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John Paul Brammer

@jpbrammer

2 months ago

Photo by John Paul Brammer on August 28, 2026. May be an image of poster, mirror and text that says 'Your Reflection Is Not You On mirrors, Onmirors,magic,andobsesion magic, and obsession'.

Photo by John Paul Brammer on August 28, 2026. May be an image of text that says 'Narcissus didn' t fall in love with himself, but with his reflection. There's a difference. "Inopem me he laments. "Abundance copia fecit,' has made me poor. " He wastes away with everything he wants right in front of him. JOHN JOHNPAULBRAMMER OHNPAULBRAMMI PAUL BRAMMER'.

Photo by John Paul Brammer on August 28, 2026. May be an image of magazine and text.

Photo by John Paul Brammer on August 28, 2026. May be an image of text that says 'To be alive today is to keep the constant company of this trembling image-self. Alone in your bed scrolling on your phone, the screen goes black between distractions and briefly reveals a ghastly face in the murky depths; your face, seen from an angle once reserved for long-suffering spouses. We see more of ourselves than any people before us. ubiquity hasn' t brought us into a deeper understanding of ourselves. The opposite is true. It has alienated us from ourselves. It's This making us miserable. JOHNPAULBRAMMER JOHN PAUL BRAMMER'.

Photo by John Paul Brammer on August 28, 2026. May be an image of text that says 'We don't think of our reflections as tricks of the light. We think of them, simply, as ourselves. This error is costing us dearly. We're like the betta fish looking at itself in the mirror and driving itself to exhaustion by a mistaken understanding. At least the fish recognizes an enemy. We, on the other hand, enter into a one-sided romance. I submit a disturbing possibility: The fish is right The images in the mirror are not us. They are Something Else. JOHNPAULERAMMER JOHN PAUL BRAMMER'.

Photo by John Paul Brammer on August 28, 2026. May be an image of text that says 'Reflections aren't confined to mirrors. A reflection is anything outside ourselves that we perceive to represent us. An image of a stranger whose body we envy, positioned in a lush, faraway corner of the world: what does this image have to do with us? Nothing, without comparison. Through comparison, we see something we don t have, and that we want. The image becomes relevant to us. A reflection. JOHNPAULBRAMMER JOHN PAUL BRAMMER'.

Photo by John Paul Brammer on August 28, 2026. May be an image of text that says 'When we perform a labor, it pleases us to see the results of that labor. When we need something, it satisfies us to have that need met. Anything else is injustice. Unevenness. Unevenness creates discord Discord creates obsession. Obsession is the persistent and often irrational behavior toward an imagined harmony. As with religion, we seek unity through subtraction of the self. Pascal. JOHN JOHNPAULBRAMMER PAUL BRAMMER'.

Photo by John Paul Brammer on August 28, 2026. May be an image of poster and text that says 'Obsession is self-destructive. It whittles a person down to a nub. The child cutting a piece of paper into the shape of a heart, obsessively trying to make it perfectly even, will reduce the heart to a misshapen nothing. JOHN JOHNPAULBRAMMER PAUL BRAMMER'.

Photo by John Paul Brammer on August 28, 2026. May be an image of text that says 'We 've all seen the elaborate scaffolding required to produce a pleasant image. Lighting, tripods, makeup. Today, such images don t even need a relationship with physical reality at all. We have new tools to edit them. We can send them out into the world, fully knowing they are distorted. We still declare them to be ourselves, believing we authored them, not the other way around. No photographs, please. Fillessay:linkinbio Full essay: link in bio JOHN PAUL BRAMMER'.

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Posted On: August 28th 2026, 01:38 pm

My latest essay is about mirrors, magic, obsession, and why we were never meant to see ourselves this much 🪞link in bio

Comments (13)

2 months ago

pjkaye

what I look like is none of my business

2 months ago

Love this. I haven't ever posted a photo of myself on socials using filters at all. I rarely post selfies anyway, but i like to show a truer version of myself. You are definitely onto something. Social media esp "influencer culture" has warped many of our minds.

2 months ago

juarezwithanacento

u ate that

2 months ago

felicitycrawdad

tfw it’s clear my favorite essay guy has been reading classics and philosophy

2 months ago

whatmakesaman

this brings to mind the lyrics of an Evanescence song, "Breathe No More," where she sings, "but I know the difference between myself and my reflection. I just can't help but to wonder: which of us do you love?" https://youtu.be/oG2OWZkORC8

2 months ago

franciscocooks

Amazing read. Congrats 👏

2 months ago

briankosh

🔥🔥

2 months ago

bobbyxwestside

love this

2 months ago

busypawsllc

I started following your substack a while back, but hadn't had a chance to read your work there yet. Yesterday, I read this one and immediately upgraded, because it made my mind go "yes, agree. Yes, undoubtedly true. Yes, oh that's how I feel exactly." I think I stumbled upon you on twitter years ago and found you here when I left that space. Your musical goats art resides on a wall of our home and I have loved it for years. I also discovered after purchasing an Audubon Society shirt I adore that you designed it. I guess what I'm saying is I'm naturally a big fan of your brain and what it thinks up. I'm going to be delving into your substack soon, chipping away at consuming your talent. Thank you!