Mirrors Mirrors Everywhere
The world is my mirror. At my human level, everything I see out there - any quality I see in any human, animal, plant, fictional character, dreams, landscape, universe - is also in here. And as Big Mind, everything is I as soon as it arises.
eBuddha is exploring some of the apparent flaws of Ken Wilber, and it reminded me of how any teacher and/or pundit also are mirrors for ourselves.
I project out our insights, clarity, brilliance, compassion, awakening and so on onto the teacher, and can familiarize myself with them there. As with any other quality, it is often easier to first see them out there.
And since no person is going to live up to my idealized stories about them, they are bound to do something to shatter my illusion. Again, whatever I see in them reflects something in myself. They help me see my own shadow side.
So as with anything else, I become familiar with myself through the other, and am invited to see in myself what I see in the other.
It the teacher mirrors a conscious and healthy approach to his or her own shadow, then the process can be gradual and less painful. But if not, or if the teacher consciously sometimes use a strategy to ruffle feathers (as seems to be the case may be with Ken Wilber here) it may be a shock to his or her followers.
This is where we get to see (a) if what the teacher manifest - typically something that goes against norms - is something we are familiar with in ourselves and have found some peace with, and if not, then (b) if we recognize the signs of a shadow projection ("that is not me!") and know how to work with it.
Labels: ken wilber, projections, shadow, world as mirror