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The Merry-Go-Round of the self/Collective Self

by: Gill Smith

Thu Sep 03, 2009 at 07:16 AM PDT

Has anyone ever noticed this phenomenon?

One day you're not hearing someone, only to find the next day you're not being heard.

One day you're secretly thinking "oh look at how self-absorbed he/she is" only to discover you are self-absorbed yourself the next day.

One week you're thinking, oh they are so wordy. Only to find yourself writing a two-page reply to someone the following week.

One month you're criticising someone for being a bully, only to find yourself in that mode the following month, much to your own shock and horror!

One year you're ....and so on and so on.

I noticed this starkly about 4 years ago and was blown away by it, yet can't do anything to make the merry-go-round stop. We seem compelled to continue to communicate, criticise and then be humbled by our own discoveries of being all that we've ever criticised in others.

Love to everyone,

Gill

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The Merry-Go-Round of the self/Collective Self | 3 comments

Mirror, mirror, on the wall... (0.00 / 0)

Heh, heh--nice catch, Gill. I know this as the "mirror principle." To my mind, there are actually two principles involved:

1) The principle of "You spot it; you got it," meaning the things we dislike in others often point to some disowned part(s) of ourselves.

2) The principle of "The mind must project in order to see itself." If we really are One Being, there's no way for that being to see itself in the absence of feedback. So what does it do? It divides itself into "parts" (a "you" and a "me") in order to see itself. So the process you describe is a quite natural progression--first we project out, then we see that it's inside. (That often goes for good stuff, too. :)

Again, I think you'd love Byron Katie's work (especially the parts about turnarounds)--it's all about this stuff!

: ) Nicole

by: Nicole @ Thu Sep 03, 2009 at 11:09:24 AM CDT

by: you @ soon

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e-mail contact (0.00 / 0)

Gill, are you willing to share your e-mail address and receive a personal contact about what you are writing? If so, I'm at djones19@nycap.rr.com. I've only posted one journal entry here on the site, and that was close to a year ago.
Don Jones

by: donjones @ Fri Sep 04, 2009 at 11:46:41 AM CDT

by: you @ soon

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Personal Email (0.00 / 0)

Hi Don

Yes, I'm very willing to receive any personal emails (which goes for other people on this Forum too). My email address is gill.smith50@yahoo.co.uk.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Gill

by: Gill Smith @ Mon Sep 07, 2009 at 04:27:47 AM CDT

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The Merry-Go-Round of the self/Collective Self | 3 comments

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