One morning a mirror appeared in the town square of a small village. Like all other mirrors it could only reflect what was presented.
It was the mirror of Love and Free Will, a mirror that never lied and that allowed people to be seen by others exactly how they themselves chose to be seen. If you stood there as a labourer, a teacher or a student – that is what you would see reflected back. If you stood there as an orphan, a leper, a self-made millionaire, a sports star – that is what was reflected back. But if you stood with a willingness to look beyond the surface, the mirror reflected much, much more.
Some walked up to the mirror and saw the image they wanted to show the world and were happy to have this confirmed, others ignored its arrival altogether, but some stood wanting to look deeper.
Those who looked deeper saw that no matter how perfect their outer image was, they also saw sadness in their eyes, or hardness in their shoulders, or the extra weight that they carried. Some saw this and blamed life for these woes and went back to trying to improve the image they presented, some tried to build new ones; others were honest about what they saw and began to explore the choices they were making – what they were eating, how they were working, how they were relating to themselves and others.
The mirror was impartial to those who stayed and those who moved on. All it could do is reflect to the depth people chose. The choice to do something about what you saw was always yours. However, without this reflection, there was no way for people to see the possibility that things were not as they seemed.
Those who started making new choices both struggled and marvelled as each time they stood in front of the mirror it would reflect both the part that was the surface image and the possibility of something deeper. They still noticed layers of sadness, hardness, grief … and at times it was all they could see. Some felt guilty about their past choices and blamed the mirror for what they saw. They resented the growing possibility that they might need to let go of the façade, and they turned away. Some started shouting to others to remove the mirror from the town square, fearful of what they saw in themselves.
Some used these reflections to refine their choices – they took responsibility for what they saw and knew the only change worth making was to go deeper and become more responsible for their choices.
Over time, what was inside these people all along began to be lived on the outside. The more they dropped the façade, the more joy and vitality came to the surface. But it did not end there…
One day, enjoying the new (but really old) self they had rediscovered, some wondered if they could look deeper still. They stood before the mirror and saw that what lived behind the joy was a sense of their own divinity. They stood very still not wanting to walk away from the absolute sacredness they had just felt. The easy thing to do was to enjoy all they had felt, and keep it for themselves. They could stay with the joy and vitality they had uncovered for themselves, or go deeper still.
Some stayed basking in that joy for a long time, others knew that over time, without going deeper, they would just turn the joy into a new surface image; one that made them at best ‘comfortable’ and at worst ‘special’.
As always the mirror was impartial – the choice was theirs.
A few let go of the layers they had previously protected themselves with, appreciating the divinity that lived within them more than they feared how the world might see them. After all, they could not see this within themselves without seeing how this divinity lived in all equally.
In that moment they became a Mirror that Never Lies: others who looked into their eyes now had the chance to see that they too are much more than the outer image they project to the world.
By Joel Levin
The Truth about Universal Medicine 
When we choose to look deeper and take responsibility for what we see reflected to us by the mirror of life, we are given the opportunity to feel and heal all that does not belong to our true selves.
We are always offered opportunities to evolve and to heal but we often don’t see these opportunities due to our addiction to delaying our evolution.
The mirror never lies but as you say we often choose what we see in the mirror and that can be very clouded and not what is truly there.
The mirror shows the truth and we can turn it into a lie and we know what we just did as the mirror is showing us.
That’s why we often reject, react or attempt to smash a mirror metaphorically speaking.
“Those who looked deeper saw that no matter how perfect their outer image was, they also saw sadness in their eyes, or hardness in their shoulders, or the extra weight that they carried.” I love this, there is such a care and love in just seeing what is going on for us if we are not truly doing well by honestly seeing our own reflection in a mirror, looking beyond the images we are portraying and seeing ourselves as.
A beautiful parable for how the journey within, the willingness to see and be honest and to live respecting that allows all of us to come back to the divinity we are.
Joel, I just love reading your blogs – reading this is such a confirmation that we are constantly reflecting to each other and I love reflecting more and more who I truly am.
“As always the mirror was impartial – the choice was theirs.” The reflection is always the truth of what we choose to see.
It is worth considering what reflection we are each offering the world. We can never stop reflecting no matter how much we may think we can live in our own little world…the question is what quality are we reflecting?
When the world is against you and feeding you the many things it sees you as, you can always return to the truth of who you are. We are all loving beings and that knowing is there within if we allow it.
I can relate to seeing people shout to take the mirror away, sometimes the reality of the reflection is very confronting and asks us to address choices we do not want to take responsibility for. If we support each other by showing that regardless of how fearful it looks, it is far safer to look and address what is holding us back, than to delay, as the delay will poison our bodies till we have to look whether we are ready or not.
