According to that irrefutable source, Alexa, the first known mirror dates from about 9000 b.c.e. Humans have been obsessed with seeing themselves in the mirror for a very long time indeed. I suspect we project into the mirror the image we want to see rather than the one actually there. It’s a little like the image of God we project into the mirror of our minds and imagination. We see the God we want and expect to see not God as God actually is. We need to be reminded that we are created in the image of God, not God created in our image.
The image of God we create reflects back to us an image of our selves. Some of us think ourselves to be strong, competent, and self reliant. Others’ self identity is of powerlessness, vulnerability, and weakness. We are complicated creatures capable of acting one way while feeling another unsure of which is real. We are sensitive about what’s unfair, stacked against us, undeserved, etc. We can be vengeful, generous, miserly and merciful. We take great pride in accomplishments as if we had no help from anyone. It’s our complicated, erratic nature that creates images of God who appears to imitate our own emotions, prejudices, assumptions, fears and beliefs taught since childhood. Scripture is clear that we are created in God’s image not the other way round. The images of God we create are often what we expect of God depending on our mood, condition in life, sense of self, and the like. They are reflections of our own selves not.
Our predilection to see God as mirror image of ourselves is not a condemnation. It’s just reality but there’s another and greater reality. We see the fullness of God in the face of Christ Jesus who is the image of the self God is calling us to recognize as our destiny. In that image, we are called to become our better selves by following in the way Jesus prepared for us. Our better selves are not perfect, they are just better, but with the sure and certain promise of perfection in a new life beyond the grave. In the meantime the image of God we are to see in the mirror is Jesus who calls us to work on becoming the better person we can be with God’s help. In the wisdom of AA it’s one day at a time.
Steve, I remember watching dogs play in Pioneer Park when the question occurred to me “if dogs had a god, what breed would it be?” Anytime I shared this question with a person, they always had a very firm opinion!!