Mirrors and Doppleganger?

[Mors]

I am curious about mirrors. Once my friend told me that her reflection in the mirror didn't do the precisely same thing as she was doing. She don't want to tell me the details ---she said it was too scary. Any of you ever had the same experience?
Some say that through mirror Lilith watched our world. Some say that behind the mirror is a parallel dimension. And some other say that our reflection in the mirror was our evil twin, waiting for the right time to pull us into the mirror and take our place...well, what do you think about it? Is it just a device? Or is it something more? I wondered...

And what about doppleganger/your double? Ever meet one? or ever had experience with it? Any theory about it?

Thanks for answering my curiosity :)

[Astara Seague]

eh..a mirror is a mirror is a mirror..

but it can be used as a tool for communication..I have done that before

but I dont know about the evil twin thing..

I do know that if you stare at yourself long enough you see yourself differently..
I think of it as others see you
you see most people just glance in them to see how they look or fix their hair and makeup or whatever..I dont think many really look at themselves
and yes sometimes that can be scary

[Toki Wartooth]

I have a friend that doesn't like to look at mirrors at night. She's somehow convinced something scary may happen, although I'm not sure what.

I don't know about doubles, though. I had a professor who thought everyone had several doubles in the world, as in people who look a lot like you but aren't related to you, but that's it.

Although I did have a dream where I had a lot of me's. It was really quite bizarre. I think they were all me's from different universes. I had at least around 15 of them...

[Amilee]

There has been a recent doppleganger sighting of myself in the city. I was at home and my sister was on the train and she sent me a message. "Are you on the train?" and I'm like...what?

Apparantly there was someone on the train back to her so she couldn't see the face, with the same blue hair, same mannerisms and when my sis was just about ready to go say hi to 'me' the figure got off the train.

Scary for me 'cause I haven't seen it since and really scary for my sister because she was POSITIVE it was me. I mean what other foreigners in Japan would have blue hair in the same hair style as myself? Scary no?

As for mirrors yes, I believe there's somthing on the other side of them but nothing that can harm you. It's a tool, nothing more.

[Xander67]

Why didn't your sister just turn around and tap your doppleganger on the shoulder?

That would have settled that one, :)

Seriously,
this is all very interesting...

[MonSno_LeeDra]

Dopplegangers are sort of neat I suppose. I once saw my wife's outside the store where my wife was working at the time. If I had not seen my wife through the store window I would have sworn she was outside at that moment. Identical twin simply did not describe the physical & vocale similarities between them.

I got cussed out by a friend who swore he had seen me in town and I had ignored him. Got so mad he called me on it latter and it was only after he was convinced I was actually at work at the time that he believed me. I had other people tell me similar things though I never seemed to be in the same immediate area as my twin.

The only weird experience I ever had with a mirror was probally my eyes causing it. It was at night and I was looking into a bathroom mirror and the only light in the room was a small night light that was behind me. Me, but a different me. A me that was harder and colder in the eyes and seemed distorted. But like I said probally a trick of the eyes and poor lighting.

I have heard though that if one holds a mirror to a sleeping persons face the reflection will show thier true self. I remember that became a key element in an old horror movie I saw once. Never really tried it myself so can't say for sure.

I think the thing about mirrors is the urban legend type things that one hears of. The ever popular thing of saying "Boogeyman" or "Candyman" three times and having them appear in the mirror is sort of a very popular urban myth.

I suppose the old notion of a soul becoming trapped in a mirror is still strong in some areas. There are still many cultural groups that cover the mirrors in a home where someone has recently died. By covering them the spirit can not be trapped and can cross over.

[Amilee]

Why didn't your sister just turn around and tap your doppleganger on the shoulder?

That would have settled that one, :)

Seriously,
this is all very interesting...

Well, for one crowded Japanese Train and for another the 'doppleganger' got off the train just before she'd decided to do so. Totally wierd.

[Astara Seague]

oh yes and I do believe everyone has a twin.. but I dont think they are evil..guess they could be :weirdsmil
I have heard I have one many times..havent met her yet though

[wallflower]

Mirrors are weird...
Some say it's pyschological... some say that mirrors are the line between ours and the "other" world...whatever that is.
My opinion? Nothing is scarier or more mortifying then accepting our "true" reflection and all of ourselves.

[Bettie]

oh yes and I do believe everyone has a twin.. but I dont think they are evil..guess they could be :weirdsmil
I have heard I have one many times..havent met her yet though


What if you already have a twin - does that mean there is a triplet walking around that looks like me? Scary thought!

