Dancing in the Mirror: Inspirations on Peace and Joy

Lori A. Dunn is an ESL teacher, instructional designer, and freelance
writer in New Westminster.

Dancing in the Mirror is a lovely book with an inviting, cushioned cover
in pale blue. There are multiple ways in which a reader can access the
information inside: by way of a topic index at the beginning, a word
index at the end, or a randomization table using a pack of playing
cards. The idea is that you pick two cards at random from a pack,
cross-index them on the chart, and read the selected entry.

My first random selection (from a two of hearts and a nine of clubs)
led me to a reading titled “On the Observer Self.” This was
essentially a discussion on the necessity of dual awareness, or keeping
the observing self separate from the experiencing self, this being the
“key to all the perceptual problems you are struggling with.” On
another day, I was randomly sent to “On Language.” This entry
challenged me to go out and find poetry in the everyday by capturing an
essential message. How many times has a poem or a song lyric struck a
note deep within, only to defy a rational understanding?

The entries in Dancing in the Mirror are based on Bryan Walton’s
stream-of-consciousness writings over the years in which he found some
“paragraphs of extraordinary clarity.” In reality, what he offers us
in the format of this book is a far-reaching, multi-dimensional source
of insight, similar in feel to the reading of a horoscope in the paper
or the drawing of a Tarot card, but without the leap of faith needed to
swallow the rigamarole adjoining those disciplines. The writing is at
times a little high-blown and unclear, but overall it suits the form and
content of the pieces, which are meditative and thought-provoking,
almost in the tradition of Zen koans.