September 25 – Projection and the Log in Our Eye

Gregg’s Reflection

I’ve caught myself many times pointing out traits in others that, if I’m honest, I struggle with myself. Impatience, pride, judgment — the very things I criticize are often alive within me. Jesus’ teaching about removing the log from my own eye before addressing the speck in another’s has become a mirror for me.

Projection is a defense mechanism. It allows me to distance myself from uncomfortable truths by locating them “out there” in someone else. But over time, it poisons relationships and blinds me to reality. The work of shadow integration means claiming these traits as part of my humanity, bringing them into God’s mercy rather than projecting them away.

Robert Johnson, in his classic work on the shadow, writes that the gold of our personality is often hidden in what we reject or project. Facing projection honestly is not self-condemnation — it’s self-liberation. As painful as it is, I’ve found that when I admit what I see in others also lives in me, compassion begins to grow. The log loosens, and I see more clearly.

Scripture

Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? … First take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.

Matthew 7:3, 5

Ancient Quotes

He who knows his own sins is greater than he who raises the dead by his prayer.

Isaac the Syrian, Ascetical Homilies

Modern Quotes

One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious.

Carl Jung, Collected Works, Vol. 13

One of the great surprises on the human journey is that we come to full consciousness precisely by shadowboxing, facing our own contradictions, and making friends with our own mistakes and failings. People who have had no inner struggles are invariably superficial and uninteresting.

Richard Rohr, CAC Morning Meditation, 9/8/19

The shadow is not only the dark side of the self, but the container of untapped life and energy. When we reclaim what we project, we recover both our gold and our wholeness.

Robert A. Johnson, Owning Your Own Shadow

Journaling Prompts

• When have you noticed yourself criticizing in others what you also carry within?
  
  
• How does projection distort your ability to see people clearly?
  
  
• What “gold” might be hidden in the very traits you try to disown?
  
  
• How might God’s mercy help you reclaim and integrate your projections?

Go deeper into this week’s theme:
Read the full Week 39 Reflection: Shadow Work/Own Your Shadow