There is the mildest possibility that it can apply in more than one way at the same time, just the tiniest smallest iickle possibility.
I don't know if this is what 'Grinus was getting at, but I have found that mirrors (and projections) aren't always exact; they can sometimes be complementary.
Something that made me smile recently was when I realised that if you stand in front of a mirror, and you raise your right arm, does your reflection raise ITS right arm too? This may be obvious to some of you guys, but it freaked me the fuck out........
Also, IF what Carl Jung postulated (audience groans - "Jesus Christ, this shit again?"
) is true, that our subconscious is compensatory in order to correct unhealthy imbalances in the conscious mind (eg you have too low an opinion of your brother's intellect and dismiss his advice too summarily & frequently for your own good, and end up having a dream where he is above you seated on a throne), then it seems plausible to me that this may have an impact (the amount is debatable) on who each of us are attracted to, favouring complimentary qualities, not identical.
Actually, a theory that I have been playing around with in my mind at the moment (not concrete yet) is that one of the reasons why so many (not ALL, but MANY) women seem to be attracted to men who disregard, disrespect, or mistreat them in some way is due to this corrective mechanism; let's face it, from time immemorial women have been practically worshipped and given undue credit for purity and all things "good" BY DEFAULT, without first testing them as individuals for merit
[could this be because of "Anima projections" on the part of the entire male gender?], and a subconscious corrective response WOULD BE to feel attraction for a man who would knock them down a peg or two. Just a theory.......
On the issue of women mirroring the men they are attracted to, I have seen this countless times myself, but I think while the Vilar argument that they do this primarily for the purpose of "catching a workhorse" is valid and always worth bearing in mind, there may be more at work here. Every now & again I catch myself thinking about the yin/yang symbol, and one of the things that surfaces in my mind is that the "yin", which represents the feminine (and remember that this symbol of duality applies to more than just gender) is soft and therefore compliant , while the "yang" is hard (rigid). Now we would hardly get to see this polarity these days 'cause "men ain't men anymore and women ain't women", but under the influence of TRUE (ie natural, animalistic, sexual and NOT social) attraction, hints of the true feminine would be more likely to emerge. I suspect this may also play a part in a woman's following a man's interests (but only when she is TRULY SEXUALLY attracted to him....)
I have more to say on my interpretation of the yin/yang symbol, but this thread is not the place for it, so i'll start a new thread for that......