A patient made a thought-provoking remark to me the other day about self-identity that I wanted to share with you.
She was thinking through the right and wrong way to see self. And in conversation she mentioned that when we look in a mirror, we are not looking at our self, we are looking at us looking at our self.
Her point arrested my attention, because I had never thought of looking into a mirror that way.
Typically, when a person looks in a mirror, they think they are looking at their self. They think that what they see is objective. But it is not. It is subjective. They bring to what they see in the mirror all kinds of preconceptions, beliefs and fears about what they expect to see, and these mental preconceptions form and shape what they see. Thus, they are not looking at an objective reality at all, but analyzing their current mortal belief about self, which may be grossly inaccurate. The act of looking in the mirror becomes an act of looking at oneself looking at oneself, rather than sizing up an objective truth.
Her comment reminded me of Mary Baker Eddy’s statement, “Mortal mind sees what it believes as certainly as it believes what it sees. It feels, hears, and sees its own thoughts” (Science and Health, p. 86).
To avoid the mistake of mis-identifying ourselves, we must not consult the material senses about self, but seek out a better understanding of our identity in God’s likeness. When we rely upon spiritual truth to draw conclusions about identity, and not on what is seen in a glass mirror, we see ourselves as we really are—healthy, whole, fit, intelligent, and awesome—made in God’s likeness.
See what God sees, not what mortal mind believes, and you’ll have the correct view.
This is just wonderful Evan. Thank you.
“I looked into the mirror to see what I could see
but the image there before me did not belong to me
At least I didn’t think so until I paused to find
That the image I’d expected was only in my mind”
I learned this as a child, not sure who the author is, but sharing it as it popped into my head as I read your Spirit View.
Thank you Evan for always inspiring and sharing.
I say “ditto” here. After reading this my thought was “THAT WAS WONDERFUL”
only to scroll down to see those exact words. ONE MIND! Thank you so much
Evan for helping us on our spiritual journey. Happy Thanksgiving to you and
your family!
Excellent thought that corrects what could be a misperception of one’s true being as a reflection of immortal, spiritual being. I love it. Thank you, Evan.
So thought provoking and so true!
Thank you as always for your clear understanding of Divine Science and for sharing, I feel blessed!
Very good. Thank you for that thought provoking idea.
Very interesting!! This also reminds me that we have to be careful of how we identify others when we look at them as well – especially our children.
I never thought about that bu that is true. We look in the mirror and see a fat or skinny or an ugly or a pretty person and think what we see is ‘me.’ It is all perception.
Evan, I love reading your articles on Spirit View, thank you. Unfortunately, just recently I don’t seem to be able to read the whole text even when moving it horizontally.
Maybe it is my old laptop?
Don’t know what you have done, but now I can read the whole of the text!
Thank you so much.
Hi Janet,
It was an adjustment on your laptop that made it more readable. I didn’t do anything! The one Mind helped you find the solution. Yay!
A practitioner friend of mine told me of a healing she had when her face appeared badly swollen and she was about to attend a church meeting. She said as she looked in the mirror she said, “mirror, mirror on the wall, you’re the biggest liar of all…” with further prayer her face was normal when she arrived at the meeting, I sometimes find myself saying those words when looking in the mirror, It makes me laugh and not be impressed by the appearance. Thank you as always Evan for your inspiring, uplifting posts.
Thanks Sharon. That’s really good!
Thank you Evan for reminding me that only what God sees is true about me and God sees only Her perfect reflection. Happy Thanksgiving! Your daily posts are such an inspiration. So much to be grateful for in knowing the Truth as found in Christian Science.
Thank U. To truly SEE is our God-given work.
God worketh with us to do His good work.
We are His good work. . Thank y’all. Grateful, grateful,
grateful.
Thank you all and, again, Evan. Happy Thanksgiving to you all!!!
I love knowing that we see through the eyes of Love.
Thanks, Evan, and all for your great posts this morning! Wishing you a very blessed Thanksgiving. I’m so grateful for the beautiful, inspiring thoughts that are shared through this blog. I feel like we are all one big family—brothers and sisters in the family of God!
Love this post, thank you Evan, and all the commenters. Especially like, “..Mirror mirror on the wall, you’re the biggest liar of all” in Sharon’s post… .: Also reminds me of this from Science and Health: “To be immortal, we must forsake the mortal sense of things, turn from the lie of false belief to Truth, and gather the facts of being from the divine Mind.” MBE
Thanks, Evan, for a very thought provoking blog, and to all who have commented – especially David and Sharon. It’s good reminder to not believe what I see.
Oh dear SpiritView friends – and I really would affirm what Daphne says, that we a r e a big family – brothers and sisters in the large family of God, Love !
Thank you all very much for your comments. They are so loving, inspiring and also humorous – Ha – today I need this enlightenment and inspirations from Evan and from you all !
I remember that Evan asked us in one of the former SpiritViews, what we see when we look into the mirror. Several commenters and I too, said simply “I see myself”. But today we learn that that is not our true self, because our real self is total spiritual, beautiful, joyful, healthy etc. all God´s qualities, all we can read in the last paragraph of today´s SV.
Evan also once said that “nothing is so as it seams to be.” Now I understand it. We must lean absolutely on God and His idea. I love the last sentence “let´s see what God sees, not what mortal mind believes, and we´ll have the correct view.” Am working and praying for that.
Evan´s SV is such a blessing richness – am grateful for this healing blog!
What a help today’s SpiritView is. Met a need. Sharon I loved the easy to remember “mirror, mirror on the wall, you’re the biggest liar of all…”
this is so great and so true!