[daphnerose]

I grew up being scared to look in mirrors at night. My husband swears that when he is reading, he see's people walk by in the mirror, but noone is there.
As far as dopplegangers go, I once saw mine on the price is right. It was hilarious. I've also had friends tell me they saw someone who looked just like me, but when they approached her, they realized it wasn't me.
daphne

[RaptorGTA]

Mirrors sorta bother me...i mean..ive seen things standing near me..shadows or figures (huh....my spoon in my cup just spun around the rim....odd)..anyways...does that mean i need to look ion the mirror?

ok..nothing there now..lol. Ive had the same thing happen to me Amilee..well...sorta..my sister text me and asked if me, and two of my friend were at this park..i wasnt and told her no. She said they looked exactly like us...i wish i was there..i would been like Neo and said "whoa"

[Mors]

I've read it somewhere (forgot the resource! sorry!) that in the old times, when someone died, his/her family (or anyone who lived with the deceased) would cover all the mirrors in the house (with cloths and such) to prevent the deceased's soul to be trapped in the mirror. And they wouldn't uncover it until 40 days or so.

It seems like mirrors have some sort of strange connection with the psyche...

[Corvis Canis Latrans]

Apparently I have a doppelganger in town.

Last I knew, she had a kid, because when I go shopping, the cashiers ask me how the baby is.

I saw a photo of her. Unlike me she doesn't wear glasses and wasn't carrying a purse or bookbag in the picture.

[Shawn Blackwolf]

In my Faery Tradition :

By gematria :

Subconscious = 431

As well :

Nephesh ( lowest part of the soul ) = 430

( So does Norns , Mound , and Abrak Dbra )

One of our boundary numbers , is 1495...

Mirror = 482

And = 44

Subconscious = 431

Manifestation = 19

Are = 310

Connected = 210

= 1496

( +1 , -1 , allowance in gematria )


It seems like mirrors have some sort of strange connection with the psyche...

[coeur]

This isn't a paranormal thesis, but mirrors and doubles have been very influential in literary theory and psychoanalysis. Freud, in his essay about the uncanny, talks about the double as a means of immortality, as the superego, etc. while Lacan talks about the mirror as a means of socialization. For Lacan, the capacity to identify yourself in the mirror is part of human socialization--which means that you haven't always been able to identify yourself as you in the mirror. Animals will frequently look at their reflections and think it's another dog/cat/etc. in the mirror instead of themselves. Similarly, as infants, we do not associate the image we see in the mirror with ourselves. If you consider it, there's no real reason for us to immediately associate a mirror image with ourselves because our everyday non-mirror experience of our bodies is a body in parts. We don't see our bodies in its totality except through reflective surfaces, which means we usually see our bodies in parts. Small children don't see their bodies as wholes until they learn to associate their bodies with their mirror image--which presents for them a 'whole' or a 'unified self.' This idea of a unified self is part of the socialization process through which we begin to define ourselves. Instead of just body parts, we begin to create an 'ideal I' which masters the seemingly disconnected body parts of our infanthood. Unfortunately, this unified self is not an accurate representation of ourselves if for no reason other than the fact mirror images are not exact images of the original subject. The other reason why it's not a completely exact representation is it enforces a standard of unity and wholeness of self. Lacan argues we aren't completely coherent psychic beings and it is the disparity between thinking of yourself as whole while you are really a mass of contradictions that causes problems.

Lacan's mirror stage analysis is influential because it works very well with the problem of the language: the word 'tree' is not an actual tree but when read, it generates the image of a tree. You can see how this might be a problem in a world fueled by mass media. As mass media and memos dominate how we run our lives, we slowly begin to become absorbed into the world of the symbolic. A provocative article in a reputable newspaper can cause mass hysteria, for example--and it could have all been based on nothing. Words themselves create and that's kind of the creepy thing about words and mirror images: we're supposed to be controlling them or basing them on 'fact' or 'reality' but once they start creating and controlling for themselves, the line between who has the control becomes blurred.

[Shawn Blackwolf]

...ROTFLMAO...:bigredgri...

In gematria...

Humann Bio - Computer = 482 = Looking Glass ( Mirror )...:uhhuhuh:

And :

Grasping Power Of Words = 482...

Of course , now that brings in Gurdjief , John Lily , NLP , and
all others who show you ways to re - metaprogram your own
bio - computer...with words , symbols , associations , movements ,
and more...

