THE STORY OF TRUE MIRRORS
A Radical New Way to View Oneself

Chapter 1:

This is the short story of True Mirrors, how something as simple as two mirrors together at right angles has created a brand new way to see ourselves, creating an intriguing set of questions for how and where it can be beneficial.

The idea idea for a non-reversing mirror is at least 2000 years old, where a Hero of Alexander described it in 1CE (Mark Pendergrast found it while researching in his excellent Mirror Mirror book.)

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THE STORY OF TRUE MIRRORS
A Radical New Way to View Oneself

Chapter 2: John Walter’s discovery

Even though the idea for non-reversing mirrors has been in the public domain since 1887, there has never been any mention in the literature about how we communicate with ourselves in this new reflection. Turns out it can be wildly different, especially in our most expressive moments.

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THE STORY OF TRUE MIRRORS
A Radical New Way to View Oneself

Chapter 3: Sharing the experience

After the rather ground-shaking experience of seeing himself in this new, non-reversed way, John immediately tried to show other people. Surprisingly, no one seemed to know what he was talking about! In fact, it took years and years of trying to explain it in words that people could understand. It’s still a work in progress, because people are so different in their response to their own True Image. It also depended on the optics getting correct, which is partially why these mirrors never caught on before – if it’s not perfect, it’s hard to use it.

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THE STORY OF TRUE MIRRORS
A Radical New Way to View Oneself

Chapter 4: The Theory of True Mirror Communication

Why should one’s reflection in a non-reversed mirror create a such a better way to communicate with oneself? What is it about the traditional reversing mirror that makes it difficult to see and interact naturally with yourself?

The answer appears to be related to the differences in our right and left sides, how our faces portray different messages, probably due to the way our brains are operating when we express ourselves.

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THE STORY OF TRUE MIRRORS
A Radical New Way to View Oneself
Chapter 5: The Uncanny Valley of the True Mirror Experience

The biggest surprise of showing others the True Mirror was to find out that so many, more than half(!), immediately disliked what they saw in the True Mirror. One big reason is the “Wow that creeps me out!” (The other big reason is “Yikes, I’m so crooked!”, but that’s the next chapter)

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THE STORY OF TRUE MIRRORS
A Radical New Way to View Oneself
Chapter 6 : Ack! I’m Crooked!

So many people feel totally asymmetric and out of balance when they look in the True Mirror. It’s not a pretty sight, and has led many to run away and never want to come back.

It feels almost like a “Picasso Skew”, where the face feels stretched in different directions and things just don’t line up. Things look bigger or smaller, higher or lower, tilted and crooked…

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THE STORY OF TRUE MIRRORS
A Radical New Way to View Oneself

Chapter 7: Mirror Work in the True Mirror

“Mirror Work” describes a process where one looks into one’s own eyes for a long time, with the idea of enabling deep, long and meaningful interactions. On the other side of this work can be a much healthier individual, where more self-knowledge and awareness brings many good things.

Louise Hay, who developed this practice, has a great introduction to the concept on her webpage at https://www.louisehay.com/what-is-mirror-work/

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THE STORY OF TRUE MIRRORS
A Radical New Way to View Oneself

Chapter 7,Part 2: Mirror Work…the easier kind

In the previous section, we talked about the concept of Mirror Work, where one spends an extended time looking and processing what is seen in a mirror. It’s notoriously hard, and most people shy away from such a confrontive experience. There are benefits, but it appears there is a long and difficult path to get there.

But what if Mirror Work was hard because the interface is incorrect? What if it was a lot easier if our natural faces were present and functioning when doing this deep work?

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THE STORY OF TRUE MIRRORS
A Radical New Way to View Oneself
Chapter 8: True Mirrors and the Mainstream? NOT!!!

If True Mirrors are so good, why aren’t they everywhere?
 
Mr. Walter has been bringing this concept to the public since 1992, showing the mirror itself to more than 30,000 people, featured in more than 70 major media spots, installed in more than 30 museums, and sold more than 5000 True Mirrors into 40 countries.
 
More than half of the people he has shown it to have seen dramatic, and oftentimes positive differences between the mirror and the True Mirror.

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THE STORY OF TRUE MIRRORS
A Radical New Way to View Oneself
Chapter 9 Uses and Benefits

So what is a True Mirror good for? Figuring this out has turned out to be just as challenging as perfecting the optics. Over time, Walter identified more than 20 applications that are possible, but some are so brand new that the world still is not ready for them.

At the core is the profound idea that the person looking back from the True Mirror is an accurate representation, and in contrast, the person looking back from mirrors really is different from what is real. Close, yes, but it’s missing key elements of who we are, how we are, and how we express ourselves. It’s tends to be static, not animated, as we are in real life.

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THE STORY OF TRUE MIRRORS

A Radical New Way to View Oneself

Chapter 10 The Hair Part Theory and True Mirrors

The True Mirror was such a big deal to John Walter because he literally changed his life after switching his hair part from right to left in 1979, when he was just 19, an experience that led to the strange but surprisingly accurate Hair Part Theory.

He was looking in the mirror and wondering once again why pictures always looked kind of weird, but that his mirror image always looked fine. Suddenly he realized that he was looking at a guy with a left part in the mirror, but was wearing a right part in real life. He switched it to the left. It looked funny now in the mirror, but he reasoned that it probably looked better in real life.

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