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In analysis the term "activity" carries a negative connotation for the analyst, a fact that sometimes makes it difficult for analysts to recognize their own activity and personal involvement in the treatment process. The development of analytic rules, such as abstinence and free association, reveals that they were often designed under the impact of stress and for the purpose of minimizing the effects on the analyst. While conditions of passive abandonment to free-floating attention, to one's own unconscious memory, are essential in understanding the transference, they also favor the emergence of hidden affects and the eruption of involuntary action. Thus an adequate theoretical rationale of analytic rules has been difficult to formulate. Even Freud seemed disinterested in making definite formulations about technique. While countertransference phenomena are a constant risk in the analysis, it is doubtful whether Freud meant to discourage spontaneous participation. Complete masking of the analyst's identity, or absolute abstinence, does not offer the best conditions for analysis; it is merely theoretical. The analyst's basic human quality cannot remain anonymous. A therapeutic balance must be struck between the transference phenomena and the