Projections
I have found working with projections as one of the most useful practices for finding a sense of wholeness on all levels (psyche, mind/body, human self/Existence), a deepening transdual view, maturing as a human being, and for basic sanity.
Whatever I see out there, is also in here.
When I see a quality or characteristic in somebody else, or in nature, dreams or stories, I can ask myself - how does this quality show up in my own life? When am I doing the same?
This helps us dissolve the artificial "I" vs. "other" boundary on all levels of our being. It opens up for a deepening transdual view, and for deepening compassion, gratitude and humility. We see ourselves in others, as well as - eventually - the larger whole we as human beings are all forms within.
From my teens and for several years, working with projections was my main practice. It still comes up, although less frequently and often embedded in the Byron Katie inqury process (the turnaround).
Osho
The topic of projections came up this weekend when I talked with a native Oregonian about the Osho community in central Oregon which went down in a spectacular way in the 1980s. It seems that the whole situation was rife with projections.
The locals projected wildly onto the Rajneeshnians. Osho seemed to have seen himself as special and in a priveledged position. His secretary and followers projected onto others within the Rasjneesh community and the wider community. And so on.
For the locals and the secretary and followers, it was a case of shadow projectios leading to paranoia, power abuse and violence in different forms. For Osho, it seems that he projected his human and flawed sides (which we all have) onto his followers which left him as somehow special and priveledged.
When we make something into an "it" by projecting it out, it will come back and demand our attention. And this is (partly) what happened in spectacular ways with the Osho experiment.