No smoke without fire?

No smoke without fire.

This saying is an example of projection.

We hear a rumor about someone. We imagine it. This imagination combines with sensations giving it a charge so we feel it may be true. And we say no smoke without fire.

The saying is obviously not true in reality. There is often smoke without fire. It’s not uncommon with false rumors and assumptions with little or no basis in reality.

For the sake of balance, I’ll mention that we can always find something – anything – in us if we look. We are all capable of just about anything, in the right (or wrong) circumstances, and we can always find examples of something in us if we look closely enough.

So in a conventional sense, “no smoke without fire” is clearly wrong, and in a deeper and more universal sense there is some truth to it.

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Initial notes….

• no smoke without fire
  • an example of projection
    • rumor -> imagines it -> feel it may be true -> no smoke without fire
  • obviously not true in reality, often smoke without fire, false rumors with no basis in reality
• …..

A few times in childhood, I experienced being at the receiving end of these types of rumors. Situations where I was accused of doing something I didn’t even know about. So this saying has been obviously wrong to me since back then.