1. Projection

Image via Wikipedia1.  Projection
The first aggressive adjustment is called Projection.  Projection occurs when a person trys to blame someone else for their own sin.  By blaming others for the sin they do not wish to recognize in themselves, they are able to act as if it is not there.

This kind of adjustment can be easily illustrated.  Have you ever noticed how easily ball players blame their own mistakes on others?

Projection is one kind of aggressive psychological adjustment which is used to overcome

Of course, we have all noticed how often children place the blame for wrong behavior upon someone else.

Remember the teaching about the Speck and the Plank in the Statutes of Humility?  (Matthew 7:3)?

The fact that you can see a small speck of sawdust in your brother's eye ought to lead you to a careful search in your own life to see if you are guilty of the same sin, only to a larger degree!

If the speck of sawdust you notice in your brother is a lack of love, what plank should you suspect in your own life which you may be projecting upon your brother?

When someone places a sin which is hidden in their own life upon another person by criticizing them, has taken place.  In this way they may ignore the problem in their own life.

An example of this psychological adjustment can be found in the Bible.  When the prophet Nathan told King David about the rich man who had stolen a poor man's only lamb, David became quite angry.  But, he did not realize that he had committed this same kind of sin himself when he had taken another man's wife.

Upon whom had David projected his sin?
What was this sin which David did not want to face in his own life?