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Lesson 27 Introduction to the Transference II

I. The Space of Representation and the Levels of Consciousness As a person’s level of consciousness lowers, the thresholds of external perception narrow at the same time the thresholds of internal perception widen. The images are therefore internalized or moved deeper within the space of representation. Translations and deformations of perceptual impulses increase, and as the mechanisms of reversibility are blocked, the images grow in their suggestive power. In images characteristic of deep sleep the subject usually “sees” an image of himself participating in the scene. This is quite different from vigilic images in which the subject imagines the world as “outside” himself, and observes these mental images as in everyday life, looking outwards “from himself.” The presence of one’s self-image in dream scenes is similar to what happens in very old memories; one usually “sees” oneself participating in the scene when remembering childhood times, or times long distant from the present. Conversely, if one remembers a scene from a few minutes ago, one will represent it as though one “sees” it from within oneself, looking outward at the scene. When the subject sees himself participating in the scene as happens in deep sleep, he places his point of view at a more internal point than the images. One’s point of view moves deeper inside the space of representation as one’s level of consciousness lowers. Let us see an example of this curious mechanism. Suppose that in front of me is a small object I wish to pick up. I close my eyes and represent the object in the periphery of my space of representation, which apparently coincides with the external space. I “see” the object from a point which corresponds approximately to the location of my eyes. In this situation with my eyes closed, if I wished to actually pick the real object up, I could put out my arm, open my fingers and more or less guess the distance needed to reach it. On the other hand, if I now represent the object as being “within my head,” I see the object from an even more internal point which I experience as “behind my eyes.” In this second case, if I wish to pick the object up, I will have serious difficulties because I have put it in an internal space inaccessible to external bodily movements. To state this concisely, as one’s level of consciousness lowers and the thresholds of external perception narrow, one’s external bodily activity ceases. One’s images are represented more internally, and one’s point of observation moves deeper; one can even represent oneself in the scene without mobilizing activities of one’s body in external space with this image, as would happen in vigil. If an image that occurs during sleep is moved to a more external location than normal in the space of representation, it will carry “charge” to the motor center; this kinesthetic image will then direct motor activity in the intended directions. The sleeping subject’s body would then be continuously active, and he might even get up and walk in the direction proposed by his “external” images. However, normally this does not happen because the representations during the level of consciousness of sleep are too deep internally to mobilize the motor center. During dreams there is only one factor that expresses one’s internal activities externally-the movements of one’s eyeballs. Of course, in perturbed sleep such as “nightmares” or somnambulism, what we have described does happen, and there are in fact bodily motor expressions towards the external space because the images are placed too externally in the space of representation. The subject may thus become agitated, talk, laugh, etc., because his connection with the external world is not sufficiently broken. Such excessive connection with the external world during sleep may be due to the strong pressure of over-charged internal contents, strong internal stimuli that provoke a “rebound” in the level of consciousness, or excessive alertness (for example, when waiting for something) towards the external world. The important point in all this is that the images are moved more internally in the space of representation as the level of consciousness lowers, and more externally as the level of consciousness rises. All the images from the memory, whether they came originally from the perceptions of external senses, or whether they now correspond to the external senses but are actually translations of impulses originally detected by internal senses, are placed deep within the space of representation in the level of consciousness of sleep. With this deep placement, these images transfer their charges towards the intrabody, Let us now suppose that earlier in his life a person perceived a very unpleasant scene. In this situation, the scene generated a series of climates and tensions at both an external and deep muscular level. The event happened long ago, and yet each time the person evokes the image of this scene, the corresponding tensions and climates arise again. Now suppose this person is sleeping, and an associative chain presents this unpleasant image or a similar one that mobilizes the same tensions and climates in him. The internal tensions thus generated will be picked up as cenesthetic sensations and translated into the visual image of a scene that may be quite strange; the images change and develop following the plot of this scene, and in so doing they transfer charges in various directions, or transfer charge from one image to another, until eventually the profound tension that occurred in the body is eased by this transference of charges. In this kind of situation, certain images or certain climates may show up repeatedly. When this happens it reveals fixations, that is, obsessive contents which remain fixed because they have been unable to transfer their charges. Such fixations dissociate the normal process of the consciousness. The subject may also block the unpleasant contents and be unable to remember them at all in the vigilic level of consciousness. Nevertheless, the corresponding deep permanent tensions will continue to send impulses. These impulses will be more easily translated into visual images in dreams than in vigil, because the thresholds of the cenesthetic senses are wider. In vigil the subject will be aware only of an undefined and generalized emotional climate, without relating it to a specific visual image or situation; this climate will operate as a diffuse and perturbing background to his activities. During dreams, however, the same climate will be related to specific images (visual, auditory, etc.), translated from cenesthetic sensations. These images are the transferential effort of the consciousness to become free of the permanent, deep tensions by moving charges towards the intrabody. One can begin to see that the transferential technique works by directing images and climates to give mobility to charges or tensions that for some reason are stuck and cannot be freed by the normal processes of consciousness. When the transferential technique achieves its objective, it unblocks charges and produces distensions and balanced integrations of contents. This allows the internal development of the subject to continue undetained. As we have explained, the transferential technique will not work when the subject is in the level of consciousness of vigil, except in the limited case of the allegorizations of the transferential probe. Neither will the transferential technique work in sleep, because then the consciousness is disconnected from the directions that come from the guide through the external senses, and the guide will be unable to operate and assist the subject. Evidently, the guided transference must be applied when the subject is in the level of consciousness of semi-sleep. The transference will be most effective in this level when the subject makes the least rationalizations, because the subject’s internal sensory impulses will then be translated best and his representations will be the most powerful. It is important to note that one cannot produce a complete transference using hypnotic methods because hypnosis works with images induced by the guide, and not with images which are translations of the subject’s own internal impulses and correspond to his own deep tensions. We note also that working with free associations and their simple interpretation will at the most produce cathartic effects; this is not fruitful because it does not direct the images that are what ultimately carry the charges and can thus generate the relaxations and integrations.

