A very rich young man went to see a Rabbi in order to ask his advice about what he should do with his life. The Rabbi led him over to the window and asked him:
‘What can you see through the glass?’
‘I can see men coming and going and a blind man begging for alms in the street.’
Then the Rabbi showed him a large mirror and said to him:
‘Look in this mirror and tell me what you see.’
‘I can see myself.’
‘And you can’t see the others. Notice that the window and the mirror are both made of the same basic material, glass.
‘You should compare yourself to these two kinds of glass. Poor, you saw other people and felt compassion for them.
‘Rich – covered in silver – you see yourself.
‘You will only be worth anything when you have the courage to tear away the coating of silver covering your eyes in order to be able to see again and love your fellow man.’
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Je vois le miroir et la fenetre.
Le miroir est une reflexion de soi meme.
La fenetre de tous les etres.
Fe n etre = foi dans l’etre.
Avec amour.
Interesting!how many of us are really viewing ourselves in this world of multi-views and known where to get our real and exact view???
‘A mirror is an object that reflects light or sound in a way that preserves much of its original quality prior to its contact with the mirror. Some mirrors also filter out some wavelengths, while preserving other wavelengths in the reflection. This is different from other light-reflecting objects that do not preserve much of the original wave signal other than color and diffuse reflected light. The most familiar type of mirror is the plane mirror, which has a flat surface. Curved mirrors are also used, to produce magnified or diminished images or focus light or simply distort the reflected image.
Mirrors are commonly used for personal grooming or admiring oneself (in which case the archaic term looking-glass is sometimes still used), decoration, and architecture. Mirrors are also used in scientific apparatus such as telescopes and lasers, cameras, and industrial machinery. Most mirrors are designed for visible light; however, mirrors designed for other types of waves or other wavelengths of electromagnetic radiation are also used, especially in non-optical instruments.’Wikipedia.
Glass is … transparent. We can ‘see’ through! A window is metaphorically a place for ‘observing’, keeping us in the ‘safe distance’! To live and love we must ‘be’ in the material planes! Watching from a distance keeps us in the safe, untouched, unburnt, .. angelic situation! ;-)) When we ‘see’ in a mirror – which is a glass painted in the back with .. silver, aluminum – as written above gives us a reflection which is really a reflection of our own Psyche, the vibration of OUR OWN SOUL! We are the observers and the … observed. We are on our Way to perfection, wisdom, balance and LIGHT! Looking at the Eternal Light, HIM, we just use our INNER EYES. They see clearly, without SILVER – the .. TEMPTATION of the material planes – the TRUTH! Thus with our lessons learnt we see everything clearly and transparently! We become ONE, because we transcend the WALLS of separation through LOVE.
Lately as a tourist, I have visited in Amsterdam a DIAMOND factory.We were shown how the whole procedure takes place: a raw piece of stone that becomes a precious Diamond through cutting, ‘painful’ procedures! Diamond is the hardest of stones; it can be ‘cut’ only with another .. diamond. For me it was a revelation. It is the SYMBOL of the Psyche =Ψυχή = the butterfly! We acquire more and more ‘cuts’ and reflect our light through the ..procedure of LOVE. We undress from our ‘burden’= the material, LEATHER GARMENTS and … FLY!!!
LOVE,
Thelma xxx
Like always beautifully written!
But can it help others?
yes it can……..only if we use it as an lighthouse and dont try to imitate
the mirror can make you rich …
when I started to dance in a room with mirrors in order to correct me, I realized that I perceived only the contours of myself. they are indeed mostly needed for corrections. it is dancing & the mirror that helped me to perceive me fully.
the other side of the narcissus story :o)
but believe me as the mirror has also good, helpful qualities, so has money. it is us, our perception & attitude that makes it this way or the other.
poor …. really poor …. believe me, one struggles so much to survive, often there is not much space left for other things, even for empathy.
I really think that brecht was right “first comes the food then the moral” and everything else.
About the guy asking if you’ve your silver away:
you can’t please everybody all the time, you can only please somebody sometimes.
I’m one of those who are pleased to read what you write
Podemos considerar la reacción de un caballo ante nuestra presencia como un espejo? Ellos sienten la energía que proyectamos y deciden quien los puede montar o no.Puede ser una señal de como nos percibe la gente?.
Te admiro.
no importa cuanto estudio tengas o cual inteligente seas el leer los libros de usted me hacen reflecsionar sobre mi vida y reencontrarme conmigo misma gracias Sr.coehlo DIOS lo vendiga.
Interesting concept – thank you for your thought provoking stories – even though I may not always agree with them.
