itself unlike the stuff we experience. In other words, our 'self' is formless. This 'openness' is also clearly 'aware' (subject) unlike what we are aware of (object).

(d)

So, on this side of the mirror is our 'self', is what we really actually are when we check the facts of our experience. And this 'self', noting its characteristics, is: “Open, Formless, Unchanging, 'faceless' Awareness”. This is what we actually are! Nothing like that face we see in the mirror, which we have been deeply conditioned from a very early age to consider to be ourselves. This 'Open faceless Awareness or Self', being 'the Subject', therefore can never be reflected in any mirror unlike our body ('the object') which is very easily reflected in mirrors. [ Remembering certain types of movies, this doesn't mean that what you really are is a vampire, by the way! :-)) ]

[3] The 'changing' and 'Unchanging' are on different sides of the mirror

(e)

Exploring this further, when we were 5 years old and we looked in the mirror, the face we saw then is not the same as the face we see now. Although our mind has considerably matured since then (hopefully!), this 'self' (or 'Aware Openness') which experienced our face at 5 years old is the same 'self' that experiences our more mature face now. It's still the same 'self' (i.e. this Open, Formless, Unchanging, 'faceless' Awareness). Now when we are 85 years old (assuming we get that far!) and we look in the mirror, our face will have certainly changed. It'll be a bit 'crinkled' and perhaps in need of a little ironing! However, the 'self' on this side of the mirror will still be the same as it is now (Open, Formless, Unchanging, 'faceless' Awareness). Yes, our mind, memory and perhaps personality will have changed somewhat, but the essential 'self' that is not reflected in the mirror will still be ever the same (as said, Open, Formless, Unchanging, 'faceless' Awareness).

(f)

So from the above and the clear evidence of our own experience it's very obvious therefore that what is reflected and appears on the other side of the mirror is only too transient given its particular nature of change. That 'face' as well as the rest of the body had its beginning and youth and will have its end and decrepitude. This Open Unchanging 'faceless' Awareness that we truly 'Are' on this side of the mirror, however, as it is Unchanging is therefore Timeless and so, consequently, points towards our inherent Eternal nature beyond that only too mortal 'face' and body we see reflected in the mirror.

(g)

Also, it's clear that the body, generally speaking, is a type of functioning biological mechanism. Although a 'living' functionality the body is not really 'Alive' in the same sense as this 'Open Unchanging Awareness' is 'Alive'. The truth is that it is this very obvious 'Awareness' we all always are which is the real 'Life' within us. 'Life' in the true sense is not in the mechanism of the body-brain system. It is rather the 'Open Awareness' that is taking in these words you are reading right now! This is your and everyone else's real 'Life'. An error that is commonly made is to say that 'life' and death are opposites. This is incorrect. It's rather 'birth' and death, beginning and end, which are opposites. Life, i.e. this ever-present Awareness we all always are, just is. Always! Life, Awareness or Being is that which we can call the Noumenal. It does not belong to that category we call phenomena, the chief characteristic of which is change and transience. In fact, you could say the nature of this Awareness, Life or Being (that we really are in essence) is Immortality and Eternity itself.

[4] The 'face' (or vampire) that has come out of the other side of the mirror

(h)

Anyway, getting back to earth, we are all brought up conditioned to identify with that 'face' we see in the mirror. From an early age we are told that is what we are. As Douglas Harding pointed out, it's as though that 'face' we see in the mirror has come out of the mirror (during our conditioning) and been 'plastered', so to speak, onto the Open, Formless, Unchanging and 'faceless' Awareness we really truly are. And this 'face' is now deeply stuck in our mental idea of what we consider ourselves to be. In fact, it essentially obscures the Recognition of what it is we actually are in or at the centre of our being. We seem to have lost the ability to see, perceive or apperceive what it is we really Are.

(i)

The Sun is always shining, but if there are a lot of heavy clouds in the sky the Sun is not seen, although there is always a diffuse light no matter how dark the clouds may be. And, of course, under these conditions the weather is experienced as being a bit murky and unsatisfactory, generally speaking. This is how it is for many if not most of us. In a similar way, the 'cloud' of identification with the mental 'face' image stuck in our minds (taken from our body's face) obscures the 'Sun' of our true 'Self' and its generally warm sunshine and 'Light of Being and Consciousness', so to put it.

[5] The removal of the 'face' mask from this side of the mirror

(j)

So the question is how do we remove the 'mask' of this mental 'face' image that has come out of the mirror and become stuck over, as it were, this 'Open faceless Awareness' we are. First, we simply gain or 'trigger' the Recognition of what we truly Are by noticing the difference between the reflected 'face' of our body in the mirror and this 'Open Unchanging faceless Awareness' we actually are on this side of the mirror. We can call this 'Basic Recognition' or 'The Essential Recognition', as the Recognition of what we really truly Are is the most important and vital Recognition or Realisation of our lives.

(k)

Now, second, getting Recognition to stick and predominate requires we break down (or at least subvert) the conditioning of what we think our identity is, which is an essentially wrong identity that has constrained and limited us for the whole of our lives. The only practical way to do this is by frequent affirmation in the sense of 'noticing often' this 'Open faceless Awareness' that's always here whether we are looking in a mirror or not. By being more aware and attentive throughout our daily lives to this ever-present 'faceless Awareness' will inevitably weaken and expunge our wrong identity. This will lead in due course to the establishment of a deeper richer Recognition (or full Self-Realisation in some cases) as well as a contentment and general peace that satisfies our heart's inmost desire.