The Psyche
Projection
Definition
THE CHARGED SUBSTRATE OF THE PSYCHE. UNCONSCIOUS POLARITY IS CAST OUTWARD TO BE INTEGRATED.
The Definition
The Psychic Capacitor
The psyche exists in the space between the surface of the skin and the reflection of the cosmos. It is the electrodynamic field through which the unconscious connects with the rest of the world.
Projections are the cast of unintegrated polarity onto people, places, objects, and dreams. Projections act as a charged web throughout the psychic field. Libido (psychic energy) carries the charge from the psyche to the thing being projected on. This web of projections is spun by knots in the unconscious called complexes. Complexes are autonomous clusters of deeply-rooted, emotionally-charged memories, desires, and ideas.
The Function
Polarity Integration
Projections function as the psycho-diagnostic medium for unconscious integration. The way to integrate the unconscious is through integration of projection. The unconscious is read through its projections. To create a psychic container, an environment, where projections can healthily occur, creates an intentional opportunity for the unconscious to be integrated into conscious awareness. Integrating projections is a healthy and cyclical process called individuation.
Example: The Rebis
The greatest charge within the human psyche is sex polarity. For women, it is the masculine, the Animus. For men, it is the feminine, the Anima. Integrating the contra-sexual inner archetype is the majority of individuation. The Essence is already polar and balanced, naturally — the work is in integrating it extrinsically.
When unintegrated, an individual projects their own inner opposite onto an external partner, creating intense idealization or conflict, or dependency because that pole remains unintegrated in the Self. Integrating this opposite function (Yin/Yang) re-claims that projected charge. In alchemical terms, this integration creates the Rebis: the unified, polar-balanced Self.
Integrating the opposite pole decreases internal resistance (R) and expands intrinsic potential (V), enabling Essential current (I) to flow without friction. Voltage in particular, is explicitly a function of polarity.
The Placement
A Surface for Essential Integration
The psyche sits between body and cosmos in the dimensions of consciousness. Applied metaphysics seeks the coherent expression of all contents of the Self, both conscious and unconscious. This is in response to the goal of wellness: to express one’s Essence fully.
Through Projection, the charged substrate of the psyche makes unintegrated material available to be integrated, and ultimately expressed, in Essence.