Fantasy Advent Day 24: Lessons from the Mirror of Erised

On this last day of our advent for 2024, I want to take a moment to talk about the Mirror of Erised. It's a magical object that belongs in the Department of Mysteries, but it's used to great effect in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone and we should remember why it shouldn't play a major part in the rest of the story.

"I show not your face."

Dumbledore observes several things about the mysterious mirror that Harry finds on his first Christmas at Hogwarts, but one of the most interesting is that "men have wasted away before it." This begs the question of who he's known who did just that or if he is simpy familiar with many cautionary tales. Or is Dumbledore not being literal?

Wasted away implies that they declined in health and strength, but it's not necessarily a fatal condition. He could be simply recalling people who lost sight of themselves while looking at their own reflection. Dumbledore is a man of action and we can see that reflected in the use to which he puts the Mirror in the final trial of the book. He sees stagnation as something to be avoided.

His admonition is one that we should all pay attention to: "It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live." I see this as pointing out that there is nothing wrong with having goals or wishing that things could come easily to us. After all, everyone we see looking into the Mirror of Erised sees an end result, not an effort. Ron sees himself as Quidditch captain, but not the hard work and practice that it would take to gain that title. Harry sees himself surrounded by family, which would probably be impossible given that Harry's living relatives are known to be the Dursleys and we have no idea if he has distant cousins who might be able to connect with him.

Similarly, we can see ourselves as powerful forces in the world or accomplished in something we're passionate about, but it is highly unlikely for someone to put on a pair of ballet slippers for the first time and do the black swan coda from Swan Lake. Similarly, we start at step one and the dreams we have should continue to what the second step looks like.

Let's all learn from our dreams and put them into real life.