The mirror model is, in essence, a very simple idea; it is a model that synthesizes the incredible complexity of life into an elemental equivalence principle, or, as the name indicates, a mirror effect. This principle could be explained as a phenomenon similar to an equation. An equation is a statement with 2 parts divided by an equals sign. These 2 parts may look completely different at first glance, but they are indeed equivalent statements; they are 2 expressions of the same principle. The mirror model proposes that something very similar happens in complex life forms. It states that the body, like an equation, consist of 2 fundamental parts: the head and the body, and all the structures in the head are iterated onto the body. At first, this idea may not make sense because the head does not look at all like the rest of the body. Furthermore, the brain is made out of nerve tissue, and the organs inside the abdomen and the thorax consist of a completely different set of tissues that have nothing to do with the brain; in fact, they do not even have the same origin. This idea also seems to contradict the Ed Lewis model of development by mosaics, which is the leading model of development today. How, therefore, can we resolve this tissue discrepancy, and how can we reconcile these two seemingly incongruent models? These questions are indeed highly relevant, and they will be addressed as the model is described.
