This article is a continuation of the previous publications Images of Light, The Snow Queen and the Devil’s Mirror, and From Nigredo to Albedo, in which I explore the spiritual dimension of human projections. What this piece adds to this vital topic is an understanding of their archetypal foundation and how the process of their assimilation occurs.
At the Bottom of Every Strong Emotion Lies a Projection
To begin, I will recall that the concept of projection is used in two senses. The first is personal. This is the common way we know it: as a defense mechanism to maintain a positive self-image by projecting our own psychic shadow onto others. The second is cognitive; here, projection is viewed as a means of perception and of getting to know the external world. In practice, everything we perceive is an expression of projection, because matter is not what we think it is, but a kind of “mirror” for the spirit that penetrates it.
The personal aspect, which is the subject of psychotherapy, arises only when strong emotions occur—that is, when there is a discrepancy between what we expect to see in another person and what actually happens. It is precisely this discrepancy that signals the presence of projections.
“Whenever we find ourselves intensely emotionally involved with love or hate, a projection is at the bottom of it. In other words, projection is an involuntary transfer of something unconscious in ourselves onto an outer object.”
— Marie-Louise von Franz, Alchemy: An Introduction to the Symbolism and the Psychology, p. 112
To this, I would add that projection can also manifest in an internal, introverted form, where the distortion of perception is directed toward aspects of ourselves (a typical example of this is anorexia).
Regardless of whether the cause of the emotions is something outside or inside us, the presence of strong emotions is always a sign that we need to make corrections in our perception. The very first step in this regard is to turn our gaze inward and, instead of looking at the “screen where the film is projected,” look for the one standing behind the projectionist’s apparatus.
Stages of Assimilating a Projection
Many steps follow, because the withdrawal of projections is not a one-time act, nor is it the result of a purely intellectual effort to investigate exactly what we are projecting outward. It requires great moral strength to want to see things in ourselves that are not pleasant to see. The primary condition for being able to withdraw our projections is a willingness to see the painful truth and accept it. This desire gives us the strength to put effort into assimilating the projected contents over a long period.
“According to Jung, the assimilation of a projection goes through five stages. In the first stage, on the level of archaic identity, one takes the projection merely as a perception of reality. But if conscious or unconscious doubts occur from within, and if the behavior of the object is in conflict with the individual’s ideas of it, then he begins to differentiate the projected image from the actual object; that is the second phase of assimilation. On the third stage a moral judgment of the content of the projection takes place. On the fourth level, the individual usually explains his projection as a mistake or an illusion. But on the fifth stage he asks where this erroneous image came from; and then he has to understand it as an image of a psychic content which belongs to his own personality…”
— Ibid., pp. 113-114
The State of “Archaic Identity”
While the end of the long process of assimilating projections brings us to the “projectionist’s apparatus,” the beginning is the state of so-called “archaic identity,” where we feel in total union and fused with the surrounding world. This is the state with which we enter this world. This is how we are born.
“It [projection] originates in that primary, universal psychological phenomenon which Jung calls ‘archaic identity,’ a state in which the primitive man, the child, and indeed every adult, is not differentiated from his environment and more or less ‘melts’ into it. Our instinctive empathy with people, animals, and even inanimate objects also originates in archaic identity.” — Ibid., p. 112
The opposite of “archaic identity” is “psychic differentiation.” Together, these two form the continuum of the emergence of individualized consciousness, at the beginning of which is the feeling of fusion, and at the end, the experience of separation and neutral detachment from the events in our lives. Although deep down we always remain “One” with the rest of the world, the purpose of the incarnating soul is its development through the differentiation of consciousness (see The Path of Individuation).
Psychic Differentiation and Mental Health
A high degree of differentiation is a primary criterion for mental health. Conversely, the lower levels of the mental health scale are characterized by a lack of clear boundaries between family members. Metaphorically, this state can be described as several people sharing one body, communicating with each other like limbs of the same organism.
