vendredi 18 octobre 2024

Dùthchas: The Mirror Image


 If you have skied or snowboarded, you will recognise the waves of snow in the clouds above. Travelling on an airplane to the mainland, and looking down at the clouds below, it looks like a frozen Canadian landscape. In parts of the World, earth and sky are mirror images.

    That is what Lochs, on the Isle of Lewis, is like on calm mornings: many mirror images of the earth at its side. The croft and machair is reflected back onto itself from the fluid, dark waters and wells.

   Living in the human world, we reflect back upon ourselves as well. Children learn this early in life. They learn the sounds of their first language (L1) by having them mimicked back to them by a parent, carer or sibling. They learn to input connection and engagement with the people around them to see what they get back. In this way, they are seeing a reflection of what others think of them. They are creating a database of who they are based upon the mirror image from the loch of society.

   When I was first married, the advice my mathair gave me was: 'you need to give love to get love'. I like to think I have followed this, but sometimes the lessons mirrored back are not always what we put in. Sometimes you are giving, serving, but the image you receive back is very different. It might be one of neglect, disrespect, even distain. Yet, it is still useful information. In these cases, you learn this is not a pure reflection. This is a tainted path. The 'loch' reflects your intended needs, and if it is disturbed or altered, you need only reflect on the lesson ahead. Where can your work be best received?

   Watch the waters. Learn from the reflection you are broadcasting, and the lessons the audience is sending.



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