Buddhism 101

Most of the time, we superimpose something onto what is immediate and Real. We project onto what we directly experience, and we extend that projection through time and space. And then, in relation to these objects, the longings and loathings arise in our minds and projected "out there" with Reality.

The upshot is that we don't engage the world as it actually is. Instead, we react to the world as we assume it to be -- or, worse, as we think or wish it ought to be. We live out our lives in our imaginations, reacting to our concepts of the world rather than attending to actual, directly perceived Reality.

Steve Hagen