Phil Posted July 31, 2023 Share Posted July 31, 2023 Deflection WHAT IS DEFLECTION? Deflection is reactionary, habitual thinking & behaviors employed as aversion from feeling. The most common examples are avoidance, ‘shutting down’ / ‘closing up’, blaming / shifting the blame, name calling / pointing fingers / employing accusations, changing the topic / subject at hand, denial, sarcasm, procrastination, using humor as a defense mechanism, stonewalling / refusing to engage in conversation to avoid confrontation, overreacting, playing victim to avoiding emotional discomfort & taking responsibility, intellectualizing / analyzing logically or academically / conceptualizing / spiritual bypassing to distance oneself from emotional aspects, excessive self criticism to avoid receiving feedback or guidance, distraction to divert attention from adressing underlying discord felt, defensiveness vs hearing, receiving & implementing constructive feedback, and withdrawal / withdrawing emotionally or physically to avoid vulnerability or conflict. When discord, suffering and emotional guidance are felt - deflection is the overlooking of this with the deployment of and adherence to conceptualizations of the discord, suffering & the emotions felt… and includes perpetuating hindsight after-the-fact justifications & rationalizations of the deflection. Deflection is being more concerned with & focused on being right or holding beliefs or how one is seen or thought of - than how one feels. Deflection is not inspecting the discord felt, nor the projection of the discord onto others; and instead continuing to believe discordant interpretations and or that others are the cause of the discord felt, or that others are feeling the discord (not you) and that you are helping them. Deflection is a mental means of blocking, in an action sense - a saying & doing, which is a projection of one’s own so to speak, blockage… of one’s own discord which one is not yet ready & willing to inspect and therein relinquish the discord of. WHAT TO DO ABOUT DEFLECTION? HOW TO BRING IT TO AN END? One must willfully (though effortlessly) focus on how one feels, more than what one believes, to liberate of the suffering of deflection. Recognize and acknowledge deflective behaviors. At first this will be in hindsight but will soon be seen with foresight. Acknowledge and express the underlying emotions which have been avoided via deflective thoughts & behaviors. Remain present as awareness, prior to thoughts & emotions. Recognize that you are not “in” thoughts, but are prior to and aware of thoughts. Express. Wether this is in a therapeutic setting, journaling, using the emotional scale, a creative outlet or all of the above - expression is un-suppressing. Practice honesty & sincerity in communication and relationships. Adopt the simple yet profoundly illuminating and liberating ‘practices’ of ‘taking pause’ and ‘sitting with it’. As deflective behaviors are more and more felt, the behaviors are more seen in foresight, than in hindsight. When difficult emotions arise, willingly take pause before replying or responding, and willingly ‘sit with it’ somewhere comfortable rather than engaging in deflective behaviors and actions or elevating any disagreements or pointless arguments or debates rooted in being right or correcting someone. Practice healthy coping behaviors like meditation and or meditative breathing, breath-work, or any of the large variety available online. Look for opportunities to acknowledge arising emotions by taking pause and or sitting with it, and express appreciation & gratitude often, freely and sincerely. Recognize deflection from others, take pause, and express what is & is not welcomed & appreciated in terms of their words, actions and behaviors. In ‘taking pause & ‘sitting with it’, one experiences the coming & going of the discord, and clarity always follows. Then, one understands the discord, spots the aversion, and no longer reacts, and is unfettered of the underlying belief or misunderstanding, and therein is liberated to consciously create, or simply put - consciously, creatively - respond… rather than react. Projection WHAT IS PROJECTION? In regard to what’s being shared here, please acknowledge & set aside any expectations that something or someone including yourself should, needs to or is going to change or be changed. Let any framing that sounds like ‘this is a problem’, ‘but the problem is’ go. The aim here isn’t to make anything different than it is or to solve a problem. It’s liberation from suffering by seeing things as they are. If you’re already ‘fired up’, the most fundamental simple truth is recognizing this too will pass. Breathing, feeling, remaining present prior to & aware of thoughts & emotions is suggested, as are all manors of alignment, mindfulness & well being. Like a cork, when unfettered & unobscured, our true nature naturally arises. This is always & already the case. The more direct experience is inspected, the more discordant interpretations which result in contraction, tension and stress are seen through, and therein the more clarity & joy naturally arises. Inherently, there will be less reaction, contraction, tension & stress… and more enjoyment, naturally arising appreciation, clarity & response-ability. Simply put, you’ll feel more at home as yourself and life will become lighter, simpler or more effortless. When judgmental thoughts are experienced, the discord of the thoughts is felt. The discord felt of the judgmental thoughts is one & the same as the reoccurring contraction, tension and stress. When judgmental thoughts are believed, it does not seem like the discord felt is the thoughts. It seems like the thoughts are true, and therein an interpretation arises that the discord felt is because of something or someone else, a past or a future, a me, an I, or a myself. Believed means the thoughts are believed to be true. The discord felt is likewise believed to be caused by what the content of the thought suggests. That is - the interpretation. The interpretation is the discord - but the interpretation is believed to be true. The discord felt is how judgmental thoughts feel, and now, how the interpretation feels. The discord felt is not felt because the thoughts or interpretation are true. The discord felt is because the thoughts or interpretation are not true. The discord or suffering is of the thoughts, and is not of you. That’s why the discord is felt. Thoughts come & go: awareness (that which is aware of thoughts) does not. The discord is - an interpretation which doesn’t resonate - with you; awareness. The discordant interpretation is believed to be true, even though the interpretation is felt to be, discordant. In this case the contraction, tension & stress reoccur simultaneously with each reoccurrence of the discordant interpretation. The discord felt might be projected via an interpretation being believed. The interpretation might be that the discord is being caused by what someone said or didn’t say, or