Bring4th

i've known of the concept of psychological projection for roughly a decade now & almost daily i find myself feeling thankful i know about it. i find recognizing it in others (& myself) a lot of fun & i find i'm constantly given the opportunity.

it helps me out in my life by helping me to take what feel i need (what i feel was meant for me) & to discard the rest.

i'm curious to see every1's views on it bc i learned today that apparently people that are new to it will try to force-fit its operation on others, in an attempt to make sense of what they don't understand...do u agree with this?

how do u define projecting? how long have u known about it? when you discovered it did it change you? what are your opinions on it? how often do you find yourself stopping & thinking, "am i projecting here?" how often do u find yourself admitting to yourself that something u've communicated may have been mostly a projection?

here's my current opinion on it:

i think the concept is mind-blowing; it's like the subconsciousness gets to become conscious & interact with us every now & then.

since projections are typically done unconsciously i now find it's best to not point out to some1 that they be projecting bc typically all this is doing is asking for denial & an argument & god knows what else. people are likely often unaware they're projecting for a good reason. & people are likely aware when some1's projecting for a good reason. the reason being peace of mind.

so i've decided i'll choose to only see the beautiful (& often hilarious) projections & move on rather than point them out. from now on, when i see some1 that i think's projecting i plan to laugh & then wish them love, light, peace, joy, and then bid them well & not engage in making them aware of something that they're perhaps not meant to be made aware of.

universe is a mirror to oneself. reflecting what he sees/knows within

(12-12-2013, 04:03 PM)truesimultaneity Wrote: [ -> ]i'm curious to see every1's views on it bc i learned today that apparently people that are new to it will try to force-fit its operation on others, in an attempt to make sense of what they don't understand...do u agree with this?

To a certain extent... It does depend on whether or not the person is just projecting someone projecting. ;D

Quote:how do u define projecting?

I would define projection as the biases, opinions, and distortions of a person's interior world being projected onto the objective exterior world, and this is mostly an unconscious activity.

Quote:how long have u known about it? when you discovered it did it change you? what are your opinions on it? how often do you find yourself stopping & thinking, "am i projecting here?" how often do u find yourself admitting to yourself that something u've communicated may have been mostly a projection?

I've known about it subconsciously for a couple of years but within the last year it has become very vivid to me. When I fully understood it, I began a series of self reflective meditations and everytime I was bothered by someone or something I would take it as a sign that I may be projecting. I went projecting my anima onto my first GF for a few years and when I realized it, I was like, "I'm not in love with you, I'm in love with myself!"

In my dreams I'm almost always semi-lucid, in the back of my mind I'm aware that I'm dreaming. In my own experience of projecting now, I'm always aware that I'm projecting although it can be pretty hard to stop when my ego gets all riled up.

Quote:here's my current opinion on it:

i think the concept is mind-blowing; it's like the subconsciousness gets to become conscious & interact with us every now & then.

since projections are typically done unconsciously i now find it's best to not point out to some1 that they be projecting bc typically all this is doing is asking for denial & an argument & god knows what else. people are likely often unaware they're projecting for a good reason. & people are likely aware when some1's projecting for a good reason. the reason being peace of mind.

so i've decided i'll choose to only see the beautiful (& often hilarious) projections & move on rather than point them out. from now on, when i see some1 that i think's projecting i plan to laugh & then wish them love, light, peace, joy, and then bid them well & not engage in making them aware of something that they're perhaps not meant to be made aware of.

I wish someone would have set me aside and told me I was projecting sooner. Usually while in neurosis it's hard to tell anyone anything, but once someone comes out of their neurosis, I think it can be benifitial to share your opinion that they might have been projecting.

Also, in comedy TV, it seems that the writers love over-exaggerating projection in their shows. It's now a common thing to see, but more often then not portrayed in an intellectually infantile fashion.

(12-12-2013, 04:03 PM)truesimultaneity Wrote: [ -> ]since projections are typically done unconsciously i now find it's best to not point out to some1 that they be projecting bc typically all this is doing is asking for denial & an argument & god knows what else. people are likely often unaware they're projecting for a good reason.

It's certainly an interesting thing, and I believe it's central to what Ra was referring to with indigo state of consciousness (recognition of other as self) and serving in that manner.

The question is, when you notice these things, what is your role and who does the burden rest on?

"Those truly helpless are those who have not consciously chosen but who repeat patterns without knowledge of the repetition or the meaning of the pattern."

This concept of repeating patterns is interesting. When someone projects, it's an unaccepted aspect of self, which means they're still attempting to control something. The more aware we are, the more well-defined our concepts of right and wrong become, resulting in the felt-need to correct and guide others. Yet, we naturally also have/had those faults. So when we notice someone projecting, do we make an observation or simply find amusement in our reflection? As you've noticed, it often simply causes more conflict..and it also seems like it's just repeating the pattern of attempting to control catalyst. Personally I think the burden simply rests on us to see our reflection and that's it. As we learn to become ok with our reflection in the moment, the catalyst should begin to fall away over time.

One can transmute unconscious projection into great learning if the projection is subsequently recognized and then balanced. This is thread is very timely (again, for personal reasons outside this forum ).

