mirror, mirror... ?

[t3gah]

This is the scenario:

You're looking back to the first time you discovered there was a God who cared about you.

While looking into a mirror, what new reflection do you see of the "new you"?

 

[Jaymes]

Well, my gods aren't exactly personal, loving gods the way the Christian one is, so I really don't have anything to look back to.

 

[Master Vigil]

The first time I realized that their was no god that "loved" me, I looked in the mirror and said, "WOW!!!! I look great!!!! I'm finally focusing on myself and not an idea shoved into my head!!!!

 

[FyreBrigidIce]

Frubals for the Master.

Bravo.

 

[Doc]

When I looked at myself in the mirror, I discovered I was not just a troubled youth too caught up in materialism and social status, but instead had become an enlightened thinker looking at my true self instead of my ragged exterior.

 

[Bastet]

I looked into the mirror and realised that I loved myself exactly as I am, and that I didn't need another person (or God), to complete me. It was an enlightening moment...no God required.

 

[Feathers in Hair]

I looked into the mirror and realised that I loved myself exactly as I am, and that I didn't need another person (or God), to complete me. It was an enlightening moment...no God required.

I just wanted to steal Bastets' perfect post, since it captured exactly how I felt. Although I do happen to believe in several gods and goddesses, the thought that they and I knew that my existance was complete with or without their help was a powerful one. So I'm stealing her quote, and then adding "and then I smiled."

 

[Mr Spinkles]

I don't remember the first time I realized there is a god who cares about me...nor do I remember the first time I realized there isn't.

How would you answer your question, t3gah?

 

[jewscout]

::looks in mirror:: What the hell is that thing on my head?!?!?!

.....oh wait it's a kippah oops.

 

[cardero]

t3gah writes: You're looking back to the first time you discovered there was a God who cared about you.

When I looked at myself in the mirror I realized I was naked and quickly put on some clothes-it didn't help.

 

[t3gah]

I don't remember the first time I realized there is a god who cares about me...nor do I remember the first time I realized there isn't.

How would you answer your question, t3gah?

My parable concerning an oreo cookie might not be atuned to the answer so I guess I'd have to say that I see the same person on the outside and since I can't see inside, well, wait... my smile is bigger now because I know something is out there.

Beats waiting for my goldfish to show it loves me.

 

[lilithu]

This is the scenario:

You're looking back to the first time you discovered there was a God who cared about you.

While looking into a mirror, what new reflection do you see of the "new you"?

Your question seems to assume some sort of transformation.

The first time that I experienced that there is a God who cares about me I was too young to think of it as a discovery. It was a new experience but then many experiences were new to me - I was not surprised by it.

I was 7, and had found a crawl space that led to a snug pocket within a thicket of trees and shrubbery in a park near our house. It was too small for an adult to enter and therefore just the kind of place that would be attractive to a kid. As I sat there listening to the chirping of birds and humming of insects, felt the sunshine warm my skin in bands as it filtered thru leafy branches, and felt the cool dirt underneath and the sturdiness of the eucalyptus against my back, I heard a voice. That's not quite right, because I didn't hear a physical voice (except for the birds and insects) with my physical ears, but nonetheless I heard a voice, or voices, I don't know how else to relate it. And it said, "I am/we are/you are part of me/us." It said all three of these at the same time, because it didn't actually use words, yet I understood... and again, I don't know how to describe it; words are woefully inadequate. And I knew an absolute sense of acceptance and belonging that I had never felt before. But I didn't think of this as a discovery... only something good that I wanted to experience again.

If I experienced any kind of transformation it wasn't until much later, in graduate school and then again as a postdoc, when I finally realized that if I was looking for proof of God I had had it all along, if I could only accept it as such.