# Trying to prove the Inexistence of the Mirror World



## Sheilawisz (Sep 12, 2012)

After researching more carefully into this subject, I want to start this thread with a personal warning:

_In case that you have a phobia of mirrors, or simply mirrors tend to scare you or make you feel uneasy in any way, you should not continue reading this thread._

I have been fascinated by mirrors for many years, and even though I do not have a fear of them, I have always imagined that there is something strange and likely creepy about mirrors... This is reflected in one of my Fantasy stories where my characters open gateways across mirrors, traveling to different worlds.

The point here is that you never see your true self in a mirror...

The other-you that you can see across the mirror is not the same person that others see when they see the real you in everyday life. If you raise your left hand in front of a mirror then the mirror-you will raise its right hand, and if you close your right eye, the other will close its left eye.

This has caused me to imagine that the Sheila that I see in the mirror is not myself but someone else who lives in another world, so the mirror can be kind of a window between worlds or maybe even a gateway... I have believed for years that ghosts and other beings can travel across mirrors, but... Where would they travel to?

My theory at the moment is that a physical travel between these two worlds is impossible, because anything that attempts it gets repelled by its counterpart trying to go through at the same time- You would need to be immaterial to travel successfully across (like a ghost) but even if that is possible... What kind of world is that?

I have considered three options:

1- It's a real world just like ours.
2- It's a fake world composed by illusions and a dangerous trap.
3- There is no window or gateway, it's just a piece of glass.

Obviously the third option is the most believable, but I have a tendency to believe in all sort of impossible things and I love playing with ideas like these =)

I have a huge window just behind my bed, large enough to walk through it easily if I could do that. I enjoy looking at the bedroom in the mirror world and my mind really likes playing with these concepts... but now I want to design an experiment that proves once and for all that the third option is correct.

My goal is to trick the other Sheila so she lies to me at the same time that I intentionally tell her the truth, and I think that I have the idea to successfully practice this experiment...

That would demonstrate that she has no mind and no conscience of herself, which would mean that mirrors are just pieces of glass- Well, it could also demonstrate that the Mirror World is real as a world of dangerous illusions, so I am not sure what am I trying to prove with this idea.

What do you think of all this strange stuff?


----------



## ThinkerX (Sep 13, 2012)

I had a cat a long time ago who vehmently believed in option 1.  My bathroom back then boasted an unusually large mirror right above the counter.  Sometimes I would come home to see him perched on the counter, swatting and sometimes hissing at the 'intruder cat'.

Apart from that, I am reminded of all the magical mirrors in the old D&D game:

'Mirror of Life Trapping' (something like your option 2) ;

'Mirror of Mental Prowness' (classic magic mirror) ;

'Mirror of Opposition' (bane of more than one adventuring group I was in)


----------



## CupofJoe (Sep 13, 2012)

And then there is _Interstitial String Theory_ which suggests that all realities are latices that interweave with all others. It means that in all ways but one our current space is shared with countless others. If there was a way of moving in that one dimension alone you could travel to new realities. [Apparently it make a lot of the maths easier] A physicist friend of mine hates this theory with a passion that is almost scary because he admits it might explain the paranormal - some of the latices are closer together than others [they have to be, in the theory, apparently] and we might have leaks from one to another where the latices are almost the same... Poltergeists, ghosts, clairvoyance, "sixth sense" and DÃ©jÃ  vu could be interpreted as the other realities crossing our way. So that "someone walking on your grave" shudder you feel once in a while might be you coincident-ing with a different you in a different place... I like the idea that the leaking goes both way so my drinking coffee at 5 in the morning might be paranormal to another me...
Now if I could only write a story for it...


----------



## Sheilawisz (Sep 13, 2012)

Thanks for your comments, Thinker and Joe =)

My cat Jerry does not react to mirrors at all, but I still want to show him a mirror while I am holding him so he can see us together... Maybe that would cause a different reaction??

Yeah, the ideas of magical mirrors can be very good for Fantasy games and stories...

The Interstitial String Theory sounds deep, I had never heard about it before- also, recently scientific research has suggested the existence of something called Mirror Matter and a possible Mirror Universe. Who knows, maybe in the end science will be able to offer a good explanation for all the Paranormal stuff.

Maybe our universe is not a real place but some sort of fake holographic world, we cannot be sure... so, the concept of a Mirror World does not seem too crazy to me.

