The Big Projection
Do you know what projection is? Being a therapist and life coach, I see it often. It is the unconscious defense mechanism that people use when they take some part of themselves, project it onto someone else, and notice it in the other.
Lately, it’s been coming to me more and more how much religion is based on projection. I will speak about this in terms of Christianity, which is the realm of religions I know best, having been raised Catholic.
Let’s take a look at a few of these projections:
1. God is male. Really?! Why would Source be so similar to humans? God(dess) transcends gender. God(dess) in truth is neither male nor female. The humans that made up Christianity (who happened to be male) decided that God was male because they could not see beyond their ego minds.
2. God is jealous. He doesn’t want us to worship anyone but Him. Another projection. God(dess) doesn’t care. People care. People get jealous. People fear loss of status and/or replacement. God(dess), having no ego, doesn’t possess any of those qualities, (not even the one about desiring to be worshiped in the first place). All That Is doesn’t need an ego boost. 😉
3. God gives forgiveness for our sins. Well, that is clearly not necessary because God(dess) never judges us in the first place, so there is nothing to forgive. God(dess) is Love. Love doesn’t judge. People judge.
4. God thinks sex is bad, well maybe not all sex, but the sex that happens between two unmarried people, and sometimes even the sex that is not for the purpose of procreation. That is the purest of lies. God(dess) knows that S.E.X. is good and sacred. It is how we connect with Source. People spread the propaganda that sex is bad to repress and control other people and, by cutting off their main way to connect with Spirit, taking their knowing and power away from them.
5. The Garden of Eden was the place where civilization began. We would have been able to live there forever in bliss if not for that evil snake that convinced Eve (that wicked woman!) to taste the apple from the Tree of Knowledge. Truth is, God(dess) wants us to have knowledge. Having knowledge does not deserve punishment (which All That Is doesn’t give anyway) by being kicked out of paradise and made to think that nudity is bad too. But…have you ever noticed that the whole story of the Garden of Eden in fact is much like the story of being in your mother’s womb and then suddenly being out in the world with no clothes on, cold and having a rude awakening from the gentle, warm waters of the womb? Gigantic metaphor!
6. If you sin too much, you will be punished by going to hell when you die. Nope again. God(dess) does not judge nor punish. People are the ones that judge and punish both ourselves and others, for things we tell ourselves we’ve done “wrong”. There is no such place as hell (except the hell we create for ourselves in our own ego minds). There is no need for God(dess) to have such a place to send people to.
7. You were born with “original sin”. Wow, we weren’t even given a chance with this religion thing, were we?! This projection is due to our internal beliefs (coming from the ego) that we are fundamentally flawed. In truth, we were born imperfectly perfect, and still are, no matter what we have or haven’t done in our lives.
Well, how does that feel? There is no man in the sky with a long white beard watching us, judging us, and waiting to punish us eternally for our sins. We’re off the hook! We are not born bad, we are not bad, and when things feel good, it is usually because they are! I know I’m breathing a little easier, how about you?