Reflection

n his autobiography The Wind Is My Mother,^[3] Muskogee shaman Bear Heart relays a lesson he as a child was presented by his uncle, Jonas Bear:

Jonas Bear once took me down to a pond and told me to look into it, asking, "What do you see?"

"I see my reflection."

"Put this stick in the water and stir up your reflection."

After I stirred it up, he asked, " Now what do you see?"

"My face is all distorted."

"Do you like what you see?"

"I know that it's not supposed to look that way."

"When you meet someone and you immediately dislike them, always remember you are seeing a reflection of yourself—there is something you don't like about yourself that you're not owning up to. When you see it in someone else, then you don't like that person, but in reality you are being displeased with yourself. Always remember that."