Well, my experiment would go like this:

1- If I write "My name is Sheila" on a piece of paper and show it to the Mirror Sheila, she will show me another piece of paper with the name Sheila written backwards... So, we both would be telling the truth to the other- However, I have discovered a way to trick her so she writes a lie on a piece of paper and shows it to me while I show her a message of truth.

2- This would be creepy, maybe I should not play with this stuff!!

3- When I sit on my bed staring at my mirror, I am looking in a straight line towards the North while my back is to the South, my left to the West and my right to the East. I know this thanks to my Compass.

4- Then I take a look at Mirror Sheila's compass, and I can see that, while she is looking to the North with her back to the South just like me, the East is to her left and the West is to her right.

5- The idea is to write on a piece of paper the words _El Este queda a mi derecha_ (in my language, that means The East is to my right) and then show her the message to see what she has written on her own piece of paper.

6- The likely result is that her message will say the same as mine, just written backwards, which would mean that she would be lying: The East is to her left, not to her right... So, Mirror Sheila would be lying to me at the same time that I tell her the truth.

7- The other result would be that her piece of paper would say _El Este queda a mi izquierda_. In such a scenario, I would turn away and run as fast as I can!!

What do you think??

This experiment seems really creepy to me, who knows, maybe I should not dare to try it just like I do not dare to invoke ghosts or spirits in any mirror...


----------



## Steerpike (Sep 13, 2012)

Sheilawisz said:


> 7- The other result would be that her piece of paper would say _El Este queda a mi izquierda_. In such a scenario, I would turn away and run as fast as I can!!



You need to film it. Because if this happens, it should go up on YouTube. And _then _you run.


----------



## Sheilawisz (Sep 13, 2012)

Yeah Steer, I really should film the experiment in case that I decide to try it out =)

Anyway, what would I demonstrate with this?

1- If Mirror Sheila lies to me as I tell the truth, then maybe it means that she has no conscience and there is no Mirror World because there is no other side. Still, the Mirror World could be real as a world of dangerous illusions like it has been demonstrated in experiments, where volunteers have stared into mirrors for too long with severe consequences.

2- If I get the other result, then she would be a real person in a real world and that would be about the creepiest thing of my life.

What do you say, should I try it or not??


----------



## Shockley (Sep 13, 2012)

While I'm 100% certain how it will end up, it would be awesome for you to try.


----------



## Steerpike (Sep 13, 2012)

This is what is going to happen to you, Sheila:


----------



## Chime85 (Sep 13, 2012)

Sheila, 

I do not particularly belive in "mirror" versions of my _good_ self. However, I am comfortable with the possability of parallel existances. It is comforting to thing that another me has chosen to do (or not to do) the action I had been considering.

That said, I also believe we, as individuals are capable of controling our own destiny. There is no will driving us but our own. If you make a decision, it is not by a third party, or a different version of your wonderful person. It is solely by your decision. Of course, in another existance, perhapse your other self made a different choice. That said, there is no way to tell. For all tense and purpose, the "other" you made the same choices. 

Enjoy the idea that another you made another choice, in another universe. Don't feel disheartened about the choices you have made. Do not take away validity from your actions, you're a wonderful person and the universe knows it 

x


----------



## Benjamin Clayborne (Sep 13, 2012)

As far as I can tell, mirrors are just highly reflective surfaces. What you see in the mirror is just photons bouncing off an aluminum or silver substrate.


----------



## Reaver (Sep 13, 2012)

Benjamin Clayborne said:


> As far as I can tell, mirrors are just highly reflective surfaces. What you see in the mirror is just photons bouncing off an aluminum or silver substrate.



And just like that, the android took all the mystery out of everything.


----------



## Steerpike (Sep 13, 2012)

Benjamin Clayborne said:


> As far as I can tell, mirrors are just highly reflective surfaces. What you see in the mirror is just photons bouncing off an aluminum or silver substrate.



As far as you can tell...


----------



## Benjamin Clayborne (Sep 14, 2012)

Steerpike said:


> As far as you can tell...



Well, the alternative is to just make things up


----------



## Butterfly (Sep 14, 2012)

Ever placed a mirror in front of a mirror?

It creates a tunnel reflecting back, neverending, spiralling away and down (mostly). I always wondered what might lie at the bottom of it...


----------



## Sheilawisz (Sep 14, 2012)

@Steer: That animation of the mirror girl is so scary!! =)

@Benjamin: Yes, I want to believe that what you see in a mirror is just light particles bouncing off an aluminum or silver surface... However, my many unusual ideas and beliefs keep suggesting that maybe (just maybe) a Mirror World has at least a little possibility of existing for real.

