YOU MAY successfully keep some parts of yourself hidden in the dark, but you will not be able to avoid casting that shadow onto others around you. Projecting your shadow happens when you encounter something in someone else and your reaction is out of proportion. “How could anyone act like that?” you think; or “My God, that’s weird! People like that should be locked up!”
Even though the thought of such behavior makes you feel awful, somehow you simply cannot stop thinking about it. Again and again, you reassure yourself that you would not possibly do anything like that.
Whenever you find yourself feeling self-righteously drawn or compelled to judge another’s personality or behavior, you are in the midst of such a projection. The negative feelings you have about your hidden self have been projected onto the other person.
The stranger and the enemy are mirrored reflections
of your unrecognized self.