Splitting

[19bg7]Initially the infant has the tendency to split the mother into good mother and bad mother. It is inconceivable to him that the mother who feeds him could also be the mother that makes him wait too long when he is wet. [19bg8]Only in later development does the mother become integrated as both in the mind of the developing child.

The joys and despair of the creative project are the same. We may initially over-identify with the project as the mother the child. As the object becomes clearer in conception and depiction, there is a gradual separation of the creative work from ourselves.

The initial fusion, which is often experienced as a high, may give way to a state of despair, when what was conceived in the mind is not what one achieves. It is hard to see the strengths of a project when we are down and hard to see the weaknesses when we are up.

Later a more even perception of the project is possible when we realize that on repeated acquaintance, as with the mother, the project has its strengths and weaknesses. In this state of distancing and separation, the creator looks at what he or she has done more objectively.

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