Mirror

Sound, a noise, a tremble, nothing but a murmur.
Stop.
Sound, disturbance, no white noise, just the sound of darkness.
Stop.

What is it? What's beyond?
A mirror.
Not bound by walls or space. It changes in light, or, shall I say, the
absence of light. What happens to the image in the mirror when the light
goes away? The constrictions apply only when watched. What happens to the
reflection when no one cares to look?
Turn your Head.
Did you see it? It moved. It didn't jump, or quickly slide away, it just
flipped. Flipped meaning that the image changed.
I don't think I'm explaining this very well. You see, nothing was done to
the previous reflection itself. It wasn't changed in the slightest, just
replaced. Replaced by the other image. The image that you can't see. The
image that you don't want to see.
And you doubt this? Why? You cannot see it, have a friend see it, or record
it to watch later in the comfort of your own home on your 27" RCA TV.
I cannot prove its existence. Because I can't, I will not try.
However, despite the fact that I cannot prove what happens does not affect
the reality that it indeed DOES happen.
You're welcome to question it. It does not abide by the laws of physics, but
merely by the imagination of the mind.
I once heard that GOD was a mirror. Yes, a mirror. A mirror in that any man,
or woman for that matter, can look into this mirror and see as he wishes. If
he chooses to see a "god" in the definition of one given by any of the
religions or beliefs, he's free to do so. He will see what he expects to
see. We will see as he wishes. And yet, this neither CHANGES the mirror
itself, or affects the way another will view himself.
Well, forgive me. I have yet to mention what does happen when you turn your
head. I have yet to discuss what happens to the image when the lights turn
off.
Do remember, I have yet to see the image with my eyes, and trust me, I
stared and stared at that mirror, waiting for it to flip, waiting for it to
make one wrong turn and welcome me into its realm of another image. Yet, it
was for just this reason that I DID NOT see the image with my eyes. It
wasn't until I closed my eyes and opened up my mind that the image first
appeared to me.
Now what is this image you say? Well, let me see if I can illustrate it to
you. For example, if you have the TV off, are there shows still being
played? Ok, further than this. Is there a show in Japanese discussing floral
designs. Despite the fact that another person can TELL you that a show does
indeed exist and is played despite whether you turn the tv on, or even just
tune into that channel does not affect the reality of whether or not that
show is on. I do not mean to say that you should not TRUST in others, or in
the words or tales they tell you such as seen by Descartes "I think
therefore I am" idea. I do not mean to give the perception, whether it's
real or not (since it's validity has no bearing on this), that one can only
believe in himself because he cannot prove the existence of others. Instead,
I'd like to introduce you to Schroedinger's cat.
This will all become clearer, just let me explain.
Schroedinger, a physicist, a man, dealt with quantum physics, things that
can be so complex as that one would need a post doctorate training in
Advanced mathematics in order to comprehend or even enjoy the beauty of his
work. Anyways, in a book, with the same title as the theme I'd like to
discuss, the foundation for our illustration for the mirror's image can be
created. The "cat" problem is very similar to one that you may have already
heard:
If a tree falls in a forest and no one is there to hear it, does it make a
sound?
Well, in all honesty, yes and no. And I'm not meaning yes OR no, I do mean
yes AND no, both at once. Let me explain. Despite the fact that many
philosophers argue over this question and do give interpretations as to
whether or not it would make a sound, let's just say that it can. And, that
it also cannot. Let's, for the sake of illustration, view this problem
similar to the idea of flipping a coin, in that the reality is possible for
the coin to land on heads, or to land on tales if flipped without actually
having to be flipped. In a sense, for you physics buffs, this sounds like
potential energy in which it can be converted into a different form of
energy without needing to affect the conservation of the energy of the
system. Anyways, let's relate the coin problem to the tree problem, so that
now we've determined that the tree can make a sound, and likewise, the tree
cannot make a sound. However, which will happen? Well, just like in the coin
problem, either CAN happen and the result is only dependant upon someone
actually doing the experiment of flipping the coin to see which one does in
fact occur. However, by not flipping the coin, the coin can in fact land as
heads, AND, it can land as tails, we just won't know which happens until,
like we've said, the experiment is performed. The reality of what WILL
happen does not collapse into one of the two routes until someone actually
performs it. To illustrate once again this collapse, let's say we have a big
pipe, and that at an end of the pipe are two pipes going in separate
directions like a fork in the road. However, the pipes are special in that
if water goes through one pipe, it CANNOT go through the other (and either
has just as much of a chance of having the water traverse through it than
through the other). Not even a tiny drop will get through the other once the
water decides to collapse into one of the adjoining pipes. If water rushes
through the big pipe, the water itself, the reality of what happens, will
have to collapse into one pipe or another, hence, it must go one direction
or another, but until it collapses into one of those paths, we will never
know which path is the one that is taken.
Now that we've gotten a grasp of this concept, let's move on.
Let's say that we do let the water run. If the water DOES run through the
pipes as we planned, which route did it take. It is just as likely that the
water went through one pipe as that it would have gone through the other.
However, since we ran the experiment and allowed the water to run its
course, and we assume as a given that we did not look to see where the water
