The Value of Projection

Video Summary:

I'm going to talk about projection. It's a term or a concept that was invented by Sigmund Freud, and then later developed by Carl Jung and other psychoanalysts. Projection is when we take part of ourselves and project it onto another person. And we're unconscious that it's actually that issue or thing in me that I'm seeing in the other person.

I want to break it down into two types of projection. The first is when we take someone from our past, such as a mother, father, sibling, or ex-partner, and then we project it onto someone that we're currently relating to.

Say I have unresolved issues with my father. And then this guy comes along and does a subtle mannerism or something, and it triggers me. I then project the things of my father that I still haven't accepted onto this person. So one benefit you get with this type of projection is that it brings clarity and respect to your current relationships.

The second type of projection is even more subtle in a way. It’s when you project a quality of yourself that you see in someone onto them.

Say, I've been noticing a form of arrogance in myself. I may believe that I have to do everything myself, and if I don't take care of it, it's not going to get done. Well, that's pretty arrogant to think that the world needs me to keep it rolling.

And so then, I see someone else who's being arrogant, and I get all fired up that he is being so damn arrogant. It's an opportunity to become more self-aware. When I become aware that it's my arrogance I'm seeing in him, it begins to fall away. And I actually became less arrogant and more gracious and humble.

So when projection arises, it's a real opportunity. In my tradition, we sometimes call this coyote medicine, which is seeing things about ourselves that we don't want to look at. As we embrace it and accept that it's true, it is empowering, and it starts the process of allowing it to naturally fall away.