If you are feeling paralyzed since October 7th, you are not alone. The brutality we saw that day and the apocalyptic images of death we are seeing since then are overwhelming. However far we may want to escape from the news, the ongoing tragedy is so powerful and far-reaching that there is no single nook on earth to take refuge in and feel relieved. We simply cannot avoid it, and perhaps we should not. We should not, but not only to sympathize with and help the innocent victims (Muslim, Jewish, or any other) of a war thousands of miles away from our homes – this is a warfare that stretches and penetrates into our psyche and threatens our wellbeing and the safety of our communities wherever we may be. As quoted in the Lead Article, “Everywhere is dark… / O Lord, is this evening, or the grave!” one asks internally, for the horrible images pouring into our newsfeeds portray nothing but just that. We pray that violence comes to an end immediately, leaders of nations and international organizations act with more common sense and compassion, and less with primal urges, hatred, and revenge.

The only way out of this conflict, and for that matter others too, is to build friendships, especially in countries where communities of different ethnicities and faith traditions live side by side, and show the world peaceful coexistence is possible. Organizing community gatherings to get to know one another can help us recognize each other as fellow human beings, perhaps with different looks, but essentially as the same creature with the same flesh and bones, fears and aspirations, questions and answers. We also have to remember that our traditions – at least in their core messages – do not condone violence of any sorts and teach us to honor humanity, humanity with which we should always take sides and never sacrifice for any violent agenda. On another front, however the situation may continue to unfold, we should continue to turn our face to the heavens for an ultimate solution. As mentioned again in the Lead Article: “The world spins unceasingly, and numerous transformations occur at a rapid pace. As long as events continue unfolding in this manner, it remains undeniable that a celestial life will knock on our door, if not today, then in the very near future.”

In “Mirrors With Persona,” Sarimeseli is offering in this issue of The Fountain a healing perspective on the human condition and perhaps on the global affairs. As quoted in this article, Bediuzzaman says, “… the greatest fulfillment of a person’s needs is the presence of a heart corresponding to their own, so that both sides may exchange their love, passion, and enthusiasm, and share in pleasures together, and assist and support each other in times of sorrow and sadness.” Bediuzzaman wrote this on the relationship between spouses. But it would not be wrong to extrapolate this approach to other contexts, including the current conflict discussed above. One solution, then, we can argue is to be bright mirrors to one another, so when we look at each other what we see is ourselves. Then, perhaps we can fully and truly sympathize with the suffering around the world.

It was too early for Melanie to congratulate herself because the aliens would always be after her. They would always be looking over her shoulder, keeping track of what she did, trying to read her mind…

Melanie rolled around in bed and looked at her digital clock. It read: 7:39

She groaned to herself. That must mean it was time…

She got out of bed and looked around her room. Everything seemed normal. The sun appeared to be bright as it flooded through her window with the red curtains. Her clinical psychology text books on her desk were exactly where she remembered putting them. Her bed was in the correct position along the wall.

She deliberately avoided looking at the mirror.

She was safe for now; the aliens hadn’t come for her yet. But she knew her neighbor was a Russian spy so it was only a matter of time before he told the aliens about the key she had found…

…the key she had safely hidden under her bed in a Cheerios cereal box. No one could find it there.

Melanie carefully examined the floor she would walk on. She was certain it was safe to walk, but those aliens really knew how to set booby traps. She really had to be prudent-or else!

She carefully placed her foot on the carpet. The carpet had a collage of various, colored squares on it. Aliens always had a hard time getting into her room, but they had implanted sensors under the floor that sent them a signal every time she stepped on the red squares. They did this so they could tell how often Melanie was in her room.

But Melanie had figured out a way how to fight them. If she just avoided those red squares, they would never know.

Stepping on her toes, she tiptoed around the red squares and reached the other side of the room. She carefully checked the books on the desk, the position of her bed, the window and the curtains-avoided the mirror-and then came out of the room.

She quietly pulled her door shut and peeked over her shoulder down the hall.

Oh no! There were too many mirrors!

The mirrors stretched along the wall on either side, disrupted only by the occasional bedroom door. But there were only supposed to be one of them between the master bedroom door and the bathroom.

Hmmm; could this be the aliens?

In any case, she had to avoid the mirrors – the aliens must NOT find out about the key!

She got onto her hands and knees. If she could just slide under the line of the mirrors, she would be safe. Thus she scrambled to the other side, carefully avoiding the red squares on the carpet, and finally got up on her feet at the end of the hall.

It was too early for Melanie to congratulate herself because the aliens would always be after her. They would always be looking over her shoulder, keeping track of what she did, trying to read her mind… Oh no, she hadn’t thought about that! How should she protect her mind?

She would stick it out as long as she could. There was no way she would allow those aliens to get the key! Not while she was still alive.

She had to eat though, or else how could she have the strength to protect the key?

Melanie opened the cereal cupboard and confronted a bunch of boxes. There were Cheerios, Honeycombs, Pops, Fruit Loops, Apple Jacks and many more.

Pleased with the variety, she reached for the Cheerios.

Oh no!

She remembered something.

Last night, she had seen only Honeycombs in the cupboard. Yes, she’d Melanie had gone out with her mother, and they’d only bought Honeycombs. Where did all the others come from?

How could she not have understood? It was the aliens. They must know she had hidden the key in a cereal box. But they didn’t know which one, did they? So they put a bunch of cereal boxes here to see which one she would pick.

But Melanie would not lose!

“Oooooo!” she cooed loudly. “We have Honeycombs! Yum! I love Honeycombs!”

