Lacan said that when a baby looks into a mirror
and thinks, “Ah, that’s me,” it is actually
the image society desires, not the true self.
The ego exists only through the gaze of others,
always lacking and incomplete.
In contrast, Buddhism teaches that the reflection
in the mirror is merely a shadow born
from light and circumstance.
There is no fixed “I” from the beginning;
everything arises from conditions,
and when those conditions fade,
it disappears as well.

Everything is born and ends through conditions.
When they vanish, what seemed real dissolves —
this is impermanence.
To claim “I” is meaningless,
and that absence of self is non‑self.
Clinging to what we do not understand
creates suffering.

Holding this thought may help
when you walk through the center of pain.