The Universe as a Mirror

In this episode of Pearls of Wisdom, I explore an ancient idea that has fascinated spiritual seekers for centuries:

As within, so without.

What if the world around us is not simply happening to us, but reflecting something back to us?

Most of us naturally look outward when challenges arise. We focus on situations, circumstances, and other people as the source of our happiness or unhappiness, but what if there is another way of looking at life?

Drawing inspiration from the Hermetic Principle of Correspondence, I explore the possibility that our outer experience mirrors aspects of our inner world - not as a reason for blame or self-judgement, but as an opportunity for greater awareness and personal empowerment.

In this episode, I reflect on:

• The principle of "As within, so without"
• Why reactivity can be a doorway to self-understanding
• How our beliefs, emotions, and patterns shape our experience of life
• The difference between reacting to life and consciously creating it
• Why inner stillness is the foundation of transformation
• How changing our inner world can change our experience of the outer world

Whether or not we take this principle literally, approaching life as though it is reflecting something back to us can be a powerful path of self-discovery, because when we change what is happening within, something magical begins to happen without!

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Instead of saying, I want that person to change, I want the circumstances to change, I want all that pattern to stop, it's not fair, why does that keep happening to me? Instead, investigate what it's reflecting back. Welcome to Pires of Wisdom. Today is a very exciting day because I have new recording equipment. And this is the Virgin Voyage. And I'm all alone, I've got no tech support. And Ardi, my husband, um well, he bought it for me for my birthday first, and then he showed me how to use it on Sunday. And I feel like I'm a sound engineer. I love it in musicals or theatre generally, when you walk behind the sound deck and all the twiddles and buttons and all of that. Anyway, I've had to do all that. I've had to make sure everything's the right level and everything now in front of me is all flashing away. So I'm assuming it's working. I've had a kind of test run and checked that everything was as it should be. So I think we're good to go. And I'd really like to give a shout out to Lloyd. Thank you, Lloyd, for encouraging me to get some better recording equipment and to change the intro and outro and make it a bit more slick. So here we are, the slicked version of Pearls of Wisdom. And today I'd like to investigate the saying, so within, so without, as above, so below, as the universe, so the soul. And this is one of the Hermetic principles, and they're a philosophical spiritual tradition. They were created by a sage called Hermes Trist Magistas. Let's get his name right. I think I've pronounced it right. That was in 1908, and if they are unpacked, I'm I love the Hermetic principles. I'm only going to investigate the one today because the seven, well, maybe a bit much for one podcast. But if you unpack them, they can be applied to life. They're seven universal laws, and if we understand them, it allows us to experience ourselves, experience the truth of who we are, but navigate this human experience, knowing ourselves as spiritual beings. And so the the phrase so within, so without, as above, so below, as the universe, so the soul, is essentially saying that everything, everything is a reflection of our inner state. The universe reflects our soul. Everything is a reflection of us. So life absolutely is a mirror. And that I think, and as I say, my the my ways of seeing the world and being, if it resonates with you, that's great, but obviously it, you know, it's just a an investigation. But I believe that if we see life as a mirror, we can free ourselves. Because instead of saying that everything's happening out there, that the universe or the immediate surroundings, our the people around us, that you know, there aren't such things as difficult people. In our my training when in systemic psychotherapy, it's very much about being part of the system. And we were always told early on, there are never any difficult clients. There are not such such a thing as difficult clients. It's all part of something to do with you, and that's essentially it. There aren't any difficult people. There aren't any circumstances that are well, I when I say that, of course, we experience difficult people, and we experience difficult circumstances, and we experience life as being unfair, or us having bad luck, or things repeatedly happening to us. And so I'm not saying that anybody's experiences aren't valid or that they're not having very difficult times with um relationships and um situations and all sorts of things. So I certainly never would minimize the journey people are on, and this is only a position to go from, and if as I say, if it resonates and it's useful, then you can take it deeper. But from a spiritual perspective, I it's a the way I would um or have oriented my life to investigate instead of saying, I want that person to change, I want the circumstances to change, I want all that pattern to stop, it's not fair, why does that keep happening to me? Instead, investigate what it's reflecting back because it's very empowering, even if it's not true, even if you don't think this is true, which is absolutely, totally, of course, everybody's um we can all have our own views, our own ways of seeing things. But even if it's not true, let's look at it from just for this 20 minutes. But what if we assumed that it's all me? Everything, everything's a reflection of me. It's quite a fun game, actually. It's quite fun to do it just as a as a practice, start doing it. I I was running in Battersea Park this morning, and it it's quite interesting just to see what we what we've got happening unfolding in front of us, which is something to do with us. Even a small thing. I was fascinated by all these banners and a I can't remember the same phrase now. It was something like don't we love running, or we all love running, or running is we love, or something to do with loving running anyway. And it