Psych 101: The Trap of Projection in Cyberspace
"The life that we experience is an outgrowth - a kind of mirror-image in physical form - of our inner reality. When we're lost in projection it becomes very hard to trace the situations that we’re experiencing in the world back to their sources within us. You may have goals that are very important to you, for example, and yet be unaware of the other inner thoughts and feelings that might be working against your conscious intentions. You’ll never become aware of these inner obstacles if you rage against your circumstances every time you meet with failure.
Until we awaken to the ways in which we create our own reality the temptation will always be there for us to want to grasp wildly in the world for what we want. Our picture of the outer world is a projection of the consciousness within us, but most people don’t recognize it as such. Growing into that awareness is a crucial part of psychological and spiritual growth.
The influences that bid us to avoid this sort of personal detective work are probably more ever-present in this modern technological age than they ever were before. Cyberspace is rife with opportunities for projection, and people can become very lost in its offers of (seemingly) instant affirmation. Longing to find a kindred spirit, a person may become attached to their idea about someone they’re interacting with online without really having a lot of actual facts to go on. Projection fills the gaps and gives us the illusion that we’re seeing the complete picture. What we’re really seeing is aspects of ourselves that we’re not aware of. Having never owned these aspects, we mistake them for traits belonging to the various other people around us.
We grope our way through the world, mistaking it for the primary source of our happiness. This places us on a kind of psychological see-saw. We’re elated when our efforts elicit responses from others and we’re disappointed when the world doesn’t “answer”. We place our own personal reality at the mercy of fate. Are we chasing real connections or mere fantasies? If we stick to this approach then fantasies are all we’ll ever be able to grasp anyway.
The only reason we ever do these sorts of things is because we don't really trust our inner selves or believe that we form our life experience from the inside out. In the absence of this trust, projection fills the vacuum and we go off chasing faerie glamour. If we become familiar with the trap of projection then we’ll be able to catch ourselves before we drifted too far afield. It may require time and effort before we’re able to find our center again. The rewards are well worth the work involved, however. When we let go of the modality of frantically manipulating the world outside and turn inward instead, our dreams and desires manifest much more easily. They become realized because we trust our own energies instead of disowning them by buying in to the seductive allure of projection."
Moving these articles to my main Psych 101: Account for better management.
Yes, This article is mine.