The Magic Mirror Gate
There is a gate in The Neverending Story which stops many adventures, the Magic Mirror Gate. Anyone who wants to pass the gate must face their true selves. “Kind men must face that they are cruel, brave men discover they are really cowards... most men run away screaming.”
I have been thinking a lot about this gate and what I might see there. It is the thing that hides deep in my psyche, firmly protected by ego, in a casing of denial and avoidance. For me it is my weakness, myself as weak, and even though I can speak it, the true nature has remained illusive. I can face this mirror but my eyes continue to see a lie so I cannot continue on my journey.
The stories of Jesus often reflect the revelation of true self. No one is free of sin. A leper is healed, a blind man can see. And death is really just a pathway to life. There is one particular representation containing the symbol of the magic mirror gate that I am interested in exploring, it is the story of the rich young ruler.
The rich man comes to Jesus, he wants to face the gate, find out if he is worthy. He has done everything commanded, held up all the teachings with high regard. He is good and he wants to gaze at the goodness of the Christ fully expecting to see a reflection smiling back at him.
Jesus saw something else.
He saw the rich man as he truly was. Poor. Jesus asked him to see it too, but the man ran away screaming. It was not so much that the man was greedy and wanted to hold onto his material wealth but that he could not bare the sight of his true self. In the eyes of Christ he was shown naked and weak, begging for just a drink of wine and bite of bread. Jesus saw this man and he loved him, all of him, but the man couldn't accept that love because his denial of true self was all consuming.
We are given the illusion of sight, the illusion of self-awareness, but the magic mirror gate is always there. It quietly waits for us to shed the scales from our eyes and take a look.