Wow amazing to consider that we can all become mirrors of tremendous honesty and authenticity in the world for each other to learn from.
How do we relate to ourselves and others? What would the world look like if we studied this deeply, from young? Our relationship with ourselves is so fundamental to everything else, that addressing that helps us to let go of unhelpful behaviours that get in the way of us being who we really are, all of the time.
I love your questions Bryony. Deep observation in life is such a support to live life true in steadiness amongst all the falseness engulfing life.
If we are willing to take an honest look everything is revealed to us. The power of reflection is a true gift and we get to see all that may have been layered over that which is already divine, or we see divinity meeting itself.
Beautifully said Victoria and yes the power of reflection is indeed a true gift.
I love the magic of what is presented here we get inspired and shown by life how we are and we can then choose to take it deeper, or not until we get to the pinpoint where we are in fact mirroring for others and we can all do this for each other.
Yes a joy felt in the body to be shared with everyone.
The willingness to look beyond the surface is the key to understanding ourselves and our choices. It’s not always fun nor is it easy, but when we realise that we’re already enough, it’s easier to let go of striving for perfection and hence everything becomes simple again.
To look in a mirror that never lies is a gift from heaven. If we want to truly heal and we want to see what we bring to the world we would have no fear of looking because we would see our own divinity. Yet we are taught to be ashamed of making mistakes and not being perfect and therefore when there is a reflection that we are not perfect, all too often we blame the messenger, or the reflection, rather than address the layer of protection that hides our own divinity.
And it is our lack of self-worth that fogs the mirror and makes looking in it fearful. Self-appreciation is the polish than cleans the mirror so we can look without fear.
our reflection is gold because we can see everything we are and everything we have put between who we truly are.. And so meanwhile we can sense the divine reflection we are being pulled up to re-discover more of who we are and live by it.
When I look in the mirror these days I’m sometimes surprised how great I look. My face is open and tender. The mirror reflects my joy while my mind creates the image how I see myself. It is reflection on what I’m focusing on.
Joel, I could come back to this blog time and time again and always get something different from it – such a beautiful parable on the reflections we are constantly offered in life.
A mirror only reflects how much are we willing to go regarding ourselves. That is the true reflection it offers us.
We invest so much of our time in trying to create and chase a perfect image of ourselves and the lives we live, that we overlook the fact that who we are within far exceeds the fallacy of perfection, instead inviting us to explore and discover the realness of who we are, and the joy we can naturally live when we surrender to and embody our divinity.
‘The choice to do something about what you saw was always yours. However, without this reflection, there was no way for people to see the possibility that things were not as they seemed’. And the ever-present mirror our constant teacher, wills us to reflect more deeply, go beyond what we see on the surface and let go of all that does not belong and is not of love.
I loved what you shared in your blog Joel, being willing to go deeper knowing there is more to let go of and more light to be lived and reflected out to the whole world, “A few let go of the layers they had previously protected themselves with, appreciating the divinity that lived within them more than they feared how the world might see them. After all, they could not see this within themselves without seeing how this divinity lived in all equally.”
Universal Medicine, Serge and his family have been that mirror for me over the years and I am sure many more would attest the same. It was not always a perfect reflection, sometimes I wanted to smash the mirror, sometimes I wanted to avoid it but most of the time I was so appreciative that I could see my own beauty, that a vail had been lifted and I could feel the beauty everywhere.
So much is offered in a reflection, and many choices to how we move there after.
Lovely to read this again and it made me appreciate yet again what an amazing ‘Mirror that Never Lies” is Serge Benhayon.
Were we all to be so truly observational in life, Joel Levin. Thank-you.
And so it goes, as we go ’round and ’round, encircling the Sun and coming back lifetime after lifetime…
We are all potentially such mirrors – for all.
How others react or respond… well, that’s up to them. Either way, the presence of Divinity has been felt and it remains a marker of what is possible for us all.
I’ve loved this blog since the first time I read it. Today I was thinking as I read it ‘I know who that mirror is in my life’ but then that ending caught me by surprise, not because I’ve never read it but I felt the truth in my body of those words “appreciating the divinity that lived within them more than they feared how the world might see them. After all, they could not see this within themselves without seeing how this divinity lived in all equally.” I too am that mirror and it’s pretty cool.
Thank you Joel, what a huge blog, one of power in realization too.
This sentence totally blew away my mind…
‘A few let go of the layers they had previously protected themselves with, appreciating the divinity that lived within them more than they feared how the world might see them. After all, they could not see this within themselves without seeing how this divinity lived in all equally.’
What stood out was this particular part: ‘.., appreciating the divinity that lived within them more than they feared how the world might see them.’
