Reverse projection
[Please note: ACIM passages quoted in this article reference the Foundation for Inner Peace (FIP) Edition.]
The focus of my practice over the last few days has been what I will call, just to make it sound intriguing, reverse projection. We all more or less know what projection is: I project something internal to me onto other people. As we all know, this is a huge principle in the Course. But the reverse of this is also a central concept in the Course, and is virtually unknown.
In reverse projection, the things I see in you I will consequently also see in me. This shows up in the statement, “As you see him you will see yourself” (T-8.III.4:2; see also W-pII.250.2:3). This is central to the Course because this is how forgiveness of others leads to forgiveness of oneself, a process that is basically the backbone of the Course: “Forgive and be forgiven. As you give you will receive. There is no plan but this for the salvation of the Son of God” (W-pI.122.6:3-5).
What I’ve been doing is practicing Lesson 134, in which we list someone’s “sins,” and then with each one ask ourselves, “Would I condemn myself for doing this?” The key to this lesson is recognizing what I call the “Course would”—a somewhat outdated usage of “would” that means “want to/intend to.” So the sentence means “Do I want to condemn myself for doing this (because that is exactly what I do by condemning my brother)?”
I think the way this works is really very simple. If I condemn my brother for saying something insensitive, for instance, then something in my mind says, “If you apply that standard to him, then logically it must be applied to you as well.” And then I will look for the trait of insensitivity in myself, and then condemn myself accordingly.
I think this last part of the process happens mostly unconsciously. But I don’t think it is entirely unconscious. I think I can find the evidence of it within myself, which is that if I judge people for a certain trait, I can feel a sense that I myself have no quarter on that trait. I have no leeway, so that if I transgress, I too must be judged. I can also feel that when I do transgress, my guilt can easily seem like an immovable fact, to which forgiveness hardly applies.
So what I’ve been doing is watching my mind for judgment, and then saying, “Do I really want to condemn myself for doing this? I will not lay this chain upon myself. I will not condemn [blank] for doing this.”
It’s really been bringing home to me the actual issues behind judgment of others. If we are in this boat together, if I judge both of us or release both of us together, then suddenly my motivation to forgive goes way up.