(12-12-2013, 04:03 PM)truesimultaneity Wrote: [ -> ]i'm curious to see every1's views on it bc i learned today that apparently people that are new to it will try to force-fit its operation on others, in an attempt to make sense of what they don't understand...do u agree with this?

how do u define projecting? how long have u known about it? when you discovered it did it change you? what are your opinions on it? how often do you find yourself stopping & thinking, "am i projecting here?" how often do u find yourself admitting to yourself that something u've communicated may have been mostly a projection?

projection happens because the mind is trying to show its experience to us.

for those things that have not been accepted by ourselves as being 'self', it is forced to rely on using actors or 'symbols' to show the thing that we are experiencing.

so for example, many members on these forums will have become 'classified' as being this or that, or represent certain qualities ... but that mental abstraction of who that person is is far from the totality of who that individual happens to be. The aspects that we hone in on, and react to ... these are projective tools.

in the absence of any projection, we would be able to see the 'love' of that individual, while at the same time registering certain 'facts' or aspects of experience, without any reactivity to it.

it is not too dissimilar a state to that of a healer being able to 'feel blockages' but without the slightest hint of judgement.

projection and reactivity tend to go hand in hand ... where you find one (the mechanism of projection) you will find the lived mental experience (the reactivity).

Becoming familiar and adept with working with one's projections (ie recognising quickly when it is at play, and then reverse diagnosing the blockage/causative factor) can be an immense accelerant to knowing the mind and self.

(12-12-2013, 05:29 PM)Marc Wrote: [ -> ]In my dreams I'm almost always semi-lucid, in the back of my mind I'm aware that I'm dreaming.

same here!

Dreaming is one big projection. Every object, person in the dream is a representation of self. I just listened to a guy talk about shadow aspect. A negative type projection is a projection of our shadow… shadow = the part of self that one denies and tries to push away. Instead of owning up attending to our shadow, we may choose to project it out onto others.

When we dream of running away from something and cannot look at it in the face, it may be indicative that we are not facing our shadow. And so during the waking hours we may project our shadow onto others instead. I used to have running-away dreams prior but not any more.. recently... that I can remember.

Any experience with this type of dream?

I used to have those kind of dreams, though I rarely managed to actually run. It was like my legs were moving very quickly but when I looked around I seemed to be inching along. Frustrating! :p

I had similar dreams too, it's annoying lol... I used to try to run, couldn't run fast enough so tried to hide but nowhere to hide.

So today I was with my therapist and was like, "I'm not ignorant or fearful, it's just others' ignorance and fear that bothers me a lot... Wait! Oh sh*t, that's probably just a projection of mine!!!" I've had this issue for quite some now, an even though I recognized ignorance and fear as a huge part of my shadow, I'd still not seen how it was me.

Then I was like, "See I'm doing your job now!" She just laughed.

---

The moral of the story is, even when I think I'm pretty aware of myself, I realize I'm projecting all over everyone. Heh

When I was a kid, if I had thoughts of getting sucked into a vacuum cleaner right before I fell asleep, it usually meant a nightmare would follow. Happened a few times to me. I don't remember having many nightmares.

(12-12-2013, 04:03 PM)truesimultaneity Wrote: [ -> ]since projections are typically done unconsciously i now find it's best to not point out to some1 that they be projecting bc typically all this is doing is asking for denial & an argument & god knows what else. people are likely often unaware they're projecting for a good reason. & people are likely aware when some1's projecting for a good reason. the reason being peace of mind.

I had to go to Google to learn about this, and the first thing they listed was Wikipedia. It brought up memories of my earlier life, when I did a lot of projection, which I probably still do.

As rie already posted, other characters in our dreams are different aspects of ourselves. So if one of them is a real person in our life, we can list that person's strengths and weaknesses and decide which of those need attending to in ourselves.

In our "waking" life, other selves also display our own aspects for us to examine. It they really do have some "weakness" that we also have, then it isn't projection, it's recognition. Whatever.

I agree that one should just about never tell a person what is wrong with them. If you really want to offer guidance, you can go with "some experts say that what we see in others is within ourselves as well. I don't know if that's true in your case, but you can go inside and check it out."

Thanks for the post, truesim.

(12-17-2013, 03:07 PM)kycahi Wrote: [ -> ]

(12-12-2013, 04:03 PM)truesimultaneity Wrote: [ -> ]since projections are typically done unconsciously i now find it's best to not point out to some1 that they be projecting bc typically all this is doing is asking for denial & an argument & god knows what else. people are likely often unaware they're projecting for a good reason. & people are likely aware when some1's projecting for a good reason. the reason being peace of mind.

I had to go to Google to learn about this, and the first thing they listed was Wikipedia. It brought up memories of my earlier life, when I did a lot of projection, which I probably still do.

As rie already posted, other characters in our dreams are different aspects of ourselves. So if one of them is a real person in our life, we can list that person's strengths and weaknesses and decide which of those need attending to in ourselves.

In our "waking" life, other selves also display our own aspects for us to examine. It they really do have some "weakness" that we also have, then it isn't projection, it's recognition. Whatever.

I agree that one should just about never tell a person what is wrong with them. If you really want to offer guidance, you can go with "some experts say that what we see in others is within ourselves as well. I don't know if that's true in your case, but you can go inside and check it out."

Thanks for the post, truesim.

"it's best to not point out to some1 that they be projecting"

;kajdsl;fkdja;slkfjalksjf that they MAY be projecting i meant. can some1 tell me why i am always leaving out words? does it mean i need to slow the feck down?