Is it true that in contemporary world, emotionality is ramped up and heightened? In order to be heard it appears that we need to simply shout louder and express ourselves in ever more extreme ways. Is this healthy, life-affirming, self-expression, or does the greater volume drown out subtleties and quieter voices?
I think of some of this shouting as projection. Projection is a psychological idea. Think of an old fashioned movie projector. We look at what is projected onto the screen and we think that is the image. But the image comes from the tiny square of film lit by a bulb in the back of the machine. That is what the psychological term projection means. In our human lives we can feel like we are constantly being filmed in the movie of our own lives. We adjust our stories and tweak how we present ourselves to make ourselves be more relevant or seen by the world. Sometimes this feels an ever more desperate search.
Does it work? Maybe some of us do manage to find our niche and place in the world. Or maybe if we’re really honest, we never quite feel seen or seen enough, never quite feel the main character in our own play. We get lost in our own projections. We might feel we get lost in the vortex of noise that drowns us out.
The world has become a battle about who shouts the loudest. My truth against your truth. Have you noticed that the language we use to express ourselves has become more extreme in our effort to be heard?
Maybe all our effort to be heard comes from a painful small voice inside. Or an angry lost one? It can be a relief to take ownership of our own projections in an age of extremes and claim our ‘image’ of truth. Maybe there’s a small part of us just longing to be quiet and settled, to have someone or something bigger than us to hold our whimpering distracted selves. When this happens, we can be finally let go, knowing that we are safe and known and all will be well. Think of a baby zonked on the front of their very much bigger parents, held in the security of a sling, feeling the rhythm of shared breathings, heartbeats, warmth and skin-to-skin touch. What a relief. My exhausted straining self can finally rest.