The main source for this post is Emotional Clearing by John Ruskan.
There’s a life hack you can do which is the equivalence of reverse engineering projection. It’s a hack because you’re essentially debugging the system in real time to integrate fragmentation and separation within the system. This can lead to healthy integration to live a much better life.
I’ll define projection as an automatic, unconscious mechanism resulting from the accumulation of energy that has been generated by suppression. Projection assigns subjective value and identity to persons or events in the “outside” world. Feelings that the person has suppressed are then experienced indirectly through these external events or people. Projection is connected to blame, as individuals blame others for causing their feelings or circumstances. Projection is like making the world a mirror, reflecting our own qualities back to us. In a sense, we are always projecting and fabricating experience, but some moments are stronger than others; there exists a spectrum of projection. By observing and interpreting what we perceive externally, we gain insight into what lies hidden internally.
Obviously the relationship here is more nuanced than a simple linear graph but you get the idea. So, we project because of conditioning and/or fabrication and/or contraction (and feedback loops). In theory, anytime projection arises, we can say that there is some amount of past conditioning still within us that is yet to be dealt with in some way. What this means is, some conditioning in you past is clearly stuck in your system, or it would not arise like it does when projection occurs. For example, you don’t project when someone disagrees with your favorite color (“okay, cool, what’s their favorite color then), but you do project when someone disagrees with your music taste (“that guy doesn’t know good music, he has terrible taste”). Obviously these examples are pretty juvenile, but by definition there exists some type of conditioning which leads to suffering due to contraction.
Within projection, many types of behaviors and beliefs arise that cause suffering and aversion. The main generating negative behavior is unskillful reactivity. The individual does not see reality as it is and consequently reacts inappropriately to the phenomenological experience arising. Because of this unskillful reactivity, contraction arises that leads to suffering. So, reverse engineering projection is a way to see through your conditioning and work with it to reduce suffering and increase wise responsivity (vs unskillful reactivity).
How to do? I won’t make an exact list of “DO THIS OR ELSE” but I will give some pointers. First, the realization that you are projecting is the most important aspect of awareness. Until this realization is made, the individual is considered blind and reacts poorly to their projections. Awareness includes the recognition that the event corresponds to a projection of suppressed energy held in the subconscious. You need to own the event of projection as yours and yours only to handle. You cannot blame others for your own phenomenological experience. If someone blames another, they are stuck in self-rejection, which inhibits the free flow of energy and prevents integration, effectively causing them to suppress the feeling again. In a way, the key is strong meta-cognition that arises quickly, and eventually automatically. This first requires intellectual acceptance of the condition of suppression-projection as a working theory, relying on faith until the truth becomes evident through integration and practice.
Next, notice what qualities or feelings trigger your strongest projection when you see them externally. The external content you’re reacting to shows you what’s been rejected internally. If you’re constantly perceiving weakness in others and it bothers you, there’s likely a vulnerable part you’ve rejected. I often find that what one judges others for is most often what they judge themselves most for, which is a symptom of internal violence.
You can use these practical applications to really work with the rejected internal energy that is being projected:
- When you have a strong reaction to someone or something, ask: "What quality or feeling am I seeing in them that I've rejected in myself?"
- Instead of "they made me angry," shift to "I'm perceiving anger and attributing it to them. What anger have I suppressed in myself?"
- Pay attention to recurring themes in what bothers you, attracts you, or preoccupies you. These patterns reveal the structure of your subconscious.
- Make a list of qualities you're absolutely certain you don't possess or would never do. These are prime candidates for suppressed aspects.
- Take any strong perception of another person and temporarily hold it as a complete mirror of yourself.
- When you notice projection happening: bring awareness to it -> accept it without resistance (relax body-mind) -> feel it directly in the body until it dissolves
Key point: once you’ve identified what’s happening, you must drop the intellectual activity entirely and move to feeling-level experience. This is where analysis can become an act of suppression and rejection. Use analysis to locate what needs to be felt, then abandon analysis to actually feel it.
Reminder: obviously none of this means you can’t judge a situation or set boundaries or whatever else. The goal is to move to skillful responsivity. This means you can welcome emotional experiences without judgement, and skillfully respond to situations as they arise.