Ask: When we attack aren't we projecting guilt?
“We often hear that when we attack another in
thought or action we are attacking ourselves. I wonder. Aren't we simply
projecting our guilt and in so doing we are avoiding looking at that guilt
which in turn reinforces it, thus delaying its release? Or is that the
equivalent of self-attack?” – ES
You
attack when you feel you need to defend yourself. And you feel that you need to
defend yourself when you feel vulnerable. So you must be identifying with a
self in a body in a world. This mistake is described in A Course in Miracles as an “attack” on yourself. So in any
situation where you perceive that attack is real, whether you are the attacked
or the one doing the attacking, the first attack you make is the one yourself.
All other attacks then proceed from this first error.
Part
of the error of perceiving yourself as a self in a body in a world is to
believe that guilt is real. Yes, you are projecting guilt when you attack
others. You really believe the guilt is in you but you try to get rid of it by
seeing it in others and seeing yourself as an “innocent” victim. This is the
ego’s (personal thought system’s) “solution” for the discomfort you feel in
guilt. Yes, this is a way to avoid acknowledging that you really believe the
guilt is in you. And, yes again, this reinforces guilt in your mind and delays
your undoing your belief in guilt. You can only undo guilt where you really
believe it is. So delay, too, could be seen as a further “attack” on yourself.
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Comments
You only ever have to focus on cause, or mind. Behavior is always an effect.