The Magic Mirror Gate

"Where were we?" Engywook asked.

"At the Great Riddle Gate," Atreyu reminded him.

"Right. Now suppose you've managed to get through. Then - and only then - the second gate will be there for you,
the Magic Mirror Gate. This second gate is both open and closed. Sounds crazy, doesn't it?

The point is that this gate seems to be a big mirror or something of the kind, though it's made neither of glass nor of metal. What it is made of, no one has ever been able to tell me. Anyway, when you stand before it, you see yourself. But not as you would in an ordinary mirror. You don't see your outward appearance; what you see is your real innermost nature. If you want to go through, you have to - in a manner of speaking - go into yourself."

"Well," said Atreyu. "It seems to me that this Magic Mirror Gate is easier to get through than the first."

"Wrong!" cried Engywook. Once again he began to trot back and forth in agitation. "Dead wrong, my friend! I've known travelers who considered themselves absolutely blameless to yelp with horror and run away at the sight of the monster grinning out of the mirror at them. We had to care for some of them for weeks before they were even able to start home."

"We!" growled Urgl, who was passing with another bucket of water. "I keep hearing we. When did you ever take care of anybody?"

Engywook waved her away.

"Others," he went on lecturing, "appear to have seen something even more horrible, but had the courage to go through. What some saw was not so frightening, but it still cost every one of them an inner struggle. Nothing I can say would apply to all. It's a different experience each time."

"Good," said Atreyu. "Then at least it's possible to go through this Magic Mirror Gate?"

"Oh yes, of course it's possible, or it wouldn't be a gate. Where's your logic, my boy?"

"But it's also possible to go around it," said Atreyu. "Or isn't it?"

"Yes indeed," said Engywook. "Of course it is. But if you do that, there's nothing more behind it.

The third gate isn't there until you've gone through the second."

Michael Ende: The Neverending Story


Ask yourself the Great Riddle: What is this that I am seeing in my daily self-talk? What is this that I am seeing in my environment? What is this chair? this car? this computer? this dollar bill? We assign meaning to all that we imagine, and all that we see. By asking yourself these questions, you can enter the Magic Mirror of your life and there you will see some image, either horrible or nice, but realize that it is just an image. Go through that image and you enter the Third Gate, the Kingdom of Heaven.