Brian Johnson uses a simple finger exercise to show how projection works: point at someone and three fingers point back at you. He argues you should imagine yourself as the student of your own lectures and act on the behaviors you criticize in others.
Hi, this is Brian with another mini chapter from A Philosopher's Notes. This one's called Fingers and Lectures. Please extend your pointer finger and shake it as if you're lecturing someone, saying something like, you shouldn't do this, this and this. Do that, that and that. Thank you. Now look at your hand and count how many fingers are pointing at the person you're lecturing and how many fingers are pointing back at you. Unless you're missing a digit, you should see one finger pointing at the lucky recipient of your raft and three fingers pointing back at you. You may want to pay attention to that the next time you're lecturing someone. It's a really handy way to notice our shadow the stuff we haven't integrated in our own lives that, unfortunately, we tend to project onto others. Debbie Ford encourages us to attend our own lectures because more often than not, whatever lecture we're giving someone else is the one we desperately need to attend. Try this on the next time you start telling someone all the things you think they need to start doing more of or less of or whatever, imagine you're a student, diligently taking notes on the lecture you're giving. You might just find that the lecture you're giving them is what you most need to hear. And by the way, the sooner you actually do the stuff you're lecturing other people about, the sooner you'll stop lecturing them about it. There you go. Fingers and lectures. Count the number of fingers pointing back at you as you point at someone and lecture them. And then remember, be a diligent student of your own lectures and notice how you may not be doing the things that you find so annoying in others. There you go. Fingers in lectures. Hope you enjoyed. Have another awesome day. Look forward to sharing more with you soon.
