House of Mirrors

I see myself through you, as you see yourself through me. We are mirrors for each other, even though those mirrors are not exact. They reflect off of this mirror that reflects off of that mirror and so forth. Distortions abound, but nonetheless, they impact the way we see ourselves.

This immediately makes it seem that our person is never constant. And it isn’t really, especially when we take in account the variable of others. Each person draws a different aspect of ourselves out, and the way they respond to us gives a different impression of who we are through their eyes.

Relationships are fascinating because they develop and teach us not only about the other person or even the relationship, but about who we are in response to it. No one is unchanged in a relationship. We either evolve for better or worse within them, but we are always changed.

The question at the heart of this is, do we have a self that is untouched by others, that is solely our own? I don’t think so. Even if your mother died at birth and you were raised by nature, your in utero experience as well as anything outside of you, shapes you, whether the other is nature or human. We find out who we are in relation to existence. In relation to anything else outside of us.

We understand ourselves through reflections. I see who I am when I look into a mirror, I understand who I am when that mirror is you.