Coelho me declaro una mas de tus fans, admiro la manera de plasmar tus sentimientos, ideas y espiritualidad en cada uno de tus libros y en cuanto a esta sección de lectura creo qué es una verdad latente, ya que nos vemos unos a otros y nos ignoramos, cuando estamos hechos de lo mismo, poseemos una chispa de luz divina que nos hace iguales a todos no importando la vestimenta de lo material.
Gostei!
that’s positive attitude. i’ll be trying to live such life
Thanks sir for sharing this beautiful story…..
Both kinds of glasses has its own purpose. One for viewing others and one for viewing
oneself. One need not take off the silver lining of the mirror just to see thru. Just put as many of each kind to serve the purpose. A balance is most considered appropriate.
Mirrors help us see ourselves. If we are honest, the reflections let us “reflect”, we see our real selves and achieve peace. If not honest, we would know that we are deceiving ourselves.
This dishonesty is the root of many human tragedies – great or little tragedies….
It takes courage to tear away the coating of self. It’s painful. But it does blind us, leaving the soul in isolation. Thank you for this story…
I was born in year 1977
.77 comments,words mean so much to me..
Once the words flow on the sentences ,it rumors of a new story
Lots of love from spain bilbao orru meaning gold…
Remembering where I came from, grateful for where I’m going, spirituality in the sub- concious keeps me grounded, balancing materialism in my conciousness helps me thrive in the real world.
É por isso que eu te admiro cada vez mais, em seus escritos eu enxergo tudo isso, todos os povos, Cristãos, Muçulmanos, Judeus. Você é luz!
quem e pobre de afeiçao e dinheiro nao consegue ver-se a si proprio.
O espelho muda conforme as relaçoes que criamos
algumas fazem-nos ganhar dinheiro.outras perder
You should never think that the world is seen through your eyes only. Try spend some time to see it through another’s. The difference will make you appreciate things you don’t value in your life. Greeting your neighbour in the morning could be listed in his list of “things that make my morning” :)
hi. Why we need to care about the people…And the people always give us the sufferings…even they do not care…only thing we can do is just observe and learn what we want in our lives. And what if people have bad reflections on our life…I think much efforts should be given to self..and self control than to see others.. Vandan Joshi
Ms.Vanadan Joshi,
We need to care people..as we are one among them and that is the only refuge for us to get cared by the other people.There is a saying Tyajet Griham,Kulasyarthe,Kulam Gramasyarthe.Gramam janapadasyarthe,atmarthe cha prithiveem tyajet.If we are so self obsessed about self control and our supreme presence then we need to sacrifice the world itslef for our own self.
It is not a barter system that I care you and you care me.We need to love each and every action of the self and enjoy the same with a truthfull vision with out any baises corroding our reasoning.We all keep searching ourselves urbi et arbi some of us realize and some don’t and the journey keeps going till the search is over and the purpose is met.While traversing this path we need to uncover our vision so that we may not fall prey to the falsehood.I beg you to care for other and there is a real kick in doing so…keep laughing..KGB
the great thing about a window is that, there is still a reflection of yourself somewhere. looking at others, you don’t lose sight of yourself, you just see everything a lot clearer. you and others become one. looking at others helps you see yourself much clearer than a mirror ever could. as opposed to when you have a mirror, you lose sight of everything else BUT yourself. i love the imagery of this story :)
Interessante: o texto e os comentários
O espelho altera conforme as pessoas que estao connosco e os seus objectivos e os projectos em que estao
Grande Paulo Coelho, gosto como os seus textos me fazem refletir, ótimo texto esse por sinal.. Me fez concluir uma análise do contidiano em que vivemos:
As pessoas possuem armaduras, onde se acham protegidas dentro do seu próprio ego. Acabam esquecendo dos demais, e das necessidades deles, que as vezes é tão pouco pra gente que, acabam por passar despercebidas. Essa epifania contida que guardamos, sufoca a alma. Libertar um sorriso, um aperto de mão ou um ombro amigo nos dias onde o dinheiro funciona como locomotiva, é “supérfulo”.
En este mundo nada es verdad ni es mentira, todo es segun el color del cristal por el que se mira.
Nice. Thanks for sharing.
“A gold medal is a wonderful thing, but if you’re not good enough without a gold medal then you’ll never be good enough with one”
Cool Runnings
It’s nice to have ya back! ya were missed..
…un rabino, no quiso ver al joven rico,
y en su ventana, como si de un espejo se tratase,
al intentar ver a través de ella, se vio así mismo.
…una persona, no es lo que parece,
sino lo que hace…
That was beautiful, Liked it…
Que não nos ceguemos por nenhum revestimento … Ou ainda que mesmo através deles e de nós possamos enxergar aos outros … Coisas boas em nós e em todos ao nosso redor !!!
Lindo !!!