II. Internal Depth and Vertical Levels in the Space of Representation In the lessons on Relax, we worked with the aid of the image of a sphere; we expanded this sensation from the center of the chest until it reached the outside limits of the body. When the expansion of the image was complete, one registered a profound relaxation known as “the experience of peace.” No doubt some people encountered difficulties in expanding or contracting the image. These difficulties correspond to resistances produced by tensions located at different depths of the intrabody. When translated cenesthetically, these tensions prevent the control of the image of the sphere. Any “internal” image expands or contracts within the space of representation, and therefore affects different depths of the intrabody with its charge. Wherever the image becomes deformed, wherever it does not follow its trajectory, or wherever its process is interrupted, these resistances reveal that a field of tension is present. Wherever the image overcomes these resistances, it creates a corresponding physical relaxation in the body. When an internal image descends in the space of representation, it becomes darker. Conversely, as the image moves up in vertical level within the space of representation, it becomes lighter. This is related to its distance from the visual centers. As the image rises or descends, any deformations, evasions of trajectory, or interruptions of its process reveal fields of tension in the vertical levels of the intrabody where the resistance occurs. Wherever the image overcomes these resistances, it produces relaxations.

III. Review of the Apparatuses and Impulses

We will now give a more complete diagram of the apparatuses, and the impulses or signals that connect them. This will summarize much of what has been explained so far.

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To simplify things, we have not indicated any distinction between the mental pathways of association and the pathways of abstraction, or between the attentional mechanism and the “screen” of the operation of the consciousness which we call the space of representation. We have indicated the external responses of the centers with a simple arrow, without highlighting the many complete codified responses known as the behavioral roles.

Review Exercises In these exercises we will review the techniques you learned in previous lessons you will need to know to do transferential techniques. First, the guide asks the subject to relax externally, internally, mentally, and to do the experience of peace. The guide next asks the subject to describe any difficulties encountered in each exercise. If the subject has not mastered all these operations, he or she should practice them until able to achieve the proposed result of each technique. If unable to form visual images, the subject should practice Exercise Series 10 of Lesson 14 in Psycho-Physical Gymnastics. If the subject has not mastered the technique of relaxation or has difficulties in forming visual images, this will be a serious drawback in the transferential works which follow.