was a great big banner and a little table, and I was intrigued, and I was looking at all this thing of don't we love to run or we love running or love of running or whatever it was. Obviously, I didn't observe it acutely enough. Anyway, I ran, I was running down the road straight towards these people who were filming this woman talking because I was so busy looking at all the the running thing, and I said, Oh, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry. Um, and I dived to the side, and they said, No, we're in your way, we're in your way, because they were right in the middle of the path. But it was a very nice exchange, and I said, Oh, I'm so sorry, I didn't realise you were filming because I was so busy looking at your banners and everything. But all that something to do with me. Now I'm not going to go into any great investigation as to what that was, but it's something, it was fun, it was a lovely exchange. They were very friendly, and then they said, Right, let's start that again. And so I ran into their film set, I ran into their film. Um, yeah, what's that? Interesting, but it was fun, it was enjoyable. Obviously, I um, you know, running and the love of running and the whole experience of running is very much a reflection of me, but it's quite fun just to do that from uh it's and it's empowering to also I didn't feel um in any way bad or wrong or that I was a naughty girl for you know making them start their film again. I didn't feel anything other than that it was a nice exchange and they were lovely because they said no, we're in your way. So, all in all, it was human connection, and we were all in some ways taking responsibility for our part. I've only just thought that actually. We were, we were all we were all respectful, and that was nice. So that's you know, that might be something to do with what it is, it's the respect of all of us, and that we're all dancing in this life together in our own rhythm, but we can all, you know, be kind to each other. And yeah, what if we did assume that there's nobody to blame? Not ourselves either, because as I said, you know, obviously I was running down the road in their film, um, but I didn't blame myself and go into some negative thing about myself because there's you know, ultimately it's all it's all me isn't a blame thing, it's not saying that we're you know we're wrong or bad, it's just going, let's see if what this reflection reveals to me, and only us will know it in the end. That's why it's such an empowering way to live. And the tantric monks live that way. I mean, they do a lot for um clearing, clearing, clearing, clearing, clearing the way to be um free, to know themselves, to experience this whole vast space that is us, the inner, the inner space of all that is and ever was and ever will be. This people often say about finding that um emptiness within, but in fact, the emptiness is complete fullness, it's space, it's it's limitless. And the tantric monks practice is to experience that spaciousness in themselves and in the universe, there is nothing but space and infinite, infinite love, infinite consciousness, infinity forever and ever, of space, space and uh truth. And so the tantric monks they do lots of practices uh to experience that. They do um, you know, lots of breath work, excuse me, breath work, meditations, chanting uh yoga, heating themselves up from the inside out with yoga. I think there's lots of practices to I love the Gaioutu monks. Um, I don't know if you've heard them, they do really deep chanting, it's gorgeous. So lots of chanting to clear, but essentially it's to clear to know themselves, and part of what they do is they do see the external as a reflection of them, and if anything prompts difficult emotions, then they will use that to transform, they will stay with it, stay with everything that occurs within them because they know that that's that if it's been triggered by the external, which obviously it has generally, then that is a route to freedom, to stay with the emotions, stay with the emotions, stay with the emotion, and clear and clear and clear to a space of of freedom. Because it is also recognizing, of course, if we're coming back to our own experience, that if we have a group of people, or even two people, and a situation occurs, somebody behaves in a certain way, or something happens, the same event happens in front of us, or to us, or with us, or all the things, each person will have a different inner response which demonstrates it's not the external, it's the inner. Because there can be the same outer experience going on, and then a different inner response, which means that it's all to do with us, and that I know I've seen that with families, you know, work with people, people have similar parenting, not always, they don't always have similar parenting, but sometimes there's the same situation going on at home, but different children will have completely different response because of their own inner journey, and basically often instead of going from this position, so of course, going from this position of it's all me and any single response we have internally to an external thing that's going on, therefore it's for us to clear away or stay with the anger, the fear, the disappointment, the over excitement, all the things to stay with it, stay with it, because it's an opportunity for freedom, clarity, stillness. And ultimately, if we are experiencing any drama in the external realms, anything that we don't like, then and any kind of rockiness and upset dissonance, that is a direct arrow to the lack of stillness within us. And the more we work on the stillness within us, the more we work on that ease within, the we don't have the external rockiness. But often people will have a repeated pattern because they'll have a you know something going on in the in their lives, and it keeps going on, it keeps happening, and of course they keep creating well, we we've probably all done it, you know. Um, we all have done it, I'm sure. We've created what we don't want again and again and again because we've um been so resistant to it, we've been so pushing back against it, that ironically, the thoughts we have and the real response we have to it, it just keeps creating and creating because anger creates more