The Game of Light and Mirrors

A few nights ago I experienced a vivid mental image. Whether it was a dream or a “vision” or something else I don’t know, but it woke me up accompanied by a clear perception of its meaning.

I saw a cluster of mirrors arranged at different angles more or less in a circle facing one another at different levels, more like the inside of a ball than a flat circle, so that every mirror faced other mirrors. There were different colors reflecting from some of the mirrors. I couldn’t see images in the mirrors.

It was a closed system seen against a big black background, as you might see a tight constellation of stars against the night sky. The mirrors did not impress me as large, but they could have been huge or small because there was nothing to measure them against or to give perspective.

The vision came, conveniently, with its own explanation: This is the game that consciousness plays with itself. This is all there is. There is nothing beyond the mirrors.

It made me think of ping pong.

I had the feeling of a revelation, of an insight into what we call reality -- a closed system game of light and mirrors. And I felt a kind of cosmic aloneness.

The main thing that impressed me was, “There is nothing outside the cluster of mirrors.” And yet, presumably everything that I sense and know and feel is created within the cluster.

(I wrote about my fascination with reflections, in different respects, in ”Reflections” and “More Reflections” early this year.)