The House of Mirrors

A young man, with a wearied heart and a troubled mind, walking across the emptiness. Living in a virtual world. He is trying to break through those imaginary chains. Trying to make his way out to the real world. "I seem to be lost in a house of mirrors!" Imprisoned in a matrix of his own thoughts. An endless maze of inner feelings.

Lots of self-reflections. Lots of doors. Lots of keys. Though all are one!

"I know the path out like the back of my hand." Or that is what he thinks. So he tries to step forward. But he crashes into a wall. Painful it is, depressing as well. "Like I came in, there must be a way out .. This can't be a dead end!" So he tries again. He keeps on trying and trying. It became his only dream, his only vision. It became his only goal, or maybe his only choice.

However, he starts to feel weak and tired. Unintentionally, he looks at a mirror in front of him. Strangely enough, he realizes that he never really focused on his facial features before. He has this dazzled look of someone who seems to be seeing himself for the first time. The brilliant fabric of his countenance. The minute details of his face that are so accurately and masterfully crafted. "Is it myself? Or maybe someone else!"

They say that one's eyes are the gates to his inner soul. They reflect  not only what's in front of you, but what's inside you as well. Gates to the castle of one's face. "How didn't I notice that before?!" He just needed one attentive closer look to realize that there are no mirrors. The mirrors are inside him. There is only one door, only one key, only one way, and only one self. He found he has been living in a world of his dreams! Running away from the miserable and fallen cage of reality to imprison himself in another cage woven from the fine threads of the cheerful and idealistic illusions of the unreal!

So he raises his hand ahead of him like someone who senses his way through darkness. And what darkness! The sunbeams are starting to appear in the horizon ... The clouds are moving aside, the fogs are torn apart. And finally, the gates are open.

Follow the Bread Crumbs

///It is said that life works in mysterious ways. Sometimes you feel you understand it all. You know why things happened, happen, and will happen. You can realize that incomprehensible link between the past, the present, and the future. You even find a way to solve that enigma of life. That riddle of human relations. That puzzle of the universe. Yet, that's an illusion....

///Other times you feel totally lost. You can see no road to walk upon, no reason to live for, no light to follow. The past, the present, the future .. Just time passing by. Just fiddling routine. Just ticks of an old rusty clock. Ticks that get slower and slower by time till an ultimate stop. Till one last sound and then absolute tranquility. You don't sense the meaning of life, you don't understand others, and you don't even know yourself. Yet, that's another illusion....

///Life and death, they are always there. Always connected. Always around you. You'll be amazed to know how many times you actually experienced death while you are technically alive. When you sleep, when you sneeze, when you feel so helpless, when you surrender to sadness and, worse, to hatred, and when you lose faith in yourself and, most importantly, in God. How many times do you think you died in your life?*

///What about going the other way round? How many times you actually sensed that brilliant glare of life inside you? When you enjoy the beauty of nature, when you feel so strong and healthy, when you feel loved and cared about, when you succeed, when you get into an adventure that makes a rush of blood into your head, when you believe in the capabilities, the ones you know and don't know about, inside you, and when you pray and sense that satisfaction of having God as your everafter sustenance and support.* Still in illusion??

///We are living in the story of Hansel and Gretel, with the worldly matters luring us to fall from their cliff just like that cannibalistic witch who was luring those pure 2 children to her candy-coated blood-filled hut. The human being is born with purity and innocence and good will. That's his natural birth. However, he is easily distracted and he gets into oblivion. That's his natural birth too. Mercifully, and also like Hansel and Gretel's, bread crumbs keep on falling into our way all the time. Lots of cues and clues that are so obvious to the heart before the eyes, to the soul before the mind. All you have to do is follow them and you'll reach home safely.*So no room for illusion, just common sense. For life is no mystery, it is so obvious to the beholder. But it needs not only vision, but also prevision.