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Lesson 32 The Transference of Images

In the Transferential Probe, just as in the Cathartic Probe, it is possible to work on many situations from everyday life, without the subject needing any special knowledge. However, to do a profound transference, the subject must have sufficient information about these themes. The principal reason the subject needs this knowledge is that any deep transferential session ends with a rational, vigilic discussion between the guide and the subject in which the subject must interpret and give order to his own process. The vigilic discussion requires special knowledge on the subject’s part and is basically done by the subject, because otherwise the guide’s interpretation would end up in the projection of his own contents into the process of the subject. In addition, there is a phenomenon we call “post-transferential elaboration” in which later on, after the actual transferential session, the subject really integrates the contents mobilized in the previous practices. Throughout all this elaboration, the subject must have knowledge to which he can appeal without help from the guide to interpret what is happening to him.

When Does One Do a Profound Transference? 1. When one is interested in comprehending and experiencing the more complex mechanisms of the consciousness. 2. When one wishes to overcome unresolved biographical problems that continue to pressure or perturb one’s present situation. 3. When one wishes to provoke internal movements or integrations of some importance.

When Does One Not Do a Profound Transference? 1. When the subject shows symptoms of psychic dissociation (severe psychological problems). 2. When the subject considers this work to be a therapeutic system. 3. When the subject intends to resolve problems that could have been overcome by the exercise of the previous lessons and practices. 4. When the subject finds himself in the previous situation of resolving his problems cathartically.

The Steps of a Transferential Session 1. Preparation. Having resolved the question of why the subject is interested in engaging in a transferential process, the guide will note any physical problems the subject has and any defects in his senses which the guide will always bear in mind as possible sources of internal signals. In an appropriate environment which is quiet and undisturbed, the guide and subject sit in comfortable positions beside each other facing the same direction. Lighting should be dim and diffuse. The guide asks the subject to do a complete and profound relaxation. 2. Entrance. The guide asks the subject to choose a biographical situation, dream, or any image of interest to the subject. It is good if during his relaxation the subject has experienced the sensation of “falling” characteristic of going to sleep; this helps eliminate rationalizations and allows access to an active, associative state of semi-sleep in which the subject can freely follow the development of the image he selects. 3. Development. The guide next begins to suggest appropriate directions to the subject, always beginning from the middle plane based on an image proposed by the subject. Whenever a resistance appears, the guide will help the subject overcome the resistance in ways we have already studied. During this process of development, one will undoubtedly use the three techniques we have described, the Technique of Levels, the Technique of Transformations, and the Technique of Expansions. The guide will take notes on any resistances that have not been satisfactorily overcome in the session, and also those that appeared repeatedly in different scenes, transformed into different forms in a way that reveals their common origin. 4. Emergence. Once the subject has returned to the initial point in the middle plane after retracing the whole internal path he has traveled, the guide will encourage a climate of reconciliation of the subject with himself by appealing to agreeable images. From this moment on, the guide will begin to speak in an increasingly rational way, until the subject recovers his usual vigilic level of consciousness. 5. Vigilic Discussion. When the subject has recovered a vigilic state, the guide and subject discuss what happened based on the material obtained during the transference. The subject recounts and then reconsiders all that has been done, summarizing especially the difficulties found, the resistances encountered and the instances when they were overcome. If the subject forgets something in recounting what happened, the guide will point this out. Next, the subject does a symbolic reduction, and an allegorical categorization in which he attempts to make an interpretive synthesis. This will become a more complete synthesis after a series of several transferential sessions in which the subject can obtain more material from a longer process in time. In any case, try to make a synthesis at the end of each session. 6. Post- Transferential Elaboration. After they have finished the session and agreed on the time for the next one, the subject will be left on his own without a guide between the sessions. It will therefore be advisable for the subject to keep track of his night dreams, his daily reveries, any change in how he perceives his internal situation, and any changes in his behavior. The subject should write down his observations and bring them to the next session as supporting material. 7. Conclusion of the Transferential Process. It is not possible to decide in advance how many sessions will be needed to complete the process. This will depend partly on the particular interest the subject expresses in the beginning, that is, what he wishes to achieve in the transferential process. In any case, it will become clear that the subject has reached the end of the process when he experiences registers that he comprehends things, and that contents that were not previously integrated “fit together” and make sense in the post-transferential elaboration. A positive change in behavior in a concrete situation the subject wished to overcome is a decisive indicator.

Observations In this form of transference, the “themes” or images coincide with the “plot.” This makes things easy because simply by modifying the themes or images in a scene, one will also transform the perturbing climates that accompany the images. However, at times one may be unable to transfer a climate because the resistance is too strong. One handles this by moving gradually from the theme most strongly associated with the negative climate towards another closely related image, so that the second image acquires the same connotations or climate as the first. For example, if the subject’s mother appears in a very unpleasant scene dressed in certain clothes and with a certain attitude, and if the subject has great resistance to changing or transforming this image, one should then have another person enter this same scene, and surround this new person with the same characteristics the first one has so the subject can “move” or transfer the climate to the second person. From the second person, the subject then transfers the climate to a third person and so on, thus giving mobility to this previously fixed climate. We will now elaborate on what we said previously about “persuading” resistances. First, the guide should never cause or allow the sudden appearance of any image the subject experiences as dangerous. Rather, one guides the subject gently in a direction that is towards the resistances. One should always use caution and avoid violence, and never leave the subject unprotected in front of images he cannot handle. The guide always helps the subject avoid direct confrontation in favor of persuasion or even temporary retreat if the climate turns to anxiety. If the guide eventually comprehends that the subject cannot at the time overcome a given difficulty, he postpones treating this resistance until the following sessions, and makes an adequate note of what happened.

Exercise: Transference of Images Before starting, we recommend you re-read the exercises related to the Transferential Probe for Resistances and the Transferential Probe of Movement. Next, carry out a pedagogical practice as an example before the group with one of the participants acting as the guide and another acting as the subject, while the remaining participants take notes. Finally, discuss and synthesize what happened as a group team work. Once this pedagogical practice is completed, those interested can begin their own practices in which they should work only in pairs. The guide and subject exchange roles at the end of each exercise so they each achieve a balanced mastering of the techniques related to being both guide and subject.