Reflection is the source of all human ills.

I am confident in this statement not because I believe I can trace all ills back to reflection, but because it is reflection which makes us human, and hence, allows us to consider these ills. It allows us to trace, history, events, before and after. Now.

Reflection necessarily occurs after an action, hence it is distanced from that action.

Reflection before an actiona harms the authenticity that action. It mediates it.

Reflection indicates a split between the object and its representation. An object - including yourself - seen in the mirror is not the object, but a representation of it. An image. An illusion. Language is reflected, and our words are not the objects themselves, they are attempts at representation. This representation is never one-to-one.

The state of reflecting is the state of being self-conscious. The structure is as follows: animals (and inanimate objects) are non-reflective. They act either through instinct (animals) or by way of natural forces (inanimate objects). Humans reflect, and hence lose their grace. Any attempt to reflect upon a past action and to recreate it gracefully results in the grotesque. Then there is the omniscient, the angelic and the godly - the super-conscious. This state, is, however, unobtainable.