All That Glitters...The Trilogy Of Gold, Sword And Mirror In The Game Of Life

All that glitters is not gold but gold must be one of them. This three-dimension discourse is gleaned from the Japanese legend. The West leans towards psychology while the East is more spiritual in their thinking perspective. We need both because you cannot have a strong psychology without a solid theology.

The way we utilize energy is viewed in three dimensions. We have spiritual energy, mental energy and physical energy. It coincides with the concept of the wizard, the warrior and the wimp (trainee).

Japanese treasure chest focus on three important objects: the jewel (gold), the sword and the mirror. Each one of depicts our perspective about life and its meaning.

The Gold (Jewel): This is a symbol of influence, royalty and affluence. That’s what everybody is looking for—at least so it seems. I read a book titled, “If Money Isn’t God, Let’s Quit Worshipping It.” Anything you place above God becomes not your jewel, but your idol. Acquisition of material wealth is the most dominant factor in the life so many people. That’s why folks can do anything for money.

Yet in Japanese mythology, money is just a tool—a means to an end and not the end by itself. Making decisions and seeing the world from the perspective of money is a sacrilege. Although gold is a symbol affluence and prestige, the Japanese consider it inferior to the sword or the mirror. The jewel (gold) and the sword (power) go hand in hand. When people acquire money, they want more power.

The Sword: This is the symbol of power or physical strength. It represents what your hand can achieve through the use of force. Those who depend on the sword for survival also perish by the sword. You simply reap what you sow. Days are gone when swordsmanship skills ruled the world. It is now relegated to acting and movies. Now the greatest asset anybody has is developing brain power shaped by your self-image.

The Mirror: This is the greatest object in ancient Japanese treasure and the key that unlocks everything else. The mirror is greater than the gold and the sword. This concept is better illustrated with a story.

One day, a struggling man called Sam went to a rich and asked for help. The rich man called Wiseman remembered that when he was poor a decade ago, another rich man gave him a bag of gold. He thanked him profusely and asked how he will repay him. “When you succeed, do like wise to someone else,” came the answer. That bag of gold changed Wiseman’s picture about himself, and from that day forward, he started seeing himself as already rich. He went out and became rich. Now is the opportunity to fulfill his promise. So he went into his bedroom and pulled out the bag of gold and gave it to Sam. Same asked a similar question: what can I do to pay you back? “When you succeed, do it for someone else,” came the reply. Poor Sam took the bag of Gold and left. When he got home, the first thing he did was to open the bag of gold with the hope of spending the money. He was shocked that what was in the bag was fool’s gold. Struggling Sam remained poor thereafter.

What was the difference between Poor Sam and Rich Wiseman? The answer is self image. Self-image has been described as our inner mirror. The law of correspondence states that our lives mirror people and circumstances that in resonant with our most dominant thought. “As it is within, so is it without,” says an Oriental maxim. If you don’t have a healthy self-image, even when you have both the money (gold) and the power (sword), you will eventually lose them. Money and morons don’t mix. Ask those who won the lottery without the brains to keep it and make it grow. Dan Kennedy said that if you cannot make money with ideas, you cannot make money with money. Morons don’t have the sense to use the sword, either. Therefore, jewel and sword is nothing; the mirror is everything.