[Shawn Blackwolf]

Actually , one of our oldest self hypnosis , or
re - metaprogramming techniques , is to sit in
front of a mirror , sometimes in dark , with a
candle , and repeat a phrase , or "mantra / chant" ,
over and over...self applied psychic driving...:thumbsup:

[Rainstorme]

When I worked for Target a few years back, I had a man approach me and started talking to me like I was someone that he knew well. He just walked right up to me and hugged me, which i thought was odd, and then he said that he didnt know I was working at Target, and asked me how my mom was doing. The whole time I'm standing there wondering who this guy is and trying to figure out how i knew him. After about 5 minutes of conversation, i realized this guy really thought he knew me, so I asked him who he was... and he was dumbfounded that I didnt recognize him, claiming to be one fo my best friends. I thought he must be playing some kind of joke so i told him he was crazy. But he insisted that he knew me and that we were really close. I just kept telling him I didnt know who he was, and I asked him to tell me what my name was if he really knew me. The name he called me was obviously not my name, and I told him who i was. He finally came to the conclusion that I was not the person he thought I was, but he couldbt believe it. He just kept saying that I looked EXACTLY like this girl Julia that he knows. Apparently everything about us (height, weight, hair color and style, eye color, even the same facial peircings voice, and mannerisms) was the same. I was kinda freaked out that me and this Julia girl seemed so identical that her best friend thought that i was her. It was a weird day for sure!

[Corvis Canis Latrans]

When I worked for Target a few years back, I had a man approach me and started talking to me like I was someone that he knew well. He just walked right up to me and hugged me, which i thought was odd, and then he said that he didnt know I was working at Target, and asked me how my mom was doing. The whole time I'm standing there wondering who this guy is and trying to figure out how i knew him. After about 5 minutes of conversation, i realized this guy really thought he knew me, so I asked him who he was... and he was dumbfounded that I didnt recognize him, claiming to be one fo my best friends. I thought he must be playing some kind of joke so i told him he was crazy. But he insisted that he knew me and that we were really close. I just kept telling him I didnt know who he was, and I asked him to tell me what my name was if he really knew me. The name he called me was obviously not my name, and I told him who i was. He finally came to the conclusion that I was not the person he thought I was, but he couldbt believe it. He just kept saying that I looked EXACTLY like this girl Julia that he knows. Apparently everything about us (height, weight, hair color and style, eye color, even the same facial peircings voice, and mannerisms) was the same. I was kinda freaked out that me and this Julia girl seemed so identical that her best friend thought that i was her. It was a weird day for sure!

*nods*

I'm pretty sure my double is named Katie or Laura, because whenever people mess up on my name, they always call me one of those two names. Consistently. Hmm. Maybe there's three of me running around since it's always two alternate names that I get called by...."triple"ganger?? Troubleganger? :lol:

[Mors]

This isn't a paranormal thesis, but mirrors and doubles have been very influential in literary theory and psychoanalysis. Freud, in his essay about the uncanny, talks about the double as a means of immortality, as the superego, etc. while Lacan talks about the mirror as a means of socialization. For Lacan, the capacity to identify yourself in the mirror is part of human socialization--which means that you haven't always been able to identify yourself as you in the mirror. Animals will frequently look at their reflections and think it's another dog/cat/etc. in the mirror instead of themselves. Similarly, as infants, we do not associate the image we see in the mirror with ourselves. If you consider it, there's no real reason for us to immediately associate a mirror image with ourselves because our everyday non-mirror experience of our bodies is a body in parts. We don't see our bodies in its totality except through reflective surfaces, which means we usually see our bodies in parts. Small children don't see their bodies as wholes until they learn to associate their bodies with their mirror image--which presents for them a 'whole' or a 'unified self.' This idea of a unified self is part of the socialization process through which we begin to define ourselves. Instead of just body parts, we begin to create an 'ideal I' which masters the seemingly disconnected body parts of our infanthood. Unfortunately, this unified self is not an accurate representation of ourselves if for no reason other than the fact mirror images are not exact images of the original subject. The other reason why it's not a completely exact representation is it enforces a standard of unity and wholeness of self. Lacan argues we aren't completely coherent psychic beings and it is the disparity between thinking of yourself as whole while you are really a mass of contradictions that causes problems.

Lacan's mirror stage analysis is influential because it works very well with the problem of the language: the word 'tree' is not an actual tree but when read, it generates the image of a tree. You can see how this might be a problem in a world fueled by mass media. As mass media and memos dominate how we run our lives, we slowly begin to become absorbed into the world of the symbolic. A provocative article in a reputable newspaper can cause mass hysteria, for example--and it could have all been based on nothing. Words themselves create and that's kind of the creepy thing about words and mirror images: we're supposed to be controlling them or basing them on 'fact' or 'reality' but once they start creating and controlling for themselves, the line between who has the control becomes blurred.

