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Reflection and Connection

By Laura Turlington
It never ceases to amaze me how nature, animals, humans, and everything around us are all perfect mirrors
to reflect our purpose. Every object, every person, and every interaction is a map for the transformation of
our consciousness, a guide to aid us on our personal path of evolution, and a vehicle to connect us to our
true essence.
A map for the working of these mirrors became clear during a recent full-moon eclipse. During a lunar
eclipse, we observe the earth’s shadow, cast from light of the sun, on the surface of the moon. When this
happens, it seems as though the moon disappears since we can only see the moon when the sun’s light re-
flects off its surface. It is interesting to notice that while the sun radiates its light out into the universe in all
directions, the universe appears dark. We can only see the effect of the sun’s light when it falls on some-
thing: the earth; the moon; or any other number of earthly or celestial bodies. As a matter of fact, we can only
see the sun itself when its light reflects off of the surface of our retinas (please do not look directly into the
sun with bare eyes!) The sun, the energy source of our solar system, can only be perceived in connection with
some material that reflects its light. The sun and the way we perceive its presence is a map to show us the
significance of our connection with other forms of matter. For it is only in our connection with and reflection
in everything around us that we can see ourselves.
We humans are like the sun: we radiate our essence out into the world in all directions. We are an energy
source in the same way that the sun is. When we are babies, we radiate our true nature outward without
hesitation. Along the way of our life, we learn to shield our true self, to hold back what we radiate because
we have had experiences where the reaction from others to our radiating nature does not match the quali-
ties of what we are projecting. Having had this experience, we learn to block our radiating nature and reflect-
ing surface because we interpret this miss-match of qualities as unsafe or wrong. As a result of this interpre-
tation, we adapt and obscure our reflecting surface, or mirror, for protection or to keep from feeling wrong. It
is in this way that the mirror we use to see ourselves and the mirrors that others use to see us become ob-
scure. Unaware of these interpretations, we interact in the world with ourselves and with others in a way that
directly matches the quality of our mirror, and how much we have agreed to obscure its surface.
How do we create less-obscured mirrors to engage the world? By cleaning these mirrors. How do we clean
these mirrors? By seeing and understanding how and why we have affected that mirror in the first place.
When we see our beliefs and opinions and how and why they were formed, we can make a choice as to
whether those beliefs and opinions serve us or interfere with our desire to authentically connect with others.
After all, authentically connecting with others is really authentically connecting with our self. When we clean
our mirrors, we can directly experience the connection we have with everything around us, and in turn, be the
reflection of what we and everything around us truly is.

This article was first printed in aspire magazine, June 2008. Please visit www.aspiremag.net

Earth · Spirit · Balance

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