In this talk given by A. H. Almaas in 1986, he compares the lower emotional center – a place where many of us function on a daily basis – to a higher emotional center, the liberated heart. Actions, reactions, and patterns of the lower emotional center are the domain of the ego and object relations, which effectively block our ability to be in the present moment.
Summary of Object Relations Theory
Excerpted from A. H. Almaas’ Pearl Beyond Price, Chapter 4, pgs 50-54
According to object relations theory, the development of ego structure through the process of separation-individuation happens primarily by means of the internalization of object relations through the formation of inner images of self and other. The “object” is generally the human love object, and an object relation is simply the relation between self and object, usually an emotional relation.
“Object relations” then generally refer to the mental representation of this relation, which consists of three parts: a self-image, usually called a “self-representation”, an object image, usually called an “object-representation”; and the emotional relation or affect between the two, such as love, anger, fear or desire.
Thus, ego formation occurs in the context of a relationship to a primary love object, the mothering person. Every situation or interaction between infant and mother is an object relation. Except in the very earliest phases, in which there is no differentiation at all, the infant always sees himself in relation to the mother, not in isolation. The memories of such interactions are mental representations of the object relations.
The infant remembers, not only himself (that is the image of himself), but always also the image of the mother in the interaction. The fixation of these representations in the mind is called “internalization”. As more of these representations accumulate, which means as more memories are retained and fixed, there begins a process of organization of these representations. This organization of internalized object relations is the task of the separation-individuation process, which ordinarily culminates in the development of self and object constancy.
Thus, the sense of self, based on the cohesive self-image, is the result of integration of the very earliest object relations. This ego organization is modified constantly as more object relations are internalized, but later identifications, after the age of approximately three years, add little in terms of the basic structure.
This contradicts the popular belief that people change as they grow in years. The fact is that the passage of time only solidifies the already established structure. This is one reason why change in psychotherapy is not easy. Whether he is in psychotherapy or not, an individual merely lives out an already established structure, expressing an already formed individuality with its previously established roles.
New situations may appear to bring changes, but these changes are rarely fundamental, in general, merely bringing out in behavioral manifestation other roles from the unconscious repertoire of the self. These roles or identifications are what the person takes to be the content of who he is. The more harmony these roles have with each other and with the environment, the more normal and healthy the individual is. Failure of the process of integration to create such harmony results in mental disorder.
Usually, there is a general sense of being a person, an individual with a sense of self or identity. However, this is only the surface phenomenon. At deeper levels of the personality there are many self-images, with definite traits, organized in a particular structure that gives the feeling of an overall self-image.
Different life situations bring to the surface different self-images and their corresponding object relations. This determines the changing of moods, emotions, states of mind and actions throughout a person's life, and even throughout a day. This activation of past object relations is called “transference” by psychologists.
Thus, transference occurs, in object relations terms, when past object relations are activated. However, it is not only in analysis or psychotherapy that these small units of object relations are activated. It happens for all egos at all times and simply becomes apparent under scrutiny.
As Freud emphasized in The Psychopathology of Everyday Life, such transference is a normal everyday occurrence. Thus, no interaction is ever absolutely in the present. The individual identifies with one image and projects the other image on the other person in the interaction. The past is always present in the form of the object relation activated. In fact, the present is always perceived through whatever object relation – whether it is an overall ego-identity or a more specific subject-object relation – is active at the time.
Both psychologists and laymen who are aware of the fact of transference rarely appreciate the fact that their interactions with the environment are actually being filtered through past object and self-images. They are not, in other words, seeing reality for what it really is. The present cannot be known by ego, for it is always overlaid with the past.