Showing posts with label projection. Show all posts
Showing posts with label projection. Show all posts

Wednesday, June 5, 2019

Unitarian Universalism is a beacon of light in a dark world.


What happens to the people when its leader is an unethical con man? What happens to a people when corruption undoes the law of the land? What happens when people elect people who make laws which are antithetical to a society's well being and favor only the powerful few with privileges others can't enjoy?

A person can blame the leader. A person can blame people with privilige who practice corruption to escape accountability to the just laws of that society, or a person can look ino his/her own heart and attempt to understand how such people were put into power to begin with and why they continue to vote for them so they can continue in their positions allowing them to exploit.

Most people love a con man and will vote for a person who practices corruption because  the person would like to be like them. The person enjoys the pain and suffering and exploitation. It is like the audience who is titillated watching a bully assault the victim. People love the titillation of vengeance and attack. It is emotionally arousing and for the bored, the emotionally blunted, attack is entertainment.

Deep down a person feels inadequate and defective. The person has been told that he/she was born with Origninal Sin and is doomed to damnation unless there is a blood sacrifice to redeem them from a wrathful, malevolent being who looks on them with contempt and disdain. A person gets defensive and thinks, "Well if I am bad, I am not as bad his him/her," and points their finger at the other to displace the burden of their own guilt onto someone else. He/she enjoys the victimization because it is comforting knowing that the other is being attacked and not them.

It is this displacement of guilt on the other that leads to the love of corruption and attack. There is a justified satisfaction. This justified satisfaction creates and maintains the evil in the world.

Unitarian Universalism sees the world from a different lens. UUs believe in the Original Blessing not Originanl Sin. UUs believe in the inherent worth and dignity of every person and do not play the blame game of "one or the other." UUs affirm and promote justice, equity, and compassion and do not believe in vengeance, blood sacrifice, and attack. Redemptive violence has no place in the UU covenant and principles.

Unitatian Universalism provides a view of the world which is counter cultural. It is a beacon, a light for the world. This view, this light, begins in individual hearts and is a choice that saves the person and the world.

Thursday, June 28, 2018

What does the term "projection" mean?


Unitarian Universalists covenant together to affirm and promote the free and responsible search for truth and meaning. And they're off and running. Where exactly?

The pharisees ask Jesus, "So, rabbi, where's this kingdom of yours that you keep talking about? You know, that mythical place where everybody is supposedly happy. If I could get there, will it make me happy too? I might make the effort to make the trip there if only you would give me directions. Help me out here, pal. What's the way? Enlighten me."


The psychological term for it is "projection." Projection is an "if only" state of mind. If only this happened or that happened, if only he would or she would, if only I could, then, then, then, I would be happy.

The little mantra we repeat over and over and over again to ourselves is "(S)he could if only (s)he would, but (s)he won't because (s)he is holding out on me." And we project our wishes, our resentments, our hopes, and our grievances onto the other person or the situations that we THINK will make us happy.

Even worse, we, then, go looking for evidence that our propositions about the other making us happy are right. Oh, how we want to be right; we are sure we are right; so sure we become mad or sad that our expectations go unfulfilled, sometimes even murderously enraged.

The big mistake, of course, is that external people and things can't make us happy. This idea, we come to understand as we spiritually mature, is utter nonsense, an illusion we create in our desire for our own wish fulfillment.

We need to grow up and take responsibility for our own happiness, not project this responsibility onto others.

People are so silly, ridiculous really. Ask most people what it would take to make them happy and they say silly things like "Winning the lottery," and then they giggle because they know how unlikely and how silly this is. What is frightening is when they say it seriously as if they truly believe this would bring them deep, abiding, authentic happiness.

Jesus says clearly that the kingdom of God is among you. Jesus, when asked by the Pharisees where His kingdom is, says, and I paraphrase, "the kingdom of God is not a place. You can't say look here or look there. The kingdom of which I speak is right here, right now, between you. It is in your midst, but you don't see it because you are constantly looking elsewhere." Luke 17:21.

We are looking for love in all the wrong places.

Stop the projection nonsense. Stop the "if only" game you play with yourself and others. Grow up. Take responsibility for your own happiness. Quit projecting that responsibility onto others. Projection is a main tactic on the path of the ego. It doesn't work. It is disappointing and frustrating. Turn on to the path of the spirit and walk with love: love for yourself and your fellow creatures.

The question is not what can they do for me which they aren't doing, but rather, how do I take care of myself and in the process help them and contribute to the well being of the community?


Monday, April 30, 2018

Meaningless thoughts show me a meaningless world

Unitarian Universalists covenant together to affirm and promote the free and responsible search for truth and meaning. The premise of this principle is that meaningless thoughts show us a meaningless world. The key question is "where does the search for truth and meaning take us?"

Comedian, Flip Wilson, when he did his Geraldine routine, would say in a saucy way, "What you see is what you get." I change it to "What you think you see is what you get."

The fact of the matter is that we develop certain psychological sets and project our beliefs out into the world and create what we think we see. If you think you are a bad person and the world is a bad place, then bad things will happen to you. If you think you are a good person and the world is a good place, then good things will happen to you.

Is the glass half full or have empty? Do you have enough or are you lacking? Are you pretty and handsome or blemished and ugly?

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder we have been told, as well as that it is only skin deep.

You can't tell a book by its cover we have been told, and we are encouraged to not only read it but read between the lines.

It is written in Lesson 11 in the  workbook for students in A Course In Miracles, "My meaningless thoughts are showing me a meaningless world." In other words, the path of the ego is a path of nonsense. The path of the ego is a path of inanity and insanity.

When we realize the drama we create by projecting our thoughts and beliefs out into the world, we realize that there must be a better way. Indeed there is and it begins with forgiving ourselves and others for our stupid thoughts and beliefs. At the end of our life, and when our souls are pried lose from our bodies, we realize, then, if not before, what is really important.
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