March 27, 2001


THE MYTH OF NARCISSUS

Everybody knows the story. The old Greek myth of the lad who falls
Deeply in love with his own reflection and sits there forever.
Makes a nice tale, but as usual, the real story has more heart.
So settle back and bit and let me give you the inside scoop.

You know this guy is doomed from the start by his choice of mirrors.
Does this guy think enough of himself to find some nice mirror
Back in the air conditioned castle bathroom with the moulded jacuzzi?
No. Instead he goes tromping off to some woodsy stream.

I ask you, what could he possibly see in that mess? You guessed it, sqwat.
His ego was a bit fragile from the beginning. Like most of ours.
The ego seeks it's own reflection in the most unlikely of places.
In the young arm candy it lusts for. In the glittering diamonds it craves.

In the anorexic figures, it thinks, might make it wonderful and in
The stuffed up postures that the fledgling ego thinks of as elegance.
Now you see the true folly of the McMansions. They never work.
They simply can't provide what's lacking in your life.

So now we can just relax and watch the tale unfold. This guy, who
Hasn't done the work of discovering who he is, can't possibly succeed.
He also hasn't any friends to help him. He needs to think enough of
Himself to seek other's opinion. But instead he goes off alone.

The ego cannot achieve it's mission without the love from another's eyes.
Who we are is truly meaningless when compared to the admiration and respect
That others feel for us. Show any father the joy in his daughter's eyes
When she graduates high school or stars in the school play and he is gone.

That's real mirroring. No screwed up streams. No solo retreats. Here is
Guy is up to his eyeballs in love. That the ego can really understand.
Even my most eccentric of CEO's is a puppy when his granddaughter takes over.
You all see where this is going now, can't you?

Take a serious look at what you're doing. You probably have a faulty mirror.
It's not that you can't see yourself, it's more the mirror is bad.
Find your inner chipmunk and start there. The silence never lies.
Then seek only the joy that lies shining within another's love of you.