BP80
Psychiatrist, N. Gregory Hamilton, in his book, Self and Others, writes about the fundamental psychological mechanisms or mental processes found in human beings. He identifies a number of these universal concepts such as differentiation and integration, splitting, idealization and devaluation, transitional object formation, and developing object constancy among others.
Hamilton also refers to internalization, a process by which a human growing from infancy to adulthood “takes in” something new from the outside world such as the mother or the father. There are three well-known categories within internalization that he refers to as incorporation, introjection, and identification that, in ascending order, describe the human being’s increasing ability to psychologically take in something new from outside himself or herself and hold onto it inside the self.
In some nonmaterial way, a thing outside the self is taken inside the human self and remembered.
Many clients who come to therapy need to do work in the area of internalization, often specifically in the psychological domain of introjection. As children, many of these clients have introjected the critical voice of a parent or the abuse of another adult or a shaming attitude projected onto them from–for example–a coach or a teacher. They have taken in, as it were, the negative voice of the external bad object and now live with an internal criticizer or prosecuting attorney within their minds that can frequently or constantly berate them.
Of course, as believers in Jesus, we believe that another critical voice that is often “introjected” (internalized) is that of Satan. John writes in the book of Revelation, And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God” ~ 12:10.
Satan’s voice is probably less introjected than the voice of human accusers since it is spiritual in nature, but nonetheless, the voice of this dark one joins the critical chanting chorus that often maligns the human mind and heart.
Jesus also describes the enemy of our souls in John 10:10 as a thief who seeks to steal, kill, and destroy. Never underestimate the soul-shredding power of the prince of darkness. Ultimately, his desire is to annihilate you physically but even more so spiritually and psychologically. He will seek to attack you before the heavenly Father and in your own mind.
Thankfully, introjection also involves taking in “good objects” as Hamilton calls them. These objects can be other people, poems, songs, smells, foods, and even photographs that comfort us during times of suffering, loneliness, or isolation.
Specifically related to the journey of therapy, the patient will most likely project negative parts of herself onto the therapist but often will also introject—take in–positive attributes of the therapist much as a child might do with the parent. For an example of the introjection of a therapist by the client, witness what Hamilton has to say about a teacher in counseling who experienced incapacitating self-criticism:
She grew to know her therapist over several years and gradually introjected his more benign attitudes, which eventually helped her modulate her own self-critical attacks upon her every action, feeling, and thought. She reported this process by saying, “I’ve taken you inside . . . sometimes you say positive things, or seem to have a positive attitude.” Even when her therapist was not physically present, she experienced his presence within her. He reminded her of the good aspects of herself. She . . . experienced his presence as an internal object, within her yet distinguished from her self. She had not yet integrated this introject as an abstract, internal value system, or attitude of her own, but still experienced it as an object, nonself ~ p. 70
In the relationship between patient and therapist as well as the one between child and parent, we often see clear examples of the taking-in of the good object into one’s own self that can then be experienced inside as the sound of a soothing voice or kind words, or the memory of another person who is with us to hear us and even emotionally hold us. Here we have an example of the experience of Presence.
To offer another example of introjection, Hamilton writes about a three-year-old boy whose mother had gone away for a few nights and he was left alone with his father. When the little boy struggled to go to sleep at night, he eventually wrapped himself in his blue quilt and began to sing quietly; he sang a song his mother had taught him. He didn’t get all the words right, but that didn’t matter. What he did do was comfort himself with the melody that reminded him of his mother’s soothing Presence.
Hamilton concludes this example by writing, A look of contentment crossed his face, and he drifted off to sleep . . . He had introjected his mother singing the song . . . As he heard his own soothing song, it reinforced his internal image of his good