Reclaiming Projections

[Darrell Moneyhon]

In my book, Allsville Emerging( www.allsvilleemerging.com, or http://sbpra.com/DarrellMoneyhon ), I discuss (toward end of book) 5 "laws of spiritual energy." One of the laws is the law of projection. I'll include an excerpt about the law of projection shortly, but first I want to describe the thrust of this discussion. 

  Yesterday I randomly opened up the Holy Bible. The passage was about the story of Sampson. I immediately sensed that it was a folk tale with deep meanings. The folk tale was a projection.

   Ken Wilber and others describe one level of religion as mythic. Those who are okay with taking the religious sort of folk tales at face value are, according to Wilber (and I agree) experiencing spirituality at a mythic level.

   Myths are important, and great to hold in memory as cues to meaningful spiritual experiences, practices, and concepts. But if the person chooses to go deeper and to reach (what appears to be) a higher stage of understanding spirituality, he or she will transcend (but still include) the mythical account, the fascinating magical story. 

   To me, the story of Sampson was a projection (see below description of projection). If left only at face value and not interpreted on a deeper, more abstract (and more generalizable and applicable/functional) level, then the story remains a mere folk tale which is "believed" in a literal way. And the "projection" stays "out there," left in a form that is not reclaimed by the mind or minds which projected it.

   But for those "children of the light" who begin to see through the light of mind itself (the projector), the projection offers cues about ways the mind and the deeper parts of mind ("spirit") work. The projection shines light back into the beam of light which projected it!

    Pick up on these retro-projection cues and we may discover "keys" or "doors" (my book uses "doors") to higher consciousness, or what I call "whole-mind" activity. In other words, we can "reclaim the projection" (a Gestalt therapy-like concept) which the meaningful folk tale (Biblical or not) is. 

    Here is how I reclaimed the projection of the story of Sampson: Sampson's riddle was something to the effect of "the eater gives something to eat" and "the strong gives something sweet." The literal interpretation of the "riddle" is that Sampson killed a lion, and that a honey bee hive inhabited the lion's rotting carcas. Sampson was able to enjoy the honey from the carcas of the lion he had slain earlier. 

   It dawned on me, however, that there is a deeper answer to the riddle. The eater = our egoistic needs, always needing and consuming and looking for ways to survive. The lion = the power-wielding aspect of the same egoic self. To me, the riddle suggests that deep within the ego-self is a deeper self (that we call spirit) which feeds rather than consumes, gives rather than takes. And deep within extrensic forms of power and pride is the sweet honey of "soft power," the power of spirit and of love. The rotting carcas is about ego or flesh transcendance. 

   Later in the story, Sampson loses his strength when he allows his hair to be cut. This seems to be about authenticity. He compromised his spiritual authenticity, in much the same way that King David compromised his spiritual authenticity, or resolve, by "counting his troops" (instead of simply trusting in the God-powered strength of the troops). 

   I felt that I had reclaimed the projection. Now I can A. go deep, operate deep from my ever-unfolding "flare" or "fountain" of consciousness and being.  And, B. I can be authentic, the way God and/or life made me, and the way I am truely called to be and to do. 

   Now (if I haven't already lost you!) compare this "reclaiming of a projection" to my thoughts in the below excerpt from my book : 

(from pages 438-439 of Allsville Emerging):

Law of Projection

To the extent that the matter, or “flesh,” in which the spiritual

energy “dwells,” is neither transformed (see Law of Transformation)

nor destroyed (see Law of Anti-bondage), then

the spiritual energy is projected outward onto other matter

or processes. Projection takes two main forms: positive and

negative.

   Positive projection manifests constructive energy patterns

outwardly because they have not been clearly seen, understood,

or embraced within the parameters of the matter in

which the spiritual energy is based (in human beings, “the

matter in which the spiritual energy is based” means the

self). Positive projection is a way to get the energy form “out

there,” so it may be seen and investigated. Once it has been

seen, then the energy form may be understood. Eventually it

may be embraced as something that is “true.”

   Once the energy form is projected, it can be reclaimed (via

the Law of Attraction, see below) through one or more of

the five senses. The material aspect of self then has a chance

to be transformed (see Law of Transformation) into a state

which better serves the spiritual goal of becoming whole.

For example, seeing beauty around you can be a way of positively

projecting the beauty of your spirit, so the “flesh” can

comprehend your own inner beauty.

   Negative projection gets the energy which is in a high

resistance format (High resistance energy tends to block

wholeness.) “out there,” into objective awareness/consciousness,

where it may be “grasped” (understood) mentally, and

may be addressed, worked on, processed, and corrected.

   “May” is an important word. Unfortunately, when we negatively

project, we often become comfortable in distancing

ourselves from the negative quality. In that case, what we

may do with projection becomes what we don’t do. Instead

of processing the projection in a way that eventually “turns a

negative into a positive,” we end up mentally and behaviorally

trying the negate the negative quality. When we take this

course we usually end up making more problems than solutions.

Worse yet, we miss opportunities for personal transformation.

The merry, merry month of May can be the scary,

scary, month of May(be) Not!

   Nonetheless, we nearly always have the potential to reclaim

the projection, and to process it in a productive manner.

For example, seeing evil or “ugliness” in the world can

be a way of eventually readdressing our own spirit’s contamination.

In the challenge of facing it out there, we sometimes

come to realize that “We have met the enemy, and it is us.”

  The Law of Projection is related to the birthright, need,

and virtue of Challenge, because mental projections and human

projects create interactive learning opportunities which

hone our skills and test our understanding.