Defense Mechanisms

When I was in graduate school I was amazed to find out that psychologists and counselors had developed a list of the common ways we humans try to fool ourselves. These self manipulations are called, "Defense Mechanisms" and seem to be there to keep us from facing our own dysfunctions.

Denial: You completely reject the thought or feeling.
"I'm not angry with him!"

Suppression: You are vaguely aware of the thought or feeling, but try to hide it.
"I'm going to try to be nice to him."

Reaction Formation: You turn the feeling into its opposite.
"I think he's really great!"

Projection: You think someone else has your thought or feeling.
"That professor hates me.""That student hates the prof."

Displacement: You redirect your feelings to another target..
"I hate that secretary."

Rationalization: You come up with various explanations to justify the situation (while denying your feelings).
"He's so critical because he's trying to help us do our best."

Intellectualization: A type of rationalization, only more intellectualized.
"This situation reminds me of how Nietzsche said that anger is ontological despair."

It would seem that Christians would be free from such things because we cannot even get into the Kingdom of God without admitting that we are sinners and as such we have no business being in such a holy place. This is the paradox of Christianity. Only the needy can qualify to be holy. Perhaps this is why St Paul grew into admitting that he was, "The worst of all sinners."

The news is full of Christians and others who seem to delight in fooling themselves. Just tonight I heard an abortion doctor attacks Roman Catholic Church for burying the remains of several hundred babies. Here is a man who is busily engaged in killing thousands of innocent babies each year and he seems to have no remorse or guilt. However, his hidden pain and guilt come out by charging that the priest and people are doing harm to the feeling of the mothers who asked him to kill their babies.

I am reminded of Abe Lincoln famous story about a man who killed his parents in cold blood and then asked for mercy on the grounds that he was an orphan. It tasks a lot of brass to face a court and say that you are the victim when in fact you are the murderer. But this is what the doctor is doing. He has violated the Hippocratic oath of ethics used for over two thousand years to ban abortions and yet blames those who are lovingly and respectfully giving a decent burial to hundreds of innocents torn from the womb of their mothers.

My daughter in law is expecting a baby soon and we have had the joy of seeing the baby kick her so hard that she jumps in shock. This is a wanted child and we are doing everything we can to give Shelley and the baby the finest medical care. Anyone who could ruthlessly kill that child must live with no conscience or be in such a self delusion that Defense Mechanism fails to adequately describe his malady.

Are these people in denial? Can they not see the child's movements and hear his heartbeat? We heard it beat fast and strong. Is he deaf or just tone deaf?

I think it is called, Projection!