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Windows and Mirrors

6/8/2016

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Picture
Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. 


I long believed in the Golden Rule and tried to live by it. But over the years, I have found that the rule needs to be refined. Of course, one should treat others courteously, kindly and so forth. But given different personalities, one must refine one's approach to others. I may be someone who prefers frank honesty, even when it hurts; the other person may be highly affronted or hurt by such an approach. If I am timid and hypersensitive and approach a confident braggart the way I would be approached, I will get nowhere. So I now try to live by the motto: get to know the other and treat them as they would want to be treated. Similarly, I ask that others get to know me and treat me accordingly. Maybe if we all did this, we could live in harmony. 



Windows and Mirrors

Look into a window
And see-
the self
Reflected
back to you.

Look through a window
And see-
the other
Reflected
Through you.

Open the window
To meet-
and greet
To reflect
Each other. 

​-MW



​
Píccolo has her say:
Picture
Humans use mirrors to gaze at themselves;
I use a mirror to look at others behind me. 

I do not need a mirror to see myself;
​I know who I am. 

Windows allow me to look out and guard the house against all intruders, real or imagined. 
​Gnothi Se: Know Thyself



​The Self

If one is to keep growing,
If one is to know oneself,
One must never cease to test
The limits of one's limited self.

Mind and body must keep evolving,
Horizons must keep receding,
If one is to keep growing,
If one is to know oneself,
And if one is to make a difference!


Mirrors and Windows

All need a figurative mirror and a figurative window,
the former to see the self, the latter to see the other.
Neither can be ignored with impunity
And both are necessary for unity!



The Self and Beyond

The many look but only the few see,
The many hear but only the few listen.
The many remain encapsulated and are the poorer for it,
The few escape the confines of the self and are the richer for it. 


A Balance

To be given to the self
Is an elemental given.
To be taken with the common good
Is a later cultural acquisition.

Individualism is a natural disposition,
Socialism's a bridling of that bent.
Too much individualism spells anarchy,
Too much socialism a stifling bureaucracy.

The individual's well-being and that of society
Is best served in restrained insistence.
Each camp must forfeit if each is to gain,
Neither will prevail and both will survive. 


Gnothi Se

We are not that or this
But that we are also
Something far more.

It is only beyond first glance
And only beneath the skin
That each in all life'ssubtleties
May be found and grasped in full.

The Greeks said Gnothi se,
Today it's know thyself.
'Twas too challenging then,
'Tis too troublesome now!


​-JM


An Epigram a Day:

Mirrors breed conceit, windows shed light.

Ask of yourself what you ask of others.

Altruism is but egoism in moral guise.

To know the other is to better know the self.

To know oneself is to begin to know the other.

To help/hurt others to to help/hurt the self.

To know the other is to appreciate a sister or a brother.



​








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