Mirrors

I am not a dualist in the strictest sense of the word, but there are experiences and longings that can only point to a world beyond us - a world our human angst can only hint at. A favorite mystic says it well:

Just as a mirror, which reflects all things, is set in its own container, so too the rational soul is placed in the fragile container of the body. In this way, the body is governed in its earthly life by the soul, and the soul contemplates heavenly things through faith.

HILDEGARD OF BINDEN, letter to the Monk Guibert, 1175