THE NATURE OF PROJECTION
Excerpt from THE NATURE OF PROJECTION
GURURAJ ANANDA YOGI: What is the nature of projection? Projection has no nature of its own. But it is like an alien that comes to America and becomes naturalized or domiciled. So projection, or if you want to use the word “creation”, is created by our understanding of things and by the patterning of our minds. Now, who is the projector and what is the projection? (To understand) the projector, let’s take the (analogy of a) cinema machine. The projector remains the same; it is the same projector. But in this same projector you can put in different films. You can put in a cowboy film or a love drama or all the stuff that you see nowadays, the murder and the violence and the bloodshed and all that‑‑it’s still the same projector. Depending upon what film you put into the projector, that is what creates the projection outside you.
If we want to see a proper projection, then we have to use the right film. When we use the right film, then the projection will be something we want to see. Projection is a very important part of our lives. You cannot exist without any form of projection. While sitting here, I am also a projection. The light is on me, and if this was in darkness, you could not see me. The light that is on me gets registered by your retina, which in turn sends the message to your brain, and the brain in turn recognizes the projection that is sitting in front of you. So in that way, everything in life is a projection, according to our patterning, according to the film we put into the projector.
The more highly developed the person is spiritually, the more clarity his projection will have. The light will not be dim, and the sound will be good. You will have stereophonic sound; you feel as if you are sitting in the midst of the film. That is where you should sit, in the midst of your own projection. You should feel that projection; live with that projection. And if it’s a bad projection, you don’t discard the projector, you discard the film. You discard the patterning. That is how clarity is achieved.
If you see clearly, that which you project will be clear too. But if your mind is not clear, if it is muddled, then naturally things will be muddled. A reflection of the sun will be very clear in a still pond, but if the pond is dirty and muddied, then naturally the reflection will not be clear. The great danger of projection is the unclear, muddled mind. When the mind is unclear and muddled, your projection will not be clear. Then you are not going to blame yourself, you are going to blame the projection. Oh, you’ll say that the projection is bad. But have you cleaned the lens of your projector? The lens might be dirty and full of dust. That is how the greatest misunderstandings develop in life. And that is how you become judgmental, because of your own projections.
Your own projection is because of your individuality. Individuality, as a part of projection, has its own nature. Your individuality is a combination of the various factors of thought forms, patterning and the environment. This makes you think that you are an individual thinking such and such a thought, or an individual doing such and such work. But the individual does not think, and the individual does not work at all. People grumble about working, “Oh, I’ve been working so hard.” They’ve not done anything! This is because the individual is not the doer; he is just an instrument. And because of the projections, he feels himself to be an individual and that he is the doer of things. For example, lets say that you or your wife becomes pregnant. Fine. Are you the doer of the child that has been born, or will be born? You are not the doer; you are just an instrument. You are just a planter. The man never made the seed that impregnates; and the woman did not make the ovum that is impregnated. They are made by universal forces. When that is realized, you lose individuality.
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