went, or through which pipe it went, we are unable to determine (just by
running the experiment) which pipe carried the water. Likewise, if we allow
a tree to fall in a forest, but we do not observe what happens (or use
recording devices), we would, in our case be unable to determine if the tree
did or did not make a sound. And in the case of the pipes, we finally learn
which pipe carried the water only when we observe. Since before we observed,
the water went through the pipes, yet each had just as big of a probability
of carrying the water, each of the pipes was able and likely to carry the
water. Only by observing do we find out which truly did carry the water. In
essence, it was only by our "finding out" that we made the pipes determine
for themselves that one pipe carried the water and that the other did not.
The act of observation itself collapsed the two possible realities into the
one reality that occurred.
From this, we can look at the "cat" problem which will finally lead us into
the very beginning of our journey, the one that will describe our mirror's
image.
Suppose we take a sleeping cat and put it in a cardboard box and seal up the
box. Now, let's say we booby trap every part of the box so that cyanide gas
is immediately released upon opening the box and that the cat, if alive will
be dead before it can be observed. Our problem is that no matter what, if we
choose to observe the cat, it will be dead. For all animal rights activists,
because this is a problem of the mind, no cats were harmed in the conception
of this mind puzzle. Well, the cat can either be alive or dead once sealed
into this box, and as seen in the water pipe example, the cat is in a state
of flux. The cat itself has just the same possibility, let's say, of being
alive or dead at any moment, however, upon observation, we collapse reality
into the path of having a dead cat. So, without our being able to observe,
when the cat is in the box, it will be alive, and also, while the cat is in
the box, it will be dead. So, the cat is both alive AND dead at any time so
that we cannot determine if at any moment whether the cat is alive OR dead.
So, upon opening the box to observe, we collapse the cat's reality (into
being dead), meaning that the cat could have been alive up to that point or
dead up to that point in time.
For any of those who wish to see a similar problem before their very eyes,
perform double slit diffractions with a single photon. In the optics branch
of physics, light can be constructive or destructive with other light. Like
with ocean waves, if two waves strike each other, they add in magnitude
constructively, however, if a wave and a crest (of the same magnitude) hit
each other, they cancel each other out at their point of intersection.
Likewise, with light, if waves of light hit each other so that their waves
match up, they add constructively to have a larger magnitude (brighter), and
if they strike each other where one is an upwards wave and the other is a
downwards crest, they add destructively (get dimmer). If you ever perform a
double slit diffraction, you will see that if you put two slits close
together near to a light source, that the light that goes through each slit
will add destructively and constructively with the other light that went
through the other slit so as to make a pattern on a screen nearby showing a
central bright spot where there was constructive interference, and next to
it, a dark spot where there was destructive interference, then again,
another bright spot, then another dark spot, and so on.
Here's where it gets interesting.
Here's the problem that has caused many physicists to consider the existence
of alternate realities (universes) near enough to our own in order to affect
our reality (universe).
If we were to send a single photon in any direction towards a screen, it
would in essence just produce a single dot.
However, If we were to send a single photon through the double slit
diffraction grid, it should likewise just pick one slit to go through and
produce a single dot on a screen on the other side....
....
BUT THIS IS NOT WHAT HAPPENS!
In fact, on the other side, after sending a single photon through the double
slit diffraction grating, we see the same interference pattern on the screen
similar to what we'd see when many photons of light travel through the slits
and add constructively or destructively. So, what happens? Does the photon
travel through one slit or the other? In a sense, the photon is traveling
through both slits at once (no matter how impossible that sounds) which is
like being able to walk through 2 separated doors at the same exact moment.
The photon itself goes through BOTH slits and interacts with itself while
doing so to create the interference pattern we observe.
HERE'S THE INTERESTING PART
When scientists then try to determine "observe" which slit the photon goes
through, the experiment collapse into having one reality occur and on the
screen, we see the single dot that we would have expected to see. This
means, that when we try to see which path the photon takes, WE, the
observer, actually collapse the reality and make the photon pick one path or
another. The photon goes through the slit on the right AND the slit on the
left until we observe which slit it traverses.

Back to the mirror's image. Forgive me but I thought that those descriptions
were entirely necessary in order to help you establish the basis of being
able to understand the reality of the other image. In much the same way as
with the photon problem, the mirror itself can make either image, the one
you see with your eyes, and the one you don't see with your eyes. And like
with the cat problem, no matter what, when you observe the mirror, the
reality is collapsed into the path of the image that you DO see with your
EYES. Of course, also like the cat, if you are not looking into the mirror,
you do not know which image is being made by the mirror at any moment that
it is not observed. Either image is just as likely to be present, so, in the
same sense, unless you look at the mirror, both images are present.
So, now you know a little about the peculiar nature of the mirror, and yet
I've yet to discuss the most interesting element, the image itself....