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must restrain desire, control the senses, and focus the monkey mind onto God. We need to subdue the six inner enemies (lust, anger, pride, greed, hatred, and aachment) and confront our egos. Accepting God’s incomprehensibility without demanding otherwise, subdues our egos. We should also be ever ready to see external problems as a projection of our own inner conflicts.
Conflicts and Projection
It is natural that as we strive to deepen our love, concealed conflicts bubble to the surface, for we cannot love fully when a hidden part of us is filled with fear and turmoil. As we commit to a loving relationship with Swami, we are forced to face conflicts buried deep within our psyche that we would like to avoid. It is essential that we face these uncomfortable feelings in order to release them and become completely open and loving. Purified love is God.
Our minds aempt to avoid facing insecurities and conflicts by defending against unwanted feelings. We deceive ourselves by suppressing, repressing, denying, projecting, or using other defense mechanisms. Understanding the way we project our inner life onto the external world is of particular significance. Swami tells us that the whole world is a projection of our mind. Projection is an ever present aempt at hiding from our own inner reality. Understanding projection help us transcend it.
The Power of Projection
Becoming aware of repressed conflicts and troubling feelings is psychologically disturbing. One way we hide from this distress is by projecting our own unwanted and undesirable conflicts, impulses, and emotions onto others. Instead of taking responsibility for our unwanted feelings, we perceive them in others and then blame others for problems that arise within ourselves. It is surprising to see how oen we deceive ourselves in this manner.
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