“The happiest man on earth would be able to use the Mirror of Erised like a normal mirror, that is, he would look into it and see himself exactly as he is… It shows us nothing more or less than the deepest, most desperate desire of our hearts.”
from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J. K. Rowling
Wesleyan wants to bring in good entertainment for us on the weekends so we have something fun and interesting to do. We’ve had ice skating, casino nights, comedians, game shows, and movies.
What would happen if we brought the Mirror of Erised to Wesleyan?
The line would have just about every student, faculty, or staff member in it. One person will have gone around and leaked, before really knowing what it was about, that the mirror was meant to show you your future.
That’s one of the main things that we secretly, and not so secretly, desire as living people – we want to know what the future holds. We want to know so we can change our direction in life if we’re off-course. No one, in this fast-paced, intentional-or-bust culture wants to go around life without direction, wasting time.
Then as you approach the mirror, you are told that it is actually to show you your “deepest, most desperate desire” in your heart.
Some people leave the line because they don’t want to see that, it’s a rip off.
You want to see who you’re going to marry and how many kids you’ll have and how your major is going to influence the next 10-15 years of your life.
YOU WANNA KNOW.
Say you do stay in line, it’s your turn.
You walk up to the mirror with your eyes closed, afraid of what you will see.
Then you open your eyes.
What do you see?
Do you see something that you know, something you know that you want, or will it be a surprise that what is in your reflection of self is something you haven’t thought about in a long time. You’ve suppressed it because it wasn’t “accessible”, “acceptable”, or you felt you were incompetent to do that.
Maybe it’s time that you looked inside yourself and asked why your “deepest, most desperate desire” seems so out-of-reach. Find out why you’re not going after your dreams.
Then, do something about it. Stop letting your dreams fall by the wayside. They’re in you for a reason. There’s also a reason why the person sitting next to you, your roommate, your friends, and your family may have different dreams than you do. They’re not meant to live your life. Only you can do that.
What can you do to work toward achieving your dreams today?