A Lesson from the Lake
One of my favorite books is The Alchemist, and I could write an essay on why it means so much to me, maybe a novel. However, I have one part of the book I want to focus especially on. Of course, I encourage you to go and read the book on your own because the story is much more beautiful, and my summary does not do it justice, but since this topic has been on my mind for some time, I thought I would share it.
In the prologue, The Alchemist reads the story of Narcissus, a man who often stares at the lake to admire his reflection, so much so that he eventually falls in and drowns. When Narcissus dies, the lake begins to weep, and the lady of the forest proceeds to ask the lake why it weeps. Of course, the lake replies, “I weep for Narcissus,” and the lady of the forest replies by saying, of course, the lake should weep for Narcissus, it must miss looking at his beauty, but the lake replies, “Was he beautiful?…. I weep for Narcissus, but I never noticed that Narcissus was beautiful. I weep because, each time he knelt beside my banks, I could see my own beauty reflected in the depths of his eyes."
Usually, with the story of Narcissus, people take away the lesson of not being vain or indulging too much in self-love, and sure, those are good lessons to keep, but when I read this story, I thought of another lesson.
Lately, I’ve been thinking about how I do not always particularly like myself. Sometimes, I look in the mirror into my own eyes, and I’m not a fan of what I see; maybe I don’t like the way I look, or maybe I don’t like what lies inside internally. I can imagine that some of you read this paragraph and thought, “How sad she doesn’t always like herself,” but I imagine most of you read that and thought, “Me too,” and I think that’s the sad part, but I also think that’s what makes the Prologue of the Alchemist so beautiful.
Narcissus looked into his own eyes often, so much that it led him to his death. Sure, I could theorize about what could’ve happened had he learned to see the beauty in the world around him instead of himself, but I prefer to focus on the lake. The lake knew it was beautiful, not because it looked directly at its reflection, but because it looked at its reflection through someone else’s eyes.
It’s normal to look through our own eyes and into a mirror and not like what we see, but after reading that prologue, I realized that maybe we shouldn’t rely on our eyes to see our true beauty, so I began to try something different. I started looking into the eyes of the people who love me to see my true beauty, and here is what I found.
When I look into the teary eyes of my best friend after I just told a joke, I see that I’m funny. When I look into the eyes of my brothers, I see that I’m lovable even when I’m the most annoying person ever. When I look into the eyes of my nieces and nephews, I see that I’m dependable. When I look into the eyes of someone I helped carry groceries to their car, I see that I’m kind and appreciated.
Mirrors play tricks on you; when you look into them and stare at your own eyes, you don’t see what you should all the time, and I’m not saying it’s impossible to look into a mirror and love what you see; it’s very much possible, but Narcissus taught us that even that can have negative consequences. But the lake taught us that our beauty lies in other people's eyes, and I find that much more poetic and beautiful.