From my heart what I sense is the only thing that is keeping us small is our choice to be individual, separative and or wanting to exist – as if we make it about the whole truth (universality, Oneness and togetherness) we instantly live our future and are putting individuality before anything. Because we are not made for that as we co-exist with all everything else.
When we look into the mirror what we see getting reflected back to us from the world around us may be uncomfortable and exposing but nonetheless presents us with an awareness and opportunity to change what we see.
We choose (create) the character and we work hard to be confirmed as such. Such confirmation makes our day. Such sought confirmation, yet, discourages others to keep looking, to keep observing and to keep registering what they are registering about someone beyond the character and the sought image. And, yet, there is a dweller underneath it that is truer than the created character.
The outer image that I bought into for a long time was to be the reliable, strong one and be there for everyone else, which meant that I was neglecting my own needs which left me exhausted. Thankfully these days I love to give to myself in ways that truly support me – simple things like going to bed early, being organised with food which truly nourishes my body, asking and receiving support because I am worth it, and much more….And I reflect to others all the choices I am living as we all do.
What you share here is sharing so much in one, from the way in which we can hold ourselves indifferent to our true reflection and our free will to uncover and how far we go, it is for us to choose.
A powerful story Joel, and one that has much depth available to anyone who cares to look.
Such a beautiful parable Joel. We see what we want to see in the mirror. I can look so different from one day to the next, all depending on how I feel.
A great blog Joel, it had me smiling right from the start, a mirror that never lies, it made me realise how easy it would be to see ourselves with the reflection we present, when we are all capable of looking more deeply at ourselves and change our reflection, just by making more loving and honest choices, it is always a deeper unfolding that continues the more we uncover our true selves.
I love how us choosing to see the divinity within others would mean allowing others to see their own divinity within, if they choose to, and that’s how we evolve back, all together.
It always fascinates me how I can look different in the mirror according to how I feel, what I’ve chosen and what things I have taken on, I actually can look different from one day to the next – our bodies never lie!
True Meg, me too, the body registers and reflects everything in varying shades of light.
The power of reflection is so rarely talked about, yet it’s something that affects us deeply everyday. The fact that there are so many societal norms that are self abusive makes me wonder if how people live reflect a norm that others give their power to. If everyone is doing the same thing is that through reflection? If it is then what’s our responsibility to reflect everyday, and what is reflected back to us about how society is? When a more evolved or more loving reflection comes along what do we do with that, especially if it stands alone? Do we yell at it to go away, choose to change, or ignore it and stay with the majority? And what about what our own body reflects to us everyday, do we go with what feels true inside ourselves? So much to ponder on thank you Joel!
Such a beautiful reminder on the power of reflection, and how it always inspires and supports us to evolve.
A powerful reminder that there is no end to the depth of connection to our divinity that is eternally waiting to be realised, lived and expressed through all that we do and all we meet here on earth.
Another extraordinarily powerful blog Joel. I shall endeavour to bring these words to mind daily “The mirror was impartial to those who stayed and those who moved on. All it could do is reflect to the depth people chose. The choice to do something about what you saw was always yours. However, without this reflection, there was no way for people to see the possibility that things were not as they seemed.”
“Some used these reflections to refine their choices – they took responsibility for what they saw and knew the only change worth making was to go deeper and become more responsible for their choices.” Every day from others and from life we are offered reflections, the choice is ours as to whether we are open to receive these reflections, so we can go deeper in our evolution.
So much on offer here for us…”All it could do is reflect to the depth people chose. The choice to do something about what you saw was always yours. However, without this reflection, there was no way for people to see the possibility that things were not as they seemed.” I feel blessed to have so many reflections from Universal Medicine practitioners and students. What do we choose?
I find this blog an incredible gift to read. I always find I go deeper each time in what it offers. Just like the reflections we are offered, if we are willing to go deeper there is evolution on offer. Thank you joel.
There are times when I have had a deeper understanding or reflection of myself and can feel that I don’t fully live all that I am. It is also very beautiful when others reflect and share with us something different through what they live or when they share something grander they feel in us that invites us to live this more deeply.
Joel reading this today I got a deeper understanding of how the joy we feel and see is not just for us, and how it’s about living that joy in a way that shows another ever and always that they too are that joy – to become the mirror for another, so that they too may be who they are and become a mirror for another and anon. We are designed to ripple out and affect all around us living the joy we are, it’s not just for us, it’s for all.
Awesome to be reminded that we don’t have to do anything (trying to help, fix solve other’s problems), we just have to live true to ourselves and its all there in our reflection.
“Some used these reflections to refine their choices – they took responsibility for what they saw and knew the only change worth making was to go deeper and become more responsible for their choices.” What reflections are we willing to show ourselves and the world? How far does our responsibility go?