Bion, W.R., Cogitations. Edited by Francesca Bion. London: Karnac Books (1992), pp. 313-7
May 1970
As electromagnetic waves can be employed conceptually as a part of a theory embracing an enormous range of physical phenomena, so I wish to employ the concept of α-elements to embrace an enormous range of mental phenomena.
β-space
I shall suppose a mental multi-dimensional space of unthought and unthinkable extent and characteristics. Within this I shall suppose there to be a domain of thoughts that have no thinker. Separated from each other in time, space and style, in a manner that I can formulate only by using analogies taken from astronomy, is the domain of thoughts that have a thinker. This domain is characterized by constellations of α-elements. These constellations compose universes of discourse that are characterized by containing and being contained by terms such as, ‘void’, ‘formless infinite’, ‘god’, ‘infinity’. This sphere I shall name by borrowing the term, ‘noösphere’ from Teilhard de Chardin, but as I wish to avoid too great a penumbra of associations, particularly those activated by the term, ‘sphere’, I shall employ a sign that is as devoid of meaning as I can make it (compatible with retention of its capacity for communicability), Σ (sigma).
α-space
The objects of α-space I shall suppose to be real, with their own reality, both infra-real and ultra-real. Perceptible to ordinary thought are objects usually confused with and regarded as indistinguishable from objects of sense, namely certain active constellations of thought that are associated with the discipline of biology and spoken of in those terms.
The classic psycho-analytic view supposed the mind or personality to be identical with the physical identity of a person. The object of my proposal is to do away with such a limitation and to regard the relationship between body and mind (or personality, or psyche) as one that is subject to investigation.
Thus, a nation is said to have a ‘character’, but the Σ associated with a nation is not identical with the σ (soma), though as a psychological aid in communication it may be convenient to speak of the nation’s ‘mood’ as such-and-such. I should hope to approach a more rigorous formulation by saying, Σ (national: Persian), or Σ (individual: John Smith), or Σ (war: Ruritania/Rumtiphoo/Titipu). Similarly with various relationships somatically considered between individuals; and then extra-psychic and endo-psychic, still somatically described as an aid to comprehension of Σ constellations.
In mathematical terms one may provisionally suggest a linear formulation, a scale, which can be supposed to represent the ‘mind’ (psyche) as an instrument of investigation.
101 102 103 … 10n-1 10n
10 10-110-2 … 10-(n-1) 10-n
In the domain of physics a similar linear representation can be offered for the province of electromagnetic waves ranging, say, from angstrom units to metres. Between 10-3 and 10-5 would lie the visible region. Similarly, somewhere on the Σ scale would lie the sense-able (think-able?) range. That is to say, there would be Σ phenomena which by definition are matched by corresponding receptor organs.
The aspects of Σ I wish to discuss present special difficulties because there is no apparatus available for their formulations, so I have to employ the inadequate written word. What follows will therefore have to be couched in terms that are adapted for use in a more primitive mode of communication. The formulations I employ must be regarded as Grid category C, no matter how much they may appear to be elements of a sophisticated formulation.
I am supposing that there is a psycho-analytic domain with its own reality – unquestionable, constant, subject to change only in accordance with its own rules even if those rules are not known. These realities are ‘intuitable’ if the proper apparatus is available in the condition proper to its functioning. Equally, there are certain minimum conditions necessary for its exercise. Approximately, in C-category terms, this activity depends on the presence of a personality, an operating intuition, a minimum degree of intuitive capacity and intuitive health. The conditions in which the intuition operates (intuits) are pellucid and opaque. I have already indicated that from the intuitor’s vertex opacities can be distinguished sufficiently to be given names, however primitive and defective the ascriptions may be. These are: memory, desire, understanding. All are opacities obstructing ‘intuition’. I have therefore stated that the psycho-analyst should exercise his intuition in such a way that it is not damaged by the intrusion of memory, desire and understanding.
Such freedom from opacity cannot be achieved during the psycho-analysis if the intuition has already been damaged by indiscipline at any time. The more nearly the psycho-analyst can approximate to freedom from these – and no doubt other ‘opacities’ as yet unidentifiable – the more confidently can he discount the origin of his observations as due to the ‘personal equation’. This is well known and has been recognized as one of the motives for undergoing a psycho-analysis. What has not been recognized is the ephemeral nature of such psycho-analytic achievements and the need for the establishment of freedom from memory, desire and understanding as a permanent, durable and continuous discipline.
Suppose the psycho-analyst has been able to achieve a state in which he is the kind of ‘person’ capable of (psycho-analytic) intuition; suppose further that he is capable of maintaining such a state. Then, and only then, is he in a position to have certain experiences that I shall attempt to formulate.
The uniformity of Σ can be intuited as displaying areas of disturbance, ‘turbulence’, ‘opaque’ areas contrasting with areas of ‘pellucidity’. The visible spectrum with its Fraunhofer lines can itself be used as a model (though a very crude one) for purposes of exposition, provided that its crudity is recognized and that the damaging effect of understanding on intuition is borne in mind.
These areas of turbulence indicate a constellation that may be ephemeral or may display a certain durability. The durability is significant and calls for appreciation of its domain: it may be significant of Σ, or of Σ (nation: Ruritania), or Σ (era: Christian), or Σ (individual: John Smith). There are certain Σ areas that are relatively stable to a point where the fact that one is in contact with an individual (sense-able, and therefore denoted by me as σ, indicating somatic) becomes peculiarly seductive and therefore conducive to the misleading conclusion that Σ (individual: John Smith) is identical with σ (John Smith). But psycho-analytic scrutiny convinces one that Σ is the significant fact, and σ important only in so far as it is receptive or emittive of Σ. To put it another way: Σ is covering a range of ‘wave lengths’ belonging to the psychotic range. This area is characterized by extremely ‘short waves’, lack of range, and therefore lack of discrimination – what a musician could describe as inability to ‘hear’, or adjust to what is said in such a way that the statement made cannot be ‘heard’ unless it is exactly and precisely attuned to the receptor. The same can be said of what is seen: there is something in the range of colour perception analogous to perfect pitch in music. There is no response to a statement unless it is precisely and exactly addressed to the receptor; there appears to be no way in which emitter and receptor can be adjusted to each other if some degree of correction is required – a ‘miss’ is absolute, ‘as good as a mile’.
In the domain of ‘perfect pitch’, the patient may be glad to be told indignantly, “You know perfectly well what I mean!” as a cover for his own suspicion that he knows nothing of the kind. He may even welcome the inherent implication that he is like everyone else in order to escape from an ‘inescapable’ sense of isolation and loneliness. Such a patient will welcome the attention of the psycho-analyst as an assurance that he is believed by someone to be comprehensible. Entire languages are learned to give substance to a belief that he is like everyone else, and to foster that belief in himself or others. He will welcome the idea that he hears what others hear when an orchestra is playing. He resists ‘millions of interpretations’ of phrases, music or colours. He can see ‘millions of colours’ where the psycho-analyst can only see ‘white light’. He conceals as best he can that to others he appears, or would appear, ‘tone deaf’ or ‘colour blind’. The analyst is predominantly important because the patient cherishes the belief that the analyst ‘understands’ him.