Everything is a projection of how we see what we look at. We don’t see anything “as it is,” but “as we take it to be.” The “is-ness” of everything is NOT what we say it “is.” Saying something is “wonderful” says nothing about the thing and says everything about how we see/think/feel about it. Saying something is a “horse” says nothing about the thing and everything about what we attribute to the thing. All of our projections are reflections of who we are and how we see what we look at.

Our associations are the truest things about us. No two people have the same associations. Knowing who we are is a matter of examining/exploring our associations. We identify ourselves by way of our associations. And this is also a way of separating ourselves from others, and/or of finding people who are similar to us.

A meditative practice is sitting with anything and seeing how many associations we can make with the thing in question. And how many associations we make with each of those associations. Etc. forever.