did or didn’t do. With momentum of discord, contraction, tension & stress, the projection might extend further. That interpretation might sound like… ‘what other people do or might think or believe’, or ‘how other people behave’. With more momentum of discord, contraction, tension & stress, the projection might that of an interpretation of despair and or shame. That might sound like, ‘I’m not as good as other people’, ‘I’m unworthy or underserving’,‘other people think I’m less or lower than them’. With more momentum of discord, contraction, tension & stress, the interpretation might extend to accusatory desperation. This might sound like ‘people, others, or groups are out to get me’, or ‘people are following or stalking me’. This momentum of discord, contraction, tension & stress, and the arising interpretation is sometimes labelled as paranoia, insanity, mental disorder, personality disorder, delusion, depression, neurosis, mania, bipolarity, phobia, psychosis or emotional disorder. These labels, or, additional layers of interpretation are employed from a non-direct, second person observation. In all cases what’s overlooked is the initial discord felt, is how judgmental thoughts feel… prior to any & all interpretations about the discord felt… which is being believed in spite of feeling the discord of judgmental thoughts. IN TERMS OF THE SPHERES, WHAT IS PROJECTION? Thoughts appear as the lens-sphere, or, someway-sphere. Creating occurs as the arising preferences (thoughts) of the lens-sphere are applied to or in, the world-sphere, or, somewhere-sphere. That which is feeling discordant thoughts is that which is appearing as the spheres. Aligned thoughts create. Discordant thoughts do not. A river flows of it’s own accord; a log added adds resistance. Aligning thought with feeling is therein ‘getting out of one’s own way’. That is, preferences - thoughts… about what’s wanted, to do, be, have and experience - feel good. Aligned thoughts resonate, and thus joy is felt - the joy of alignment, of consciously creating. You are the creator, this is your creation. All that is, is, because you created it, are creating it - by being it. Thoughts about shortage, lack or the absence of what’s wanted feel discordant because you are infinite, because you are Creator-Creating-Creation. Thoughts of judgement feel discordant because you are unconditional. Thoughts of impatience, pressure, hurried-ness and unnecessary urgency feel discordant because you are eternal. Thoughts about yourself which feel discordant, feel discordant because you are infinite perfection. Conditioning occurs innocently via beliefs, because to be the spheres, to be experience - is to overlook, that you are infinite, eternal, unconditional perfection - which is being the spheres. The root or ground floor of conditioning is the belief in subjects & objects. Most simply put - in separation, and therein comparative thoughts arise. In overlooking the unconditionality you are, the discord of judgmental and comparative thoughts ‘point’ to the truth of your unconditionality, in that these thoughts feel discordant. As it’s believed there is that which is not not me - it’s simultaneously believed - I am this body. That you are being the body is overlooked, by the belief that you are the body. It’s then believed you are somebody, somewhere. A person, on earth. The illusion of “I’m here” is an illusion of believing apparent thoughts. “I’m here” is based on “I’m not there”, while “there” is never actually experienced. Whenever asked ‘where are you’, in earnestly, the answer is always here. “There” is linguistically common and obviously practical, yet in terms of direct experience, “there” is never actually experienced. WHY IS THIS? Again, the root or ground floor of belief is that of the subject object nature of thoughts. There is nothing at all ‘wrong’ with any thoughts. That would be a judgmental thought about thoughts, and that thought would feel discordant. It is only in the believing of thoughts that discord is potentially felt. Looking more closely into direct experience, it can be noticed that the thought “I’m here” is a subject-object thought. A dualistic implication. An inherent misidentification as you, are not, two - there are not two, of you. The discord of limiting beliefs is readily felt as & by the Wholeness, Completeness, Truth, Perfection you actually are. As you are what you’re overlooking, and have innocently created many beliefs about yourself, others, and your world, conditioning has already occurred. Misinterpretation. Misunderstanding. Misidentification. All arising of and as (the underlying formless undefinable substance if you will) - Pure Innocence. What is eventually realized with respect to discord or suffering, is that what’s felt, are the thoughts, beliefs, misinterpretations, misunderstandings - misidentification. Purification WHAT IS PURIFICATION? Purification describes the process of the body releasing discordant interpretations, misunderstanding and misidentification, and therein the symptoms of suffering, contraction, tension, stress and dis-ease. In truth the body is always naturally & effortlessly releasing discord. When food is eaten which isn’t settling with the stomach, symptoms like nausea & indigestion are experienced. The body naturally brings what was eaten ‘up & out’. What was eaten might not taste very good as it comes up & out, but this is what’s desired in the bigger picture to bring an end to the nausea and indigestion. It is the same way with discordant interpretations, misunderstanding and misidentification. What comes up & out may not ‘taste’ very good to the mind as it does, but this is what’s desired in the bigger picture to bring an end to confusion & suffering, and ‘see reality as it is’. Liberation. Allowing the process of purification is acknowledging, being willing to question, inspect and see - thus shining the light of awareness on - deflection & projection, and the underlying discord & suffering overlooked and or suppressed therein. As purification ensues; breathe, relax, remain present prior to thoughts & emotions. Be mindful that this is desired, this will pass, and do your best to let go of arising difficult interpretations as they are ‘tasted’ on the way out. Purification is a natural process. An allowing of the transmutation of discord & pain into beauty & creativity, misunderstanding into insight & wisdom, and misidentification & suffering into clarity & truth. It is a metamorphosis akin to the true nondual nature of caterpillar always having been a butterfly, or the sheep that was always a lion. Expression such as journaling, verbally expressing, or virtually any creative form of expression is aligned with the process of purification. Often a distraction such as a lighthearted movie is best in ‘getting out of the way’ mentally, while the body releases discord. 🤍 Quote Mention YouTube Website Sessions Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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