anger, fear creates more fear, um, and it goes you know deeper and deeper into anxiety creates more anxiety, whereas clearing ultimately creates space, freedom, peace, awareness, and there there aren't any shortcuts. There isn't a shortcut to clearing, to recognizing that when we have a response to an external thing going on, a person, a situation, when we have a response to it, it's a reflection of us. So something so something's going on, and and we have this play out. It's uh another of the hermatic principles is it's all mind, and that basically is referring to the fact that there's the infinite mind that created all that is, and we are sparks of the infinite mind, and we're ever creating, so we are consciousness experiencing itself, we're creating and creating and creating, and therefore we can keep creating what we don't want, and of course, um, in this paradigm, it's not particularly speedy often to shift the the patterns because they're very entrenched. So then, one of the ways of starting to create a different reflection on the outer realms and to have a different experience of the world is to, when the same thing happens again, have a different response. So the person behaves in the same way as always, and instead of reacting and acting out the reaction and the whole argument happening again, or the whole, or even if it's not an argument, just reacting to how you see somebody behaving, then the whole thing repeats, and even from your vision, so it might even be seeing something through you know, on the in the news, or something that is not directly happening in your own life, but you are part of it, or we are part of it, if we still keep having the same response to it, because we will we'll see the same thing going on. Whereas if we start to have a different response, and the same with um you know circumstances or a thing happening, something unfolding, some behaviour going on at work which we don't like, if instead we're able to have some presence and have a an acceptance and have a different response to it, gradually you'll see that there's a different play out, or you won't mind, therefore, it obviously is a different play out. Um because to go from a position that everything is a reflection of us takes a lot of awareness and a lot of patience and practice, and there are no shortcuts because it's listening to our language as well, because we'll think that the everything's out you know, out there, this has happened, that's happened, this person's done that, that person hasn't done this. Now, obviously, that does go on. People do behave in all sorts of ways. People don't, you know, things don't arrive on time, people don't do what they say they're going to do, you know, all those things um happen, but again, if we start um clearing away our reaction to it, for a start we don't have the same experience of it, or we start to to have um we don't have the same experience if it happens again. I mean if there's a continual a continual pattern with somebody or people who work you work with and they never get back to you, or they never do what they say they're gonna do, or all these things. If you start to recognise it's something to do with you, and you will start to investigate that and see where that where that first happened in your life, because often it is simply just a pattern repeating itself that happened way back, probably probably in your family, but very early, maybe friendships, early friendships, and therefore it's a it's your pattern. And when you really take responsibility and go, okay, this is my pattern, it doesn't look like my pattern because this happening, that person's doing that, but when you go, no, this is my pattern, and you stay with that, and you stay with it, and you stay with it, and you stay with it, it's fascinating how things change, and then it comes to the situation where either you you create a different response or that something different happens inside you, and you're not railing against the thing, and you're accepting it, then either it isn't a problem, and you work your life with that those patterns, and they're therefore not problematic, or you um because the railing against it stopped, or you can or you find that they leave or you leave, and the whole thing changes. Um, and and you your life can can change. The thing is, of course, people are so familiar with themselves and their identity with themselves, they're identify identified with the patterns as much as anything, and kind of gives people something to do with their mind often to go in the drama of disappointment or crossness or all the things that go on, and making you know life being difficult, all that. But it is recognizing okay, so things aren't happening to me. The things outside me are showing me something about me. That really, if we keep doing that, and you keep doing it and keep reminding yourself throughout the day, because it's very easy just to go unconscious, it's very easy just to go forget that completely, and just every so often pay a bit of lip service to it. But what if you literally did investigate or experiment? It's no harm doing an experiment, is it? And going, okay, I'll do at least, I'll do at least a day, and then I'll do at least a week from the position of things aren't happening to me, they're showing me, and get really curious what's it showing you, what's it showing you? What do you think this is showing you? Because it's all individual, it's all all different, isn't it? Everything. Because everything everything actually invites you deeper into yourself, everything. And therefore, if you change your inner world and you do that through essentially clearing, essentially any ripple on the lake of stillness, you clear, and you do that by not adding a narrative to it, feeling uh you know, there's probably been a narrative that's created the the feeling, but you still the mind and you just go, I am where I am, I am where I am, I'm here now, all is well, and you breathe deeply, and you clear, you clear that, or you let that emotion dissipate, you watch it change colour if that's useful to you. Sometimes the colour shifting helps, but you just allow that energy to go and you keep changing your inner world, you keep changing your inner world, and just watch the outer respond.