What is "projection" Hex 3 UC

[redoleander]

I've noticed a lot of people, in general, having conversations with themselves via projection onto another person. I see it online quite frequently, on social media when reading others' posts and seeing responses/patterns of communication. It can happen a lot in close relationships too, I think. Sometimes I'll ask questions like these for another perspective on what's occurring.

What is "projection"
3 UC

This is an interesting answer to me. 3 UC is burgeoning and as yet unformed. Anything is possible. This hexagram is often referred to as "hard" meaning that it's not easy for us as humans to be in that phase of development because we want clarity, confidence, and security. We want to know. I wonder if this is saying that we project because we actually don't know and feel unsure and are trying to pin down exactly what is going on too far in advance?

I wonder too if communication, itself, is not as firm and solid as we might think. That it really can be taken so many ways or understood in so many contexts that we have to interact with in ways that are really flexible and curious, and work really hard to understand and make something of it, because it's not actually this formed and solid things we might like it to be.

I'm not sure what else to think. Maybe someone with more 3UC experience will have other ideas. I receive this hexagram when there's going to be quite a bit of work ahead and the outcome isn't set. I'm not marching toward a known destiny. What happens will depend entirely on exactly what I do or don't do.

edit: I guess I left out the most obvious things: obstacles. Miscommunication is an obstacle. And projection is an obstacle to understanding.

 

[diamant]

The Image says: the superior man brings order out of confusion.
03 is confusing. Things are shapeless and difficult. Hence the need for helpers.

When we are projecting, we're confusing our self with someone else. All of us learn via mirroring when we are little, and often beyond that. When we see something good in others, it's good to imitate it, when we see something we dislike, it's best not to do it ourselves. However, it's easy to be led astray because we often judge what another person feels based on what we feel. But not everyone has the same emotional DNA. This is one of the most important lessons I learned. Just because we feel something, it's certainly not guaranteed that another is just like us.

 

[Trojina]

Seems best to start with an actual definition of projection.

Projection in Psychology: Definition, Defense Mechanism, Examples

In psychology, projection refers to placing your own negative traits or unwanted emotions onto others, usually without reason.

www.healthline.com

Projection is a defense mechanism named/discovered by Freud. Because one cannot live with certain emotions or feelings about oneself one projects them onto another person in order to avoid feeling or recognising those things in ourselves.

In everyday speech though we do say 'you're projecting' quite often but it's not always really what psychological projection means at all.

So in asking the question a clear definition is needed otherwise you are asking about your own perception of projection which may not be the same as other people's.

I think the 3uc may highlight that without a clear definition you can't really get a grip here

So when you say

I've noticed a lot of people, in general, having conversations with themselves via projection onto another person. I see it online quite frequently, on social media when reading others' posts and seeing responses/patterns of communication. It can happen a lot in close relationships too, I think. Sometimes I'll ask questions like these for another perspective on what's occurring.

...how are you using the term 'projection'? True projection is largely unconscious, an unconscious defence mechanism as in 'I can't accept my anger so it's you who is angry not me'. Often however the term is used when a person simply believes/perceives someone else's situation to be like theirs. But that's not true projection or what was ever really meant by the term. Assuming someone else's situation to be like yours is how empathy happens largely or it's an attempt at empathy quite often, it's not really the same thing as projection which is one of a number of defense mechanisms

Top 10 Defense Mechanisms and Why We Use Them

Defense mechanisms are subconscious ways we deal with strong or unpleasant emotions. Learn common examples and when to seek help for unhealthy ones.

www.healthline.com

 

[redoleander]

The Image says: the superior man brings order out of confusion.
03 is confusing. Things are shapeless and difficult. Hence the need for helpers.

When we are projecting, we're confusing our self with someone else. All of us learn via mirroring when we are little, and often beyond that. When we see something good in others, it's good to imitate it, when we see something we dislike, it's best not to do it ourselves. However, it's easy to be led astray because we often judge what another person feels based on what we feel. But not everyone has the same emotional DNA. This is one of the most important lessons I learned. Just because we feel something, it's certainly not guaranteed that another is just like us.

I like this interpretation. Thanks for your personal insight into that. It’s true about things being shapeless and difficult with this hexagram. It made me think how something really extraordinary can be made from that if we actually work with it, or it can just be a mess. The need for helpers makes sense; to have a way of processing and working with this. Maybe we can’t control this happening but having willingness to do the heavy lifting with it can lead to a lot of self-awareness.

 

[rosada]

Trying to see how 3. Difficulty at The Beginning might apply to the question...

How about if you think of hexagram 1 as meaning talking and hexagram 2 as meaning listening then perhaps we can think of hexagram 3 as describing the difficulty people have when first attempting communicating, not knowing when to speak and when to be quiet and thus by not allowing for feedback a person becomes confused because we act with the assumption we understand more than we really do - and we project that understanding onto a situation rather than letting the true reality emerge and thus our projections create difficulties at the beginning. The good news I think would be that this is only at the beginning because if we keep talking, trading perspectives, don't we eventually come to a mutual shared reality? I mean, "projecting" sounds like a bad thing but truly what else can we do? We can only live in the Universe as we see it. The trick then seems to be to know how to project one's own point of view while not going too far without getting feedback. How does that sound?

 

[Matali]

When I read the title of your question, I understood projection in the sense of projecting a project, drafting an idea, ambitioning... Thus, it reflected for me the hexagram 3. But when I read your post, obviously, my idea was very far from Freud, the mirror effect or the psychological definition ! It's funny, because it questions polysemy when you question the I Ching...

 

[Trojina]

It may be like the way the word 'karma' seems to now be used by Americans to simply mean payback. And it's so far ingrained now it seems to me they believe that is what karma means whereas karma is a way more intricate concept than that. That is even when I questioned how they were using it in another thread it just seemed to be assumed their use of it was the use of it.

I don't know if this is how it is with the term 'projection'. I guess in everyday speech in the UK too 'projection' covers anything where someone else is laying onto you their ideas/beliefs whatever although as a defense mechanism, it's not really that.

That's why I was asking about how redeolander was meaning it because if the question is

What is "projection"
3 UC

my first thought is 'what is it in your mind that you asking about/what is your idea of projection?' since I don't know what that is.

 

[my_key]

What is "projection"
3 UC

Hex 3 : Sprouting meaning ' it appears, but does not leave it's dwelling'
Nuclear 23: Stripping Away meaning ' something is rotten'

The deep underlying currents of projection come from a place rooted in rottenness and decay. Projection can be easily seen even though it still resides and remains firmly fixed in it's own abode.

Projection resides deeply as a key part of human nature. It is a tool used subconsciously for self protection i.e. keeping one step removed, internally, from mainly painful / negative feelings or experiences. The things that are too painful to hold within; the things we don't like about ourselves are 'given' to others. For those that project it washes their hands of ownership and responsibility. It avoids the need to acknowledge parts that are unliked or unloved, not always realising that any distancing is only an illusion: the woundedness will still very much be a part of you.

When people are better able to see clearly their positive and negative traits and to tolerate the uncomfortable tensions that seeing their vulnerabilities and weaknesses brings, then the more they can be accepting of themselves and the less will be their need to try to fob off their 'dirty laundry' onto others.

Self acceptance / self forgiveness is a difficult learning process especially at the very beginning. Until people can fully accept / forgive they will project.