--- In [email protected], "jim_flanegin" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > --- In [email protected], new.morning <no_reply@> wrote: > > > > Are all criticisms of someone simply the projections of the > > critic -- their seeing the criticized quality in themselves? > > > > And even if all criticism is projection -- a dubious position IMO, > > does that invalidate the criticism? Another dubious position IMO. > > Great question! Thanks for raising it. > > My personal view of this is we are all more a common consciousness, > a Oneness, than we are our seperate selves. That being the case, > it informs my criticism of another, because though the criticism > of them may be a valid perception of mine, the way I criticize > another is the same way I treat such qualities within myself. > > So if I am quick to condemn, slander and insult others, that is > the same inner dialogue I have with myself. And either by the > mechanism of karma or just self dislike, it is not the most > helpful way to get through this life. > > Additionally, the world we see is the projection of our own > consciousness onto our objects of perception. And so, yes, > whatever we criticize is, scientifically, us. Which is to say > we are much more than this body. And whatever we perceive, we > perceive through our machinery and so at the very least it always > has our imprint on it, and we wouldn't see it that way if it > wasn't us seeing it.
I'm not going to weigh in on the divisive "is all projection valid" issue one way or another. But I do have something to say about behavior, and what I've seen in a lot of spiritual groups across four decades. Two of the behaviors you see in these situations -- when Seeker A lashes out and flames Seeker B, and then Seeker Z pops in and suggests that Seeker A is "projecting," and has as much of the fault he is accusing someone of as the person he's accusing -- are ANGER and DENIAL. These behaviors often take the form "How DARE you accuse me of the thing I just accused someone of? and "Of course I don't have that quality; I'm the *opposite* of what I just accused Seeker B of." We've all seen this, countless times. We've all DONE this, countless times. But there is another behavior one sees in this situation. I'm not completely sure its a more highly evolved behavior (although I definitely swing in that direction), but it sure is a more interesting one. Seeker A flames Seeker B. Seeker Z busts Seeker A for projecting his own faults onto Seeker B. And then, instead of getting angry and denying it, Seeker A STOPS THE WORLD (snaps the binding lines of a samskara) and says, "Oh. Cool. That *is* a valid way of seeing myself, and thus the stuff I've still got to work on. Thanks." Whole other ball game. I kinda like the second scenario. I've seen in on other forums a lot. It shows me that the person being busted for "projecting" actually does GET Jim's argument, and GETS that he has the same qualities in himself. And he GETS that's the reason he's lashing out when he sees that quality outside of himself. It's like if you could read the "subtitles" of "Oh. Cool. That *is* a valid way of seeing myself, and thus the stuff I've still got to work on. Thanks," they would say: "Oh. I accused such-and-such of being a LIAR. Hmmmm. Now that you've brought it up, I do this a LOT. I wonder if one of the reasons I do this is that I'm a LIAR, too. Let's examine that. Hmmmm. No, I don't lie to other people very much...that is right out. But yes, now that you mention it, I lie to myself ALL THE TIME. Damn. I'm not nearly as perfect as I thought I was. I still have stuff to work on. Wow. What a concept. Thanks." I don't know about you, but I think the person who reacts the second way has more of a clue than the person who reacts with anger and denial. We're all sincere spiritual seekers here. Every last one of us. And we're all assholes here, assholes who still have a LOT to work on. Every last one of us. In my opinion, that's cause for celebration, not anger. Think how boring things would be if your really WERE perfect. To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
