In and around the 15th century the invention of the mirror started changing the psyche of the world! It changed people and it changed art. Individuality as we understand it today did not exist because largely, people did not see themselves as individuals. They certainly didn't nor could they, actually look at themselves at all; and as such they felt themselves more as part of a whole, in relation to groups, household, town – and in relation to God. The mirror changed all that. Once a person could actually SEE themselves, they began to know how they “appeared" to the rest of the world and we've been making judgements on appearances ever since. It was at this time that portraiture became truly popular in art imploring people to look at the individual, the man or woman of wealth and status; separate from the “other." The very act of being painted implied importance (like selfies) as the act of gazing into a mirror began to make folks think of themselves differently; certainly, differently from one another. Similarly, novels began to be written in the first person and in so doing we could inhabit the thoughts of another. In a word, we became...individuals...and we began to put our individuality “out there."
And that individuality, certainly today, is exploited to a level that can dislocate us from one another and from ourselves, as groups AND as individuals. The trick then, has become, to know that you are an individual, but in that very same space – to know also, that you are not. This provides the balance in living, in between the two ends of our consciousness string, of what we know as birth and death. And there is a practice that can help us all with that balance; help us to remember; to not get swept away in pettiness, selfishness, differences, self-importance, materialism. Or likewise, to not get overwhelmed by unworthiness, insignificance, hurt, anger; because each of us experiences varying degrees of each of these.
It's the practice of the mindfulness of death, the contemplation of dying in order to become more aware of one's mortality and as such become more aware of the truth of one's existence. To move closer to an opening up of... well, that's for you to discover. Self? Beauty? Gratefulness? Change?
But alas, many do not know, or they know and are afraid to think upon their finite nature (their 'sameness') and dwell exclusively on their smaller world and lives (their “individualness"). In my trade, I'm blessed. I'm reminded. I cannot ignore or forget. It's a living that reflects upon my, our, very nature – the remembering of our impermanence. With practice, ultimately, and sometimes in the space it takes to draw one breath, we can begin to understand our “oneness" and even see how we can contribute to that oneness in ways we hadn't imagined.
That's akin to a small miracle for me. The hug of a “stranger." The shedding of a tear in joy, relief or sadness. In fact, death awareness becomes food for more joyful living; not for morose pondering. It provides a map of what is important. And yes - without much effort and for what it's worth, it can begin with the mundane and simple act of looking in a mirror. Not at our white teeth or for the plucking of a hair, but for a reflection of soul from within our own eyes. To look. Deeply. Closely. Holding the gaze. And when we start to feel a little uncomfortable because we might see something there, a truth we cannot perhaps readily understand; we keep looking into that face just the same. The face we think is us. The skin. The lines. The years that changed us. And eventually we go beyond mine... across our borders where the universal is; where all our lives flow.
THAT THING WITH A MIRROR 
