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This chapter is a review and summary. I begin with a model of transformation: suppose a number of marbles of different colours and sizes, ½″, ¾″ and 1″ in diameter, lying in a tray. The colours and sizes are ‘dimensions’. Make a rule that in another tray must be placed as many marbles of 1“ diameter as there are green marbles in the first tray. When the operation has been completed the marbles in the second tray will represent a transformation of the ‘space’ represented by the marbles of different size and colour in the first tray. The collection in the first tray represents the ‘space’ I have denoted O. The rule regulating the disposition of marbles in the second tray represents the mental activity I have denoted by T α (or Ta α if it governs the behaviour of the analyst). The marbles in the second tray represent the transformation I have denoted T β (or Ta β if effected by the analyst).
I may now use the marbles in the second tray as the O for further transformation. I can denote this by writing O (2nd cycle) = Ta β (1st cycle). I make a rule that in another tray are to be placed as many marbles of 1″ diameter as there are blue marbles in the second tray. This rule may accordingly be denoted Ta α (2nd cycle) and when the operation is complete the marbles in the third tray represent a state I denote by the sign Ta β (2nd cycle). This can now be made the starting point of a further operation which is similar to the two preceding but is now the third cycle of transformation.
The foregoing model I shall replace by one that comes nearer to representing an analytic experience, thus: suppose the patient makes a complex statement, in the sense I have given the term, which may have consisted of anything from a solitary ejaculation to a session of free associations. I shall suppose that the statement is so complex that it would only be adequately represented by being categorized
in every grid category. The categories, like the sizes and colours of the marbles, may be regar