Projection
In the reflection of the eyes of the person we are talking to, we see what we don’t accept in ourselves.
Some people need a beast, because they are one themselves.
“1+1=1, the animal has hidden itself” (Jean-Paul Sartre).
The moral imperative: are you ready to be a mirror, to reflect everything human that is not accepted? Are you ready to be the person they need?
“To absorb the dirty stream and not be corrupted, one must be the sea.”
How can you tell the difference: is it a reflection of the person you are talking to, or their clear perception of you?
How can you avoid mistaking someone else’s projection for the truth, and the truth for rationalization?
The answer: live according to the principle “Homo sum, humani nihil a me alienum puto”.
A vivid picture!
The social elevator in Maslow’s pyramid.
Fairy tales about Good and Evil, Eros and Thanatos.
Are feelings or reason primary?
A Samaritan who is also an egoist?
An altruist or a sadist?
Ashes and water – it’s like a hundred-year war!
Half of the puzzle was assembled from the bottom… of their eyes.
Sources
- Jean-Paul Sartre — The Condemned of Altona (Les Séquestrés d’Altona), Act V. “1+1=1, the animal has hidden itself” is an abbreviated, approximate quotation based on Frantz’s final monologue.
- Friedrich Nietzsche — Thus Spoke Zarathustra (Also sprach Zarathustra), “Zarathustra’s Prologue,” § 3. The image of the “dirty stream” and the sea comes from this passage.
- Publius Terentius Afer (Terence) — Heauton Timorumenos (The Self-Tormentor), line 77: Homo sum: humani nil a me alienum puto. The post uses the common variant with nihil.
Questions about this article
01How can you avoid taking someone else’s projection as the truth about yourself—or dismissing the truth as projection?
You do not have to automatically agree with another person’s reflection or reject it. The principle “Homo sum, humani nihil a me alienum puto” invites you to recognize the possibility of everything human within yourself. Then an uncomfortable image can be endured and examined without turning it immediately into either a verdict about yourself or a convenient denial.
02How should you deal with someone else’s projection onto you?
Do not rush either to accept someone else’s projection or to reject it. The text suggests “being the sea”: taking in the “dirty stream” directed at you without becoming corrupted, while following the principle “Homo sum, humani nihil a me alienum puto”—recognizing everything human within yourself. This makes it possible to withstand another person’s reflection and distinguish projection from what may be true about you.