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The Second Test
Jul. 16th, 2003 12:56 amFalcor: I knew he would be safe.
Engywook: Nonsense! You don't understand anything! The worst one is coming up! Next is the magic mirror gate -- Atreyu has to face his true self!
Falcor: So what? That won't be too hard for him.
Engywook: Oh, that's what everyone thinks. But kind people find that they are cruel. Brave men discover that they are really cowards. Confronted with their true selves, most men run screaming!
VIEW: of Atreyu in a blizzard. He approaches the mirror gate and looks into it. After a while, he sees Bastien reading the story. Bastien looks up, then throws the book across the room.
Bastien: No. This is going too far.
I caught a glimpse of myself in a mirror yesterday without realizing it was a mirror. There are plenty of superstitions about reflections - that it's bad luck to see more than one, that they're doorways to elsewhere, that sidhe see their deaths in them. There's Alice Through the Looking Glass. There's the myth of Narcissus. I saw myself as not myself.
I think the fear of sucess is at least as common as the fear of failure. Success gives you a certain amount of responsiblity. That's why the actor of the week always seems so interested in politics. We make fun of him - all we want is to be entertained, for chrissakes - but his attempt to champion a cause stems from the recognition that fame is something heroes have.
Sometimes, you look in a mirror and notice you're strong, much stronger perhaps than you realized. People defer not because you're smart, not because you're beautiful, not because you're some gypsy bohemian ideal, but because you look like a celtic warlord who might take their heads off. Your cute friendly tank top looks more like a breastplate, or woad smeared across a bare bosom. You're beautiful, yes, but the beauty that kills people.
Engywook: Nonsense! You don't understand anything! The worst one is coming up! Next is the magic mirror gate -- Atreyu has to face his true self!
Falcor: So what? That won't be too hard for him.
Engywook: Oh, that's what everyone thinks. But kind people find that they are cruel. Brave men discover that they are really cowards. Confronted with their true selves, most men run screaming!
VIEW: of Atreyu in a blizzard. He approaches the mirror gate and looks into it. After a while, he sees Bastien reading the story. Bastien looks up, then throws the book across the room.
Bastien: No. This is going too far.
I caught a glimpse of myself in a mirror yesterday without realizing it was a mirror. There are plenty of superstitions about reflections - that it's bad luck to see more than one, that they're doorways to elsewhere, that sidhe see their deaths in them. There's Alice Through the Looking Glass. There's the myth of Narcissus. I saw myself as not myself.
I think the fear of sucess is at least as common as the fear of failure. Success gives you a certain amount of responsiblity. That's why the actor of the week always seems so interested in politics. We make fun of him - all we want is to be entertained, for chrissakes - but his attempt to champion a cause stems from the recognition that fame is something heroes have.
Sometimes, you look in a mirror and notice you're strong, much stronger perhaps than you realized. People defer not because you're smart, not because you're beautiful, not because you're some gypsy bohemian ideal, but because you look like a celtic warlord who might take their heads off. Your cute friendly tank top looks more like a breastplate, or woad smeared across a bare bosom. You're beautiful, yes, but the beauty that kills people.
