Mirrormask: Fighting the Demons Inside

Just watched the extremely trippy movie, the Mirrormask based on the book by Neil Gaiman. It is free on Demand if anyone has it. I am very glad I watched it cause I got confirmation on something really important tonight. I write this in effort to help others get the same confirmation.

This half cinematic/computer graphic animation movie, is about a teenage girl dealing with the almost death of her mother, while in a dream like state. The White Queen and Dark Queen in the land represent her mother and the teenage girl, Helena, also has a light and dark side.

This movie is truly my story, although her battle ends with a happy ending between her and her mother. Mine not so much.

Helena is a circus performer in her parent’s circus. She is going through the typical stage of being a teenager and wishes to rebel against her family. Her mother gets a sudden headache and falls to the ground. After the ambulance takes her away, we learn that there is a need to operate on her.

During all this, Helena falls asleep and dreams of her internal struggles between her mother and coping with her mother’s sudden sickness. The world is completely strange and she must seek out a "mirrormask" in order to wake the White Queen that has fallen into a coma. Within this world, Helena meets her possible future self or “evil side” that falls into further rebellion and anger at the world for losing her mother.

Death can make many people face their strongest demons inside, but as the Quran states:

3:185 Every soul will taste death, and you will only be given your [full] compensation on the Day of Resurrection. So he who is drawn away from the Fire and admitted to Paradise has attained [his desire]. And what is the life of this world except the enjoyment of delusion.

So it is not about the tragedy and loss we all go through in life, it is about HOW well we deal with the experience. Everyone will die, that is one the few things certain in this world. But if you die with hate, malice, or evil towards yourself, others and God in your soul that can cause an issue in your consciousness that lives on, according to the Quran here:

2:154 And do not say about those who are killed in the way of Allah , “They are dead.” Rather, they are alive, but you perceive [it] not.

This is deep wisdom given to show that this life is not the end.

So in Mirrormask, we see that Helena’s greatest challenge was to overcome the desire to lash out at the world because of her loss. That was her internal battle, her “jihad”.

There are outward and inward jihads, which is arabic for a spiritual war that one must fight through in order to gain spiritual advancement. Some people may see this as a physical war between the oppressed and the oppressors, but I see things more symbolically and see more how it relates to the inside battle between good and evil. Not everyone is a solider of war, or chooses to be in their experience. But we alway go to battle for God, in a sense.

I guess, I have to be proud of myself. I lost my mother to the exact same thing that Helena’s mother had. However, after the third operation on the brain tumor growing in her, her body could not take it any longer and she died late in the middle of the night close to Mother’s Day.

She was the greatest person I knew. Truly an amazing person with so much love to give others. She was my soft embrace in a sometimes cold world. She left me to grow up with an unsympathetic stepmother and angry father.

I fought hard to not become a cold, and heartless person. It is easy to turn away from God and see life as meaningless after you lose someone so close to you. But that IS the battle. We have these experiences that happen naturally and in accordance to Laws set by God, in the aftermath of those experiences is where we are tested.

21:34 Everyone is going to taste death, and We shall make a trial of you with evil and with good, and to Us you will be returned.

I passed. I decided to seek for further evidence of life after death and higher consciousness. I decided to help others, and use my experience to help bring peace and love about God, in other’s hearts. I passed! I submitted to Light and God, and my ego and dark parts of myself didn’t control my outward actions.

I too found the “mirrormask” to show me the truth of the reality of being able to choose the type of person I would become.

I am 34 now, my mother passed away almost 20 years ago, and STILL it is a hard thing to deal with..especially with my wedding coming soon. But I can honestly say that even though I miss with her with my entire being, I do not hate, am not angry, and have forgiven her for leaving me when needed her as a teen.

This world or universe is not a dark chaotic place to me. It is a beautiful expression of the battles between good and evil, expansion and constriction of the soul. Everything has a higher purpose that we can not understand, even death. The Quran never tells WHY people die when they do, but it is a known fact that everyone will die.

We are each given our time accordingly and FAIRLY because I believe in a just God that has shown justice throughout history. There is no unfairness in accidental or natural death, it simply is the time of that person to go on to new beginnings and the body stops breathing. Yet, the soul moves on.

Murder and life taken by another soul, is altogether a different story. And they too will be judged accordingly when they eventually die. That murder will be played out in front of them when they reach the Higher Order of Angels and God on their day of resurrection.

But in talking about murder, let’s look at this experience objectively as well. If someone murdered someone you loved, it is your choice to start to hate God and create chaos for others. Or you could make the choice to use that experience to help others. Through tragedy the gift of compassion and empathy is given. I would not want the battle of having to learn to forgive my loved one’s murderers. But it needs to be done, or else the soul doesn’t rest comfortably. Sometimes the battles given to us, are given to us for a reason that only God can understand. So take your duty seriously while here, and do the best you can.

Wisdom with forgiveness is key. It is the sword that which you can slay those inner demons with.

If you find yourself mad at the world because of a tragic event, take a look deeper into your “mirrormask” and see purpose of your own trials and who is the stronger soul you are supposed to become.

You are judged on your good and evil actions, not how many scars you have while going through this life.