We all do it. The only question is whether we recognize it when we do it, and then, what we do about it.
I am speaking of me-ing and other-ing. Some of it is quite innocent and sweet, as when we look into our pet’s eyes and see our own love reflected back at us. Imagining, for example, that our dog or cat or python loves us as we love it. That is me-ing. Projecting upon another creature characteristics and capacities we prize and cherish about ourselves.
Those who don’t know better would say that religion is nothing but one great me-ing enterprise, infusing God with human attributes. Thomas Jefferson thought so even while being a theist (believing in a Creator). “ … The God in which (Jefferson) believed was not the traditional Christian divinity. Jefferson rejected the notion of the Trinity and Jesus’ divinity. He rejected Biblical miracles, the resurrection, the atonement, and original sin (believing that God could not fault or condemn all humanity for the sins of others, a gross injustice).” That is cited from the research section of the Jefferson Monticello website.
Me-ing, as I call it, transfers onto people, God, pets, objects, and a variety of mythological creatures — ghosts, spirits, angels — the things we want to see reflected back from them. Whether love, judgment, approval, confirmation, or forgiveness, we cast those internal feelings and beliefs we want in return upon that creature or thing, as if it was a projector screen. Me-ing becomes less innocent when we externalize our projections, on God or the devil for example, to amplify and authorize our opinions.
I do not know where the line is between Me-ing and Other-ing, but by the time we start thinking or feeling that others are less than, more than, or in-human we have fallen deeply into the mire of other-ing.
When another human being becomes a “phony, woke, libtard, lunatic, Blue Pill,” then other-ing has metastasized within the one who is projecting such animus. Likewise, other-ing someone as an “odious, book-burning, racist, semi-fascist” is a slide far down a slippery slope not easily recovered from. Like me-ing, other-ing is another kind of projection. But instead of transforming another person or object into a receptacle of our desires, it turns them into simply an object, and one toward which we need not have empathy or compassion. Other-ing leads to persecution, oppression, war, and the most vile human violence.
This month in Vandalia, Ohio, Mr. Trump said: “I don’t know if you call them (immigrants) people. In some cases they’re not people, in my opinion. But I’m not allowed to say that because the radical left says that’s a terrible thing to say.” That statement is not only other-ing immigrants, but anyone who objects to such other-ing. Thus, I become easily dismissed as “radical left” for raising an objection to other-ing human beings as non-human.
So what is the alternative to me-ing and other-ing? It is the hard and vigilant work of differentiation — recognizing, honoring, respecting, and blessing the differences between ourselves and others. It is holding the space between us and managing the discomfort and anxiety that comes with differences, whether in love or conflict. The other is like me but not me, and our differences and similarities connect us even though we are separate people or creatures.
We have work to do.
Cameron Miller of Geneva is an author and minister. His fiction and poetry are available through Amazon. Contact him through his website at subversivepreacher.org.
DENIM SPIRIT: We all do it …
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27.03.2024
We all do it. The only question is whether we recognize it when we do it, and then, what we do about it.
I am speaking of me-ing and other-ing. Some of it is quite innocent and sweet, as when we look into our pet’s eyes and see our own love reflected back at us. Imagining, for example, that our dog or cat or python loves us as we love it. That is me-ing. Projecting upon another creature characteristics and capacities we prize and cherish about ourselves.
Those who don’t know better would say that religion is nothing but one great me-ing enterprise, infusing God with human attributes. Thomas Jefferson thought so even while being a theist (believing in a Creator). “ … The God in which (Jefferson) believed was not the traditional Christian divinity. Jefferson rejected the notion of the Trinity and Jesus’ divinity. He rejected Biblical miracles, the resurrection, the........
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