The Seven Hermetic Principles, Part II

Projection is perception. Most of the time when we think about projection we think about people perceiving something someone else does that the person does themselves. It could be our narcissistic friend calling somebody out for being a narcissist or our dismissive father complaining to us that we are dismissing him. When we’re honest with ourselves, we realize it’s something we “think” other people do. It is. And we do it too. I do it in every waking moment. “Projection is perception” covers every single thing we perceive, without exceptions. Even the mug which I’m sipping coffee from while writing this is a projection of my mind.

The rationale for this goes like this: over time, I passively construct an image in my mind of what a mug is. Every time I perceive a mug, the image gets more stable. The first time I saw one, I had no concept of a mug so I might have asked someone, what is that? They told me the word “mug”. A mug isn’t the word mug though. The word is just a representation of the thing I hold in my hands and sip coffee and tea from. But now I have an association of an image that flashes up in my mind every time the word is said.

The 2022 Nobel Prize for Physics was a pivotal moment in science and most people don’t know it. This was when “quantum entanglement” became a legitimate scientific finding, and “local realism” died, although it never existed in the first place. The concept of “object permanence,” which also came into question around the same time, suggests that something (like my mug) exists regardless of whether there is an observer present. Developmental psychologists contend that most babies learn “object permanence” somewhere around four months old. Before that, they must have thought “mom” had abandoned them forever when she disappeared around the corner. Now, with “object permanence,” she still exists, and is likely coming back some time soon. It’s a soothing idea, but it was proven false along with local realism. Don’t tell your toddlers! They’ll likely have another tantrum.

According to the cognitive scientist and author of The Case Against Reality, Donald Hoffman, we actually render objects, through the mechanism of perception, as we turn to look at them. Perception is more like a game of Grand Theft Auto. Hoffman uses this analogy in his books and interviews, so I’ll stay with it even though I know nothing about the game first hand. While playing the game, if there’s a red Lamborghini there when you turn your eyes to the left, it wasn’t there before you looked and there certainly is no red Lamborghini inside your computer or game console. It comes into existence (and I use that word very loosely) in the instant you turn to look. This is what mentalism is all about. The entire world is a projection of our thoughts.

We said before that what you project or extend is up to you, but it is not up to you to decide whether to utilize this dynamic, for it is a law of mind. Perception is projection, and you look in before you look out. As you look in, you choose the guide for seeing, and then you look out and behold his witnesses. This is why you find what you seek. What you want in yourself you will make manifest by projection, and you will accept it from the world because you put it there by wanting it. [CE T-12.X.8]

I will clarify the word “extend” for those of you not familiar with A Course in Miracles. When we project, we render things from the ego, or, rather, from fear. When we extend, we are doing the same thing, but from Love. So, we can logically conclude when we are thinking thoughts from Love, we see the beauty and the Holiness of everyone and everything. When we are thinking fearful thoughts, we see a fearful world. Now, that famous quote of FDR’s, “The only thing to fear is fear itself” takes on a whole new meaning. I don’t know of any other possible interpretation of that phrase. It was a quantum quote for the ages.

The truth is that there are no “idle thoughts.” All thinking produces form at some level. The reason why people are afraid of ESP, and so often react against it, is because they know that thoughts can hurt them. Their own thoughts have made them vulnerable. [CE T-2.X.7]

Of course, the concept of mentalism does not square with the concept of “materialism,” or “physicalism,” as the scientific community refers to it. They are mutually exclusive: either one or the other. Even those who cling to materialism can probably admit that every new invention we have ever implemented started as a thought inside someone’s mind. That’s the slow motion version of mentalism, which the skeptics can probably get behind.

The other aspect of mentalism is the connectedness of everything. We make images in our own minds, yes, but we also co create images because in Reality, we humans share a collective mind. Carl Jung’s concepts of the collective unconscious and his archetypes are a wonderful manifestation of this, and A Course in Miracles does mention it as well: “ … [E]xternal conditions are produced by the thoughts of many, not all of whom are pure in heart as yet.”[CE:T-2.I.25.3].

So relax, you don’t have to take responsibility for every abhorrent image you see when you turn on the news tonight. We all co-created those in collaboration, because collectively, we believe we are separate. When we reach the tipping point with regard to the belief that we are all OneMind, then Love will return in ALL our minds because it is still the only thing that’s Real. Individual fearful images I make are my responsibility, for they are images that exist only in my mind.

Once we get over the initial shock of this idea that projection IS perception, we can see how empowering it is. While most of us haven’t been able to exert much control over the world by acting upon it, we can gain mastery over our thoughts and this is exactly what A Course in Miracles teaches us to do. Once our thoughts are coming consistently from Love, the world bends to our will because our will is God’s will. It is a mind training course for those who only want, more than anything else, to think and see only images of Love.

It is hard to recognize that thought and belief combine into a power surge which can literally move mountains. It appears at first glance that to believe such power about yourself is merely arrogant. But that is not the real reason why you don’t believe it. People prefer to believe that their thoughts cannot exert real control because they are literally afraid of them. [CE T-2.X.4.3-6]

So, the next time you get annoyed with someone suggesting you just need to “think positively” and “things will turn around,” pause, and consider the possibility that what they are saying is the Truth and it’s what you needed to hear.