#Projection and Its Withdrawal
Projection and its withdrawal is a process of moving toward maturity and wholeness.
The stronger a prejudice, the more — although outwardly denied — deep inside one knows that this isn't the truth. And so fear arises. When that fear is challenged, it erupts as fanatical rage and terror. Stones are thrown, homes are broken, people are harmed.
The essence of this madness, in the end, is self-hatred. We deny and suppress the parts of our own humanity we deem inferior and unacceptable. Thus self-denial ultimately leads to denying others' humanity.
If there's not an iota of that content inside me, no matter how the whirlwind of group madness rages, I cannot join. It's unfair to reduce a social problem to a personal one and pass responsibility onto individuals. Still, it starts with one person — that's also true.
To avoid adding energy to the group madness, this awakening must begin with me. Such one person at a time adds up to collective consciousness.
#Shadow
If you acknowledge that the shadow exists within you and pay attention, you'll experience dozens of moments each day when the shadow is at work. Parts of yourself that are hard to accept are held in the shadow. To find what is hidden, you must make projections.
For example, say you attend some gathering. The moment you step through the door, certain scenes catch your eye. "That person's posture is a mess." "Those clothes are so tacky." "Such arrogance." "What flattery." "Trying to seduce someone again. I see it." Like a high-performance scanner, irritations catch the eye in an instant. All of it is your own shadow. Remember the uncomfortable truth again: if it's not inside you, there's no reason for it to irritate you.
This is the point where real courage and wisdom are needed.
Having fished out the shadow, let's go one step further. Take the sentences you used to describe the irritating colleague or friend — the ones where you made them "the other" — and swap the subject to the first person "I". "I am arrogant." "I seduce people." "I flatter well!" It may seem trivial, but it is a very useful way to get to know yourself.
Whether bright or dark, the shadow is ultimately about returning what was originally yours back to you. Once more: projection is mistaking a mirror for glass. When you believe it's glass, trouble arises both for the person playing the "glass" role and for the person who lives estranged from themselves. If you hand over your birthright and good qualities to others, is there any greater waste of energy?
The shadow has a message — it has something to tell us. And symptoms are the shadow's story. If you deny or try to erase symptoms for the sake of shallow positivity or brightness, you're mistaken.
The shadow's story is like a message from the soul. When a symptom appears, quietly pause, hold on longer, and listen closely to the story that includes the shadow. Just as light pushes darkness away — if we exclude shadow from life, what shall we do with the mystery that only darkness gives? Darkness is an elixir that gives life its depth.
We often forget that the half-story singing only of light, victory, and positivity is not the whole truth. A culture that sings only of positivity, hope, and optimism encourages this.
In Altai Stories (by Yang Min-jong), there is a scene in which a hero held in esteem rebukes a storyteller for leaving out fear and defeat from the song of glory. If I had grown up hearing this kind of story, how different would my present be? Maybe I wouldn't have struggled so hard to cover or hide shame, fear, regret, and defeat — and maybe I wouldn't have had to act so "good," "puffed up," "fine," or "tough."
If I had known earlier that it is because we're afraid that courage is needed, I could have looked lovingly at my fear and weakness. If I had known sooner that glory of victory exists only because failure exists, I would have understood failure as part of life's process. Above all, the heart embracing myself and others would probably have been much wider.
True strength is not about reinforcing defenses to maintain a persona and protect the ego's ideal. Embracing one's own vulnerability and fear requires the highest courage.
Self-acceptance is always more productive than expending energy on defense.
In Greek, katastrephein ("catastrophe") means overturning. It carries the meaning that one discovers the true self in a situation where the world is completely flipped. "How must I now change?" It's time to learn the wisdom of the Greeks, who placed the awakening of each individual within the meaning of catastrophe.
#FromEgoToSelf
Psychologically, the master is called the self, and the servant can be seen as the ego. Modern people live believing not the master but the servant runs the house. With master and servant reversed, they live without knowing where they belong or who they are. It is not easy for modern people, whose ego has been strengthened, to accept this. The ego's staying power is considerable. The defensive walls to protect themselves are also solidly built.
As if tuning an instrument, at a certain point we must re-tune the frequency of life. This tuning is a shift from an ego life to a self life.
The reconciliation between the self and the ego is a task to be handled throughout life.
When questions arise in life, clarify the question, hold it in the heart, and observe the phenomena happening around you and within you. At such times you frequently experience meaningful coincidences — synchronicity.
Instead of repeating pessimistic messages, we can find relief in being able to hear other messages rising from deep in the unconscious.
When the path is invisible, step back and seek wisdom. Listen to the wisdom of the unconscious and confirm the greater power within the self (being or life) that the narrow ego cannot see. Then you can breathe imagination and ignite passion again into a mind stiffened and trapped by reality.
The more we respect the unconscious, the greater our patience to wait becomes. At the same time, our guts to endure ambiguous situations seem to thicken. We clearly become aware that when the picture of the unconscious emerges, it is time to act.