Great post for my food of thought :D


When I worked for Target a few years back, I had a man approach me and started talking to me like I was someone that he knew well. He just walked right up to me and hugged me, which i thought was odd, and then he said that he didnt know I was working at Target, and asked me how my mom was doing. The whole time I'm standing there wondering who this guy is and trying to figure out how i knew him. After about 5 minutes of conversation, i realized this guy really thought he knew me, so I asked him who he was... and he was dumbfounded that I didnt recognize him, claiming to be one fo my best friends. I thought he must be playing some kind of joke so i told him he was crazy. But he insisted that he knew me and that we were really close. I just kept telling him I didnt know who he was, and I asked him to tell me what my name was if he really knew me. The name he called me was obviously not my name, and I told him who i was. He finally came to the conclusion that I was not the person he thought I was, but he couldbt believe it. He just kept saying that I looked EXACTLY like this girl Julia that he knows. Apparently everything about us (height, weight, hair color and style, eye color, even the same facial peircings voice, and mannerisms) was the same. I was kinda freaked out that me and this Julia girl seemed so identical that her best friend thought that i was her. It was a weird day for sure!

That sure was creepy. I don't have any experience like that, but my friend ever told me that she met someone who is really alike with me that she thought it was me. But I'm prettier lmao.

[Mors]

*nods*

I'm pretty sure my double is named Katie or Laura, because whenever people mess up on my name, they always call me one of those two names. Consistently. Hmm. Maybe there's three of me running around since it's always two alternate names that I get called by...."triple"ganger?? Troubleganger? :lol:

LOL. I think my double's name would be Rasha because that's the anagram of my first name :bigredgri Hi Katie! *waves at Corvis*

Troubleganger. Just one of you is creepy enough, I can't imagine there's another two of you running around. Apocalypse day!

[Glowy]

I am not sure if this is relevent to the topic, but it has always startled me. I have " one of those faces." There is always someone with a sister, a cousin, a girlfriend that looks "exactly like me." When I do see or meet the other "glowy", she looks nothing like I perceive my self to look.
Coeur's mirror post is very interesting to me. So identifying one's self in the mirror is a form of self actualization then. So next time someone yells at me because I am too long in the bathroom, I can reply " I am self actualizing in here."

[Mors]

I am not sure if this is relevent to the topic, but it has always startled me. I have " one of those faces." There is always someone with a sister, a cousin, a girlfriend that looks "exactly like me." When I do see or meet the other "glowy", she looks nothing like I perceive my self to look.
Coeur's mirror post is very interesting to me. So identifying one's self in the mirror is a form of self actualization then. So next time someone yells at me because I am too long in the bathroom, I can reply " I am self actualizing in here."

I think it's a matter of perception. Well, people may have said that "she looked like you!" but when you met her, voila, you think "hey no way I don't look like her!". I met my "double" several times also...and I have to say that they are nothing like me. Or is it my pride speaking? lol. My sister had the similar case too.

[Obier]

hmmm i know this good mirror game/meditation thats sort of fun...and it works too!!!

during sunset or the late evening use a room where all windows are covered/blocked with hardly any light coming through
have a mirror (i prefer a mid to large because its more fun)
and a candle light off to side of you in the back of the room and
stare at your reflection focusing on the eyes or the forehead or anything part you wish

lol this is where it gets fun, and watch what happens

(hahaahahaa XD one of mine experinces with this is when i could see the back of me head in the mirror or when me face was entirely removed and only my hair remained)

and and using the bathroom mirror at night works too sometimes

[EJ1096]

I AM the evil twin. mmmuhhhaaaaahhhaaa

[Liam]

Fun thing to do with mirrors. Look at yourself and relax your eyes so you're just gazing but not directly focusing on a particular spot.

Then summon the feeling of a different person?character: for example, a stern-faced and older businessman, CEO perhaps; or maybe a fierce jungle-tribal warrior with war paint etc.

If you summon the feeling, you'll notice your face slightly changes to become what you feel. Really nifty.


I'm very wary of mirrors. Powerful tools. We have no mirrors in our room at the moment and i'm quite happy about it.

[riftdrifter]

I hate em had to turn the damn thing against the wall considered covering it with paper and drawing a self portrait on it . . . and hissed at it regularly . . . dont **** with em dont try to oobe through them dont think too much and dont break them just stay away . . . run if you can . . . glance at your self to make shure your still look'n good but dont dwell . . . "I was trying meditate" . . . if you must know and the damn thing started ****ing me all up. . .

[Voyager]

I had a really weird experience when I was nine years old. My cousins were visiting from Massachusetts, and we were walking in the shopping area. One cousin was looking away and then back at me a few times. Then he said look there's your twin. I looked at this girl that was the 'spitting' image of me. We also both had our hair in pony tails. What was really crazy was we had on the exact same short set. Mine was in blue and her's was pink. We stared at each other as we passed with eyes as big as silver dollars.