Broken Mirror Part #2

Earlier I made a post about a broken mirror

It was the ancient Romans who first suggested the idea of a broken mirror bringing seven years bad luck. This stems from another piece of Roman lore stating that every seven years life would renew itself and any broken parts of your life – such as health issues – would be fixed.

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Have you ever wondered what’s happening when you connect with a person and then, some time later, you see aspects of their personality that you don’t like? Jacques Lacan’s mirror theory has something to say about this process.

According to Lacan, we construct our identity by reflecting it onto others. Thus, the relationships we have with others are reflections or projections of aspects of our personality that we do or don’t like.

What is mirror theory?

Just like how there are parts of our body and appearance that we don’t like when we look in the mirror, there are also aspects of our personality that we don’t want to accept. The things we hate the most in other people are actually inside us, at least in a symbolic way. To put it another way, what we dislike in others is also what we dislike about ourselves.

Mirror theory can act in a direct or inverse way. Let’s take an example. Say you can’t stand how selfish your friend is. In a direct way, you may be projecting the selfish part of you that you refuse to see. On the other hand, in an inverse way, they might be reflecting how selfless you are. Maybe you’re always caring for others and forgetting yourself. Either way it is valuable information if you want to get to know yourself and grow.