It’s no joke that there are many pitfalls, distractions & temptations on the path of spiritual awakening. Today, I address one that comes in the guise of promising “the perfect life manifested”.

When I see the word “mirror” attached to anything, I get a little excited. I just watched a rather slick video in which the speaker introduced something called “the mirror principal” as something that one can use to get (basically) everything they want in life. It is directed at an audience of entrepreneurs and professionals…of course…because they are both generally the ones who want everything in their lives just as they want it and the ones who can afford such programs.

At first I was intrigued. I was even hoping it was something that would be inspiring and sharable. But what it proved to be is just another convoluted system complete with science-ee diagrams based on ancient wisdom and personal development that expounds what only the expert can help you understand and apply.

Okay, okay, we all need others who know more than we do to inform and instruct us. I don’t have qualms with that nor with people selling their time or knowledge.

A Quick Related Diversion

Forgive me. I’m on a kick. At the risk of going off-topic, yesterday, I participated in a healing event during which the facilitator kept saying things like, “I’m authorized to do this on your behalf” and “I’m giving you an audience with powerful beings.” While I appreciated the ritual being offered, I couldn’t help but think each time I heard him say “I” that “I” didn’t need him to do anything for me, thank you very much; the days of buying papal indulgences and communications with Higher Powers through priests are long gone. I had to remind myself that some people actually need to hear that; he was speaking to a certain audience that hadn’t yet claimed their own ability to command Holy attention. The irony is I think this man was trying to be humble but all that “I’m empowered to do this for you” just made him sound terribly arrogant. Had he dispensed with the idea he had any role but to share the ritual and instead empowered those in attendance to do their own “connecting”, it would have been a truly lovely and uplifting offering in addition to being an interesting ritual. Hence why I’m a little raw when it comes to “experts”.

Back to the Topic

But back to the subject, in general, I don’t have qualms with the video. The speaker was, as in the example above, speaking to a certain audience, in this case with a certain propensity for wanting life to be exactly as they want it to be. The underlying message is an appeal to ego. He’s really only a fractional hair away from a greater meaning.

And I feel I must distinguish the mirror work I teach from what I would define as a materialistic system that contorts ancient wisdom rather than one that reveals it, and to distinguish the ultimate goal of mirror work, at least from my perspective. It isn’t that a person can’t have great wealth, a great relationship, the car, the house…whatever. But these things need to be recognized as nothing, neutral, and hardly the point. They come and they go. And even if they stay, they neither guarantee happiness nor fulfilment.

Both Guatama Buddha and Christ spent time “in the desert” facing their demons. One of those demons promised the world and unlimited material power. Buddha and Christ successfully defeated such temptation and went on to full realization. Where I see many systems claiming ancient wisdom fail is where they fall into this materialistic trap. The question becomes, “Do you want everything you think you want just as you want it when you want it? Or do you want full self-realization?” To be honest, most people want the former and not the latter, a sad fact of modern life.

There is no doubt that we are powerful beings. Our minds create everything. So naturally, the more able we are to control that inner landscape, the greater the impact on the outer reality. However, it still remains a relative reality. It is still Maya, a matrix, a dream or land of illusion. If waking up is what you want, I suggest you don’t stop there.

Ultimately, our lives must become a sacrifice to something greater than our personal desires. The word “sacrifice” is enough to send people running far, far away. The ego doesn’t want to become insignificant. It wants what it wants. And it wants to keep wanting. It wants to be important and necessary and is ever in search of proving that. It wants to feed, not freedom. So it will fight to the death to exist.

Please don’t think I’m claiming to have mastered this sacrifice. Far from it. But it is the path I walk and my daily prayer. And it is the ultimate goal of everything I offer. As spiritual teacher Ram Das often said, “We’re all just walking each other home.” Try not to get too distracted along the way.