In such families, the lack of boundaries manifests as emotional contagion—if one person is anxious, the others experience that anxiety with almost the same intensity as their own. Low differentiation also reveals itself through constant blame, where an individual holds others responsible for their feelings and exerts relentless effort to change them.
The first stirrings of individualized consciousness occur in early infancy, when a baby begins to realize they are distinct from their mother. This process was famously described by Melanie Klein.
Initially, the infant experiences the “schizoid-paranoid position,” oscillating between extremes of love and hate. If the baby is happy, the whole world is happy; if they are miserable, the entire world is miserable. The next stage, marking a higher level of development, is the “depressive position.” This reflects a more differentiated consciousness because we begin to reconcile opposites within ourselves. The mother is no longer just the “good breast” or the “bad breast”—she becomes a whole being who can be both.
Holding these opposites within is the prerequisite for stopping the projection of our rejected parts onto the outside world. Regarding this separation from the mother, Liz Greene writes:
“The depressive state is necessary for the creation of individuality.”
The irony is that this differentiation begins with pain and continues through life in the same way. Suffering appears to be the primary tool for generating individualized consciousness because through it, we experience the severance from the objects of our emotional dependence. It shows us the next “zone” where it is time to withdraw our projections. As Jung noted, this withdrawal begins when identification with an object starts to become a disturbing factor.
“The need to withdraw a projection always forms itself at the moment when conscious or half-conscious doubts appear about the correctness of one’s own vision of things and when on the conscious level this vision is defended fanatically. Doubt and fanaticism are symptoms which show that the time has come for the withdrawal of a given projection.”
— Marie-Louise von Franz, Alchemy: An Introduction to the Symbolism and the Psychology, p. 112
We begin to understand that the “Other” is not an extension of ourselves when their behavior fails to meet our expectations and our efforts to change them are thwarted. This painful realization teaches us that we are two separate entities. If we do not accept this separation, we fall into power struggles. If we do, we stop trying to direct someone else’s “movie” to get what we want. Tranquility follows the realization that we are not dependent on the external world for our fulfillment; it is found within.
The Awakening
One of my clients described the effect of withdrawing her projections as an “awakening.” It is like a veil that has long covered the eyes finally falling away. This awakening brings strength—not the power to influence others, but the power to see the root cause of events within oneself. To change the “movie,” we must get to know the Director: our own mind.
Withdrawing projections is experienced as an increase in the sense of responsibility. It helps us stop blaming the world for our misfortunes and realize we have been wearing “glasses” we were born with.
“But the withdrawal of a projection, especially when it involves negative contents which are taken as being ‘bad’ and if they are projected onto other people, is a moral achievement—an achievement in the field of feeling… Because the withdrawal of a projection requires considerable moral effort, it is not often used. If Jung’s conception of projection were more widely accepted, there would be considerable changes, for it appears that all scientific and religious doctrines are projections…” — Ibid., pp. 112-113
In a worldly sense, this differentiation manifests as the ability not to take things personally. We continue to do our best to change our lives without feeling responsible for others’ choices, mistakes, or life lessons.
In a spiritual sense, it brings us to the awareness of the ephemeral fabric of our world, as described by Chuang Tzu:
“Once I dreamt I was a butterfly… now I do not know whether I was then a man dreaming I was a butterfly, or whether I am now a butterfly, dreaming I am a man.”
This is the experience of the mystics—that everything our eyes perceive is a dream, an illusion (Maya) born of sensory perception.
Conclusion
Projections are our way of undifferentiated connectivity with the world, and withdrawing them is the way individualized consciousness is born. Although we suffer whenever we lose a loved one or fail to get what we desire, we can transform this suffering into a source of awareness.
The alchemy of this suffering is the gift of love—an increased capacity for genuine connection and empathy for humanity as a whole. It leads us to the realization that despite our differences, at a deep level, we are truly One.
Kameliya Hadzhiyska
