Critical Thinking: Is It Time For Humanity To Understand How Defence Mechanisms Work?

For some people, usually, those who are into self-development or study psychology, for example, defence mechanisms are something that they are familiar with. This is not to say that they will always be aware of when they are using one or a few of them, though.

It simply means that they will have an understanding of what they are and why they are used, which will give them the ability to know when they are utilising one or more of them. Thanks to this, it will be a lot easier for them to take responsibility for their own pain and to deal with it.

Under The Radar

If someone like this was asked to explain what a defence mechanism is, they could say that it is simply something that will allow someone to avoid pain. This is not something that they will consciously choose to do, however, as it will take place unconsciously.

Someone will then be able to avoid something that is painful without even being aware of the fact that this is what is taking place. If, on the other hand, they were aware of what was going on, the defence/s wouldn’t work.

Completely Neutral

Taking into account what a defence mechanism allows someone to do, to basically deceive themselves, it could be said that they are ‘bad’. If the defence mechanism didn’t exist, it wouldn’t be possible for someone to deceive themselves.

This is true; nonetheless, if it wasn’t possible for someone to lie to themselves without realising it, they probably wouldn’t last for very long on this earth. The reason for this is that pain is part of the human experience and, without the ability to ‘get rid of’, they would be wiped out.

The Key

Therefore, someone will always use defence mechanisms and, if they were to try to no longer use them, they would be engaging in a futile task. So, and as was stated above, when someone is aware of the fact that they lie to themselves to avoid pain, they will have the ability to know when this is taking place and to face what it is that they are unconsciously trying to avoid.

Through consciously choosing to face and to work through their own pain, their life is likely to be a lot smoother than it would be otherwise. What this comes down to is that just because someone unconsciously removes their pain from their conscious awareness, it doesn’t mean that it will have completely disappeared.

The Fall Out

No, once the painful material has been removed from their conscious awareness, it will end up in their unconscious mind. From here, it will end up pulling the strings of their life and what they might call ‘fate’.

In other words, this disowned material will have an effect on how they feel, their thoughts, and how they behave, and even their physical health. Not only this, it will play a part in who they are drawn to and repelled by, and the circumstances and events of their life.

A Co-Creator

With this understanding in place, someone will be able to see that they are not merely an observer of their reality; they are playing an active role in how they experience life. They will be able to see that what is taking place in their own consciousness is not only affecting their own life, it is also feeding into the collective consciousness and thus, is having an effect on what takes place on the planet as a whole.

Ergo, if someone is not aware of the fact that the mind utilises different defence mechanisms to enable them to avoid pain, they are going to be less likely to deal with their own stuff. As a result of this, their painful inner material will build up inside their unconscious mind and they will end up being victimised by their own stuff.

One level

When someone is in this position, it can be normal for their life to be full of drama and for them to see themselves as nothing more than an observer of what is taking place. Their ego-mind, the part of them that will play a part in pushing their pain out of their conscious mind, will cause them to see themselves as a victim.

In reality, their reality will be reflecting back the parts of themselves that they have lost touch with. For example, there is a defence mechanism known as projection, and this is where one will see in others that which they are unable to accept about themselves, and so when this takes place, one can accuse others of being worthless, impatient or as having anger problems, for instance.

Another level

On one level then, there is going to be what happens for an individual when they don't have an understanding of how defence mechanism work or know they have both a conscious and an unconscious mind, and, on another level, there will be what happens when a country is made of people who are like this. When this is the case, it is not going to be a surprise if this is a country that is full of drama and problems.

Unlike in an individual’s life, it won’t be one’s partner or friend who is the problem, it will be a government or another entity that is to blame for what is going on. Naturally, what is going on exte
ally will be far more significant as won’t just be an effect of what is taking place in one person's consciousness, it will be an effect of what is taking place in the consciousness of millions and millions of people.

Final Thoughts

What this emphasises is how important self-awareness is when it comes to creating a more harmonious and loving world. The ego-mind, with its dual nature and the help of different defence mechanisms, sees what is going on ‘out there’ as the problem.

This part can’t accept that the inner and the outer are an illusion and that what appears to be going on ‘out there’ is simply a reflection of the collective consciousness. If someone wants to change the world, perhaps the best thing that they can do is to heal themselves and to be what they want to see exte
ally.