Not a lot of people know that mirrors have silver on them. Which has a very intriguing sense when they are connected to legends, like vampires, that don’t appear on mirrors
All I have to say, and they’re not my original words, is “…love your neighbor as yourself.” :-)
Really good example of how we truely become or are rich. Our real wealth is in our deep human/universal connectedness and knowing we are each other and poor are those who are blinded by illusive divisions. Sometimes I’m very poor today I’m very rich Thanks
La fenetre et le miroir
Un homme tres riche s’est rendu chez le Rabbi pour lui demander son avis sur ce qu’il devrait faire avec sa vie.
Le Rabbi l’amena vers la fenetre et lui a demande:
“Que vois-tu a travers la vitre?
“Je peux voir des hommes qui vont et viennent et un homme aveugle qui fait l’aumone dans la rue.
Alors, le Rabbi lui montra un grand miroir et lui a dit :
“Regarde dans ce miroir et dis-moi ce que tu vois?
“Je peux me voir.
“Et tu ne peux pas voir les autres. Regarde que la fenetre et le miroir sont tous les deux faits avec le meme materiel de base , le verre.
“Tu devrais te comparer avec ses deux sortes de verre.Pauvre, tu voyais les autres personnes et ressentais de la compassion pour eux.
“Riche – couvert d’argent – tu te vois toi-meme.
“Tu ne vaudras quelque chose que lorsque tu auras le courage d’enlever la couche d’argent qui recouvre tes yeux – pour pouvoir etre capable de voir a nouveau et aimer ton semblable -”
LA VENTANA Y EL ESPEJO. EL ESPEJO NOS DICE COMO SOMOS,LA VENTANA NOS ENSENA COMO DEBERIAMOS VIVIR.
MUY BONITO!! “lo de lucas 7:01″ …….por experiencia digo que los humanos ricos o pobres somos unos “avaros” de todo porque lo queremos todo!! solo hay muy contadas exepciones quien diga lo contrario miente!……
FACIL DEBEMOS SIEMPRE TENER EL VALOR SUFICIENTE PARA VER QUE PODEMOS HACER POR LOS DEMAS AUN MEJOR SI ESTAMOS EN POSICION DE HACERLO OSEA NO NOS HAGAMOS LOS CIEGOS SIN SABER QUE HACER POR QUE CADA DIA QUE AMANECE HAY UN MONTON DE COSAS POR HACER LIMPIEMOS LOS LENTES Y MIREMOS MAS ALLA TRATEMOS DE VER CON SENTIMIENTO NUESTRA VIDA Y LA DE LOS DEMAS
I am your fan From México, and at the same time that a read you every day a practice my English, at first I was sad because off the lenguage, but know I am pride of my reading.
¿Can this be compared whith the window and tha mirror?
Thank you.
por que te preocupas con mi dinero?
Lucas 7:1 “No juzguéis, y no seréis juzgados; no condenéis, y no seréis condenados.”
LO MAXIMO ES USTED PARA MI, ME ENCANTAN SUS REFLEXIONES. LO ADMIRO MUCHISIMO.SALUDOS VEROS.
Any thoughts about law of capital accumulation?
“Every child who dies of hunger in today’s world has been murdered” Jean Ziegler
Dear Paulo,
Since I wanted to read Lukas’ words again, I went back to the number you gave: 7:1, surprised I found this was the story on “The Faith Of The Centurion”. So after some research I found Lukas 6:37 to be the words on “Judging Others”. The lines that follow are also beatiful and wise ;)I found a great insight in them at the Taizé site:”Why did Jesus tell his disciples not to judge?”:
http://www.taize.fr/en_article4026.html
Anyway, your message was clear, and perhaps leading the way to the Centurion’s story is not a coincidence ;)
Namaste, Ave,
Rombout
Very beautiful. I try to live like that every day.
hola, me gusto lo del espejo, solo hay que saber la perspectiva
en que se mire.
Мы видим только то что хотим видеть. Стараемся не замечать не приятные для нас вещи и поступки. Научиться принимать и понимать свое окружение очень и очень сложно. Это бывает даже больно…
Loved the idea and the way it is described…beautiful
I love looking out the window. I love how the view and its reflections change and are dependent on what is happening inside and out.
I am a fan of yours. Anyway I have an objection : I would prefer that you called the book “FIGHTING FOR LIGHT” INSTEAD OF “WARRIOR OF LIGHT”, for a matter of PRECISION.
Thank you for the time you spent in order to read this.
Thank you for sharing this story. I recall a parallel saying:”People in my life are mirrors of me affording to me the opportunity to change, learn and grow”.
Thank you, Marietta. This gives the dimension that seemed to be missing in this story :)
no hay mas ciego k el k no quiere ver asi mismo, solo vez lo que tu corazon siente, luz o oscuridad. te amo paulo coelho
My willingness to serve in this world brings me the knowledge of who I am. What a gift!
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