This paper highlights the tension between, on the one hand, listening to the patient's associative flow with evenly suspended attention, and, on the other hand, the vigilance and alertness required of the analyst when interpreting the transference through the patient's projective identifications. With reference to the work of Christopher Bollas, it is held that there is a fundamental ambiguousness about analytic work which in fact is desired, but that work with free associations to a large extent has unfortunately become obsolete.