@Chime: That was really beautiful and you made me smile, thank you a lot =)

I believe totally in the existence of other realities where other Sheilas like me live in a world just like this, and even though I also believe in the existence of windows and gateways between different realities, I am now almost convinced that to create such a gateway you need _way more_ than just a piece of glass with a metal coating on one side.

Today I have discovered another anomaly that suggests that mirrors simply show us an optical illusion:

Let's say that a perfect replica of the Mirror Sheila's bedroom was built in our world. I would then walk into that bedroom and I would experience everything just like I had walked across the mirror... However, to create the best illusion possible the window of this bedroom would have to look to the West just like it happens in my real bedroom.

That way, I would get the intense light of sunset in my window to copy what happens in the mirror's room.

Then, lying on my bed with the window to my left my head would point to the South, not to the North... A real compass would prove the falsehood of the replica bedroom, which means that the bedroom that I see across the mirror makes absolutely no sense- It's just an optical illusion!!

You know what, I'll try the experiment one of these days =)

@Butterfly: There are many superstitions about the mirror facing a mirror thing. Some say that by doing that you open a gateway for ghosts and other things to enter our world, so that's another thing that I do not want to try with mirrors...

Anyway, I warn you all about something that is very real: Do not stare at your reflection in a mirror for too long.


----------



## Ireth (Sep 14, 2012)

Sheilawisz said:


> @Butterfly: There are many superstitions about the mirror facing a mirror thing. Some say that by doing that you open a gateway for ghosts and other things to enter our world, so that's another thing that I do not want to try with mirrors...



Relevant: xkcd: Two Mirrors


----------



## Butterfly (Sep 14, 2012)

Sheilawisz said:


> Anyway, I warn you all about something that is very real: Do not stare at your reflection in a mirror for too long.



You warn too late my friend. Done it... years ago... saw weird things though, like my face changing, growing moustaches and wearing hats.


----------



## Sheilawisz (Sep 14, 2012)

Ireth, that comic is so freaking funny!!! Thank you =)

@Butterfly: Yes, that has been done in serious experiments before. All of the volunteers have ended up feeling very scared and even sick, reporting to have seen their faces change colour, melt like wax and even transform into a variety of terrible, frightening things...

Some have reported that their entire reflection disappears.

Apparently it's some sort of wicked hallucination caused by something in your mind, but who knows, it could be something else... better safe than sorry!!


----------



## Devor (Sep 14, 2012)

Of course, there's no reason to think that the cardinal directions should match between our world and the mirror world.  Still, if it were me, I'd insist on several glasses of wine to work up the courage and it would in no way affect the results . . .


----------



## Sheilawisz (Sep 14, 2012)

That's a great idea, Devor!!

Wine first, open a gateway to another universe and shatter the foundations of reality later =)

That way, even if Mirror Sheila crosses over to visit we could at least enjoy some wine together listening to Leaves' Eyes...


----------



## Anders Ã„mting (Sep 15, 2012)

CupofJoe said:


> And then there is _Interstitial String Theory_ which suggests that all realities are latices that interweave with all others. It means that in all ways but one our current space is shared with countless others. If there was a way of moving in that one dimension alone you could travel to new realities. [Apparently it make a lot of the maths easier] A physicist friend of mine hates this theory with a passion that is almost scary because he admits it might explain the paranormal



No offense to your friend, but he doesn't sound like a very good scientist. Science isn't about disproving supernatural stuff - if something actually exists in reality, science has to accept it.


----------



## Sheilawisz (Sep 17, 2012)

Hello everyone =)

Something funny happened to me last night: I was enjoying my instant noodles soup, it was really good and then, when it was half finished, I realized suddenly that Mirror Sheila was gazing up at me from the surface of the delicious liquid...

"Oh, it's you again..." I thought.

Well, it so happens that even believe-it-all Sheilawisz has to present resistance to the idea that my soup is a gateway to another universe, so I have been forced to accept that Mirror Sheila is, at least in the vast majority of reflective surfaces, just an optical illusion created by light particles that have bounced off something =)

Anyway, the Mirror Experiment would go like this- Every phrase that I write in Italics now will represent the words that shall be written on every piece of paper to be shown to Mirror Sheila:

1- _I will tell you the truth._
2- _My name is Sheila._

So far, we both are telling the truth to each other.