And that’s what she got out of the cupboard and put on the kitchen island. She had to distract the aliens.

She got out her bowl-not the red one; you could never be too careful-and a spoon. These she laid down beside the cereal box. When she had retrieved the milk from the fridge however, things had changed.

There were five sets of bowls and spoons on the island!

She calmed herself down.

This had happened before. It was the aliens’ way of saying they knew she was lying to them.

But she could always get around it.

She touched the first bowl and her finger slipped right through it. Nope, not this one.

Her fingers slipped through the second one but jammed into the third. Hah! That one was the right one.

She poured her cereal and milk into it. Suspiciously, the remaining two bowls somehow filled themselves.

But everything was alright. It didn’t matter how hard those aliens would try to intimidate her, she would be strong.

However, she was very sad. She didn’t realize at the time, but before she found the key – before the aliens and the Russian neighbor – everything had been so easy, so safe.

It was hard to appreciate a good thing when its loss was unimaginable. She had never believed in aliens and now they were in her life, changing things, manipulating her. They were always there.

Her breakfast finished, she finally pulled herself together. It would be alright. Everything would be alright. She was sure of it now.

As she re-entered the hallway, she saw that the mirrors were gone. There was only one, exactly between the master bedroom and the bathroom.

Before entering the bathroom, Melanie paused and looked at herself in the mirror. There was a snake coiled around her temple.

She instinctively reached up but couldn’t feel it.

“You’re not real,” She said to it. “No, none of it is real… the key? The aliens?”

The snake in the mirror bobbed its head in a nod.

It was a wonder why anyone would believe only what they could see when Melanie had to doubt everything in her life.

Something caught her attention and the recognition of her illness faded instantly from her mind. There was red smoke coming from her bedroom.

Oh no, the aliens must know! They must have understood about the Cheerios cereal box!

In Snow White, the evil stepmother gushes: Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who’s the fairest one of all? Most people think that she is vain, and therefore being vain is bad. But there is more to it than that, and if this is all we can impart to our children then we are robbing them of meaning. Actually, I do not think this is about our children at all, but rather about ourselves as adults. When we read these stories again to our children, its very telling about ourselves if we finally understand these stories or not, now that we have grown up.

If you are searching for wisdom in life, a child’s library of fairy tales is a convenient place to begin. The imagery in fairy tales provides us with archetypes that we can use to organize the lessons that life teaches us.

The notion of the evil stepmother in Snow White talking to her mirror struck me when I was looking at myself in the mirror. We know that some mirrors do a better job for us then others. Mirrors that make us look horrendous put us off. Is it the lighting? Is this mirror warped or what? Do I actually look like that? What’s going on with my hair? How come my pores are so big? But what I really mean is: Am I the fairest one of all?

I wish I had a mirror that did the job like the one Snow White’s stepmother had. It was honest and reliable. But mirrors like that do not exist, at least not for our bathrooms. But we do carry such a mirror, and it is of great help if we know how to use it. To use it properly, we have to ask ourselves the proper questions. The evil stepmother asked the wrong question. She was not evil; she was unenlightened and lost in her own illusions.

Most of us ask the wrong questions but do not think of ourselves as evil. We ask if we are the fairest, the smartest, the happiest, the most contented. The stepmother was told that she was not the fairest in relation to Snow White. She was plenty gorgeous already though, the number two beauty in the land.

When we ask the wrong questions, we become as delusional as Snow White’s stepmother. Unfortunately, many of us do not stop looking for a mirror that will tell us that we are the fairest.

Mirrors only show us who we are, not who we would rather be. We think that a new car would be a good mirror, but it is not. We think that a new, attractive mate would be a good mirror, but it is not. Neither is a high paying job or a lovely home. Such things have nothing to do with finding a mirror that works because this inner reflection, this mirror that we carry, never fails to work. Unfortunately, we simply fail to look, all the while asking the wrong questions to the wrong objects.

To be fair, it is difficult to look straight into our honest reflections. Not only must we contend with our previous illusions of trying to be the fairest, we must now contend with very real failings of character and personality. Guess what? I realized this weekend that I am not such a nice guy. Something like that can be down right depressing, but not if we realize that it is all part and parcel of seeing ourselves.

When we can SEE ourselves, we begin to see others; that is, we see ourselves in others and others in ourselves. We also begin to question ourselves, not to doubt ourselves but to pose questions that require answers from us. That is, we make ourselves accountable. When we are accountable to ourselves, we are essentially free. We no longer look outside for the pre-digested answers so much as inward for both the questions and the answers.

Whose hearts are as warm as the corona of the sun

Pained and worried are they for the destiny of the nation

Yet lovely as Paradise are they and as deep as eternity

Moths fly round the light of the inspired ones

On their faces radiant as mirrors

Shines the light from beyond this world…

Winds blow in their afterglow scattering a thousand kinds of fragrances

People find infinite peace in their presence,

And also on their faces radiant as mirrors

They inject a new life wherever they pass;

Soils turns to gold in their palms

Even poison changes to something sweet on their tongues…

Souls open to them one after another

They inject a new life wherever they pass

Their words, like the lamps of the Infinite, diffuse light;

Always ready to pour themselves out like rain-bearing clouds.

They boil inwardly, like volcanoes with desires of serving the nation.

Words, as precious as jewels, flow from their mouths,

And, like the lamps of the Infinite, they diffuse light.

Time is pregnant, through their enchanting ‘breaths’,

Writhing with pains of giving birth to a sacred future.

I have come to understand it will be springtime for my nation

Whose light and colour come from the other world…

Time is pregnant, through their enchanting ‘breaths’.

***