The Room Of Thousand Mirrors

"Don't blame me for your image. I reveal only what your mind believes it sees," said the mirror.

My coffee was getting cold; I was late for the meeting. My phone was screaming with calls while lying on the table. My car was deliberately waiting to drive through the chaotic roads. Everything seemed to be in action. Amidst this chaos, the only ones who stood still were me and my bedroom mirror staring at each other. At that time, two frames of reality existed for me. One was the worldly chaos while the other was nothingness, in which I and the mirror stood with no movement. All the life thriving outside had no shadow over my reality. For me, the only thing that existed was my mortal body and the mirror while the rest was nothing but the dark. My soul was resonating between me and the mirror. I had no consciousness of the outside world. What I was looking at was the reflection of one of my faces that I never wore. It had every element of my appearance, yet it seemed unfamiliar. The mirror said, "You were so lost fabricating your reality, you forgot your true self. All this time you transcended through different faces but, you forgot to carry the one you were born with. What did you think? You can leave me behind and forget in the name of growth. Look! I found you again." It told me that everyone has to confront this face once in their life.

Looking at this old relic, I tried to convince myself that this is not real. It is a mere dream that went awry; may be due to a stressful schedule. But I could not escape it, which scared me. I tried to run away from the mirror as far as possible but, all I witnessed, was a continuum of darkness. I had no clue in which direction I should go, I ran and kept running until I found something shining at a distance. I approached the tiny source of light, assuming it could be the way out. It did not work and I found myself trapped inside my subconscious mind. Again, the mirror was standing in front of me but, this time with a new face. What I saw was not an unfamiliar face; instead, it was something that I wore in front of society. I was not happy with its appearance. It looked deceitful and narcissistic, which took away my pride from me. Most of us use to be proud of whatever we build of ourselves. The standard we set up in the society proves to be the basis of our pride. What will happen if suddenly your pride tears apart? Our usual reaction will make us sad but what happened to me was the point of resurrection for me. I thanked the mirror for showing me the truth. After all, what is the point of being proud of if all your pride rests on a false basis?

I thought the mirror had made me realise my truth so that I could return but, it had planned something big for me. As an explosion of surprise, a thousand mirrors stood all around me, each with a different face of me. Each face resembled some part of me which made me think again about my definition of reality. You can imagine how terrified would I be at the moment. I asked, "What do you want from me? You showed me my first face and made me realised where I stand, now what is lacking?." The mirror answered, "What you saw was the origin of your legacy. Everyone follows different paths to become the one he/she is willing or destined to become. Still, they all have to depart with the same face, find that face and you are free to go." Trapped in the room of thousand mirrors, I had no idea what did I miss. All I could see was a thousand faces but, inability to find the right one drove me crazy. Everything reappeared in a loop and could not stop. Then I got the answer which is the whole basis of my existence and the ultimate truth. We are born with an empty face and leave with the same. No matter what part of us we show to the world, in the end, we have to confront the same defenceless, empty and vulnerable face. Now the darkness started to fade away gradually. My mind rebooted to find my coffee was still waiting for me. I took a sip and stepped out of the door with a new perspective. I stepped in the world with a new version of myself to launch the power I unleashed. As it is said, every sunset is an opportunity to reset.