Learning from One's Projections

 I was reflecting a lot this morning on how the world is really a projection and a continuous creation of our thoughts and imagining. For example, if I go on a trip with someone else, I might think that I share the same vacation with that person. However, if you stop to think for a moment, both of them will see different things, and might even emphasize very different things. Suffering often arises when I think that the experience is shared by someone else, rather than realizing that my present experience interacts with my previous memories to create what I experience now.
   But then, do we not make a mistake in rejecting fantasies in favor of what we think to be 'something real'? I find that a lot of spiritual practitioners have this subconscious idea that when they are practicing, they are getting closer to the real world, especially in laying aside wandering thoughts. In fact, does this 'real world' exist after all, and why do we keep chasing after it when it too is a reflection? I find it quite fascinating to reflect that spiritual narratives often start with the idea of being lost in a phenomenal world of changing impressions and desires, only to emerge into the 'true' world of perfect grace or forms. Is the latter not also a creation of the mind?
   Sometimes, what we learn from the fantasies themselves tells us a lot about how we get stuck or attached. But what's interesting in this is that there is no master narrative to stand on which allows me to see things 'as they truly are', because what I am creating now is just a creation. It has no basis in external reality, save for forms which are also seen through the lenses of language, memories and impressions. The only thing I can do is to continually question what I think is absolutely real, because it's these absolutes which often lead to inner conflict and a rigid way of looking at things. If I am feeling tense or uptight about something, chances are that there is a hidden absolute in that tension: something I am convinced is permanently real. It's these kinds of hidden absolutes which lead to suffering, because they kind of get me stuck in something that seems immovable. And it doesn't allow me to more dynamically reflect on other things that could be happening to make something appear the way it is in that moment.