3- _I'll tell you the truth again._
4- _Our definitions of West and East are exactly the same._
5- _Our definitions of Left and Right are exactly the same, as well._

You see how the trick will hit her??

6- _I'll tell you the truth, once again._

And now, the final moment:

7- _The East is to my Right._

If her piece of paper says the same, she will be lying at the same time that I tell her the truth. If she has written Left instead of Right, then we'll have some trouble...


----------



## Devor (Sep 17, 2012)

Sheilawisz said:


> Anyway, the Mirror Experiment would go like this- Every phrase that I write in Italics now will represent the words that shall be written on every piece of paper to be shown to Mirror Sheila:



Are you doing this with flash cards or writing them all on one page?  I would do it slowly, on film, after a few drinks, in the middle of the night, in a room that's badly lit, with flash cards.  And I'd be sure to say my name three times first.


----------



## Sheilawisz (Sep 17, 2012)

I want to try the experiment using flash cards indeed, Devor =)

It will be slowly for sure, at night, maybe with candlelight... I am not sure about saying my name three times first, because that could probably invoke something and the experiment is not aimed at entities invoked through a mirror.

You can bet that I will have enough wine before I try this!!


----------



## Steerpike (Sep 18, 2012)

Instead of flash cards get tarot cards.  Draw from the deck and lay them face down in front of you. Then turn them one at a time and see if mirror Sheila turns over the same cards or whether she has a different destiny.


----------



## Chime85 (Sep 18, 2012)

Make sure you write everything backwards, and that other Sheila does the same. Otherwise there will be two scratching heads in this experiment  lol


----------



## Sheilawisz (Nov 1, 2012)

Well, last night was Halloween and I decided to finally try my experiment to demonstrate, once and for all, the inexistence of the Mirror World...

I followed all the steps sitting on my bed in front of my huge mirror, showing Mirror Sheila all the pieces of paper with the messages in the right order... and guess what? When I showed her the last message, her written reply was exactly this: _The East is to my Left_.

After taking some seconds to recover, I took another piece of paper and wrote to her: _"So, you are real, eh?"_ Then, she replied: _"Don't mess with me!"_ after reading that, I had to tell her: _"Yeah, like I could not take you on!"_

Then, Mirror Sheila jumped out of the mirror with her hands straight to my throat!!

We were fighting, rolling on my bed, I was punching her, she was punching me, I was like _OMG!!_ and then Mirror Sheila jumped back into the mirror to get her Aluminum sword... I was faster, got my sword first and I broke the mirror before she could come back to attack me.

I could hear a weak, distant scream while the pieces of glass were falling...

Well, not really- I did not try the experiment, and after thinking about it a lot all this time, I have decided that I do not want to try doing that and I never will.

In case that any of you wants to try the _Sheilawisz Mirror experiment_ with a compass, pieces of paper and a large south-facing mirror, please tell me what happened =)


----------



## Steerpike (Nov 1, 2012)

How do we know you are not mirror-Sheila?


----------



## ThinkerX (Nov 1, 2012)

> Well, not really- I did not try the experiment, and after thinking about it a lot all this time, I have decided that I do not want to try doing that and I never will.



I used to read through piles and piles of nbon-fiction 'paranormal investigation' type books.  Ghosts, UFO's, psychic abilities, all sorts of weird stuff.  By authors ranging from really hard core sceptics to true believers and all the shades in between.

After a lot of reading, I noticed something...a paranormal researcher would suggest that 'X' could make the basis for an interesting experiment...and then nothing.  Some of these experiments were interesting enough to where even negative results would have been of interest - but I couldn't find out *anything* about them.  I began to wonder if the results had been suppressed, or flopped big time.  Then, after a great deal more reading, I started coming across references these experiments had not been undertaken at all...deliberately.  Nothing legal, ethical, or financial, just a complete 'dead stop' on the part of the researchers.  And finally I came across a short piece which said pretty much the same thing as Sheliawisz did in her last paragraph.


----------



## Sheilawisz (Nov 2, 2012)

@ThinkerX: I have read loads about the Paranormal and researchers and all that stuff as well, and I have to agree with those that have suddenly stopped before venturing into something that gave them an awkward feeling... There are things that are better to leave alone and forget.

@Steerpike: How did you know?! Well, Real-world Sheila decided to live for some time at the Mirror world, and currently she's a Moderator of the Mirror Mythic Scribes while I have fun here =)

We'll be returning to our own worlds within a few days.


----------

