We humans are always projecting. Nothing wrong with that – it is how we cope with the overwhelming amount of information coming at us all the time. It is too much to see things as they really are, all of the time. So our minds create a simplified model of reality and project that onto the world. It only becomes a problem when our projections are way off and we confuse our projections with reality.
Trump & Musk (along with other public figures) are the subject of lots of projections. Lots of people are looking for a saviour/rescuer/messiah and project that onto these figures. (Trump and Musk probably also project that onto themselves!) Other people project their fears, disgust and anger.
One of the worst things about social media is the way it amplifies and reinforces our projections. Krishnamurti once said “we see ourselves in the mirror of relationship”. But social media offers a very distorted mirror which reflects back to us, not reality, but our own projections on steroids – leading us to become convinced that whatever we are projecting is, in fact, reality.
Yet beyond the projections Trump and Musk are real people wielding real power which affects all of us. So long as we are wedded to our projections we won’t be able to respond appropriately.
The only answer is to question our projections – and perhaps we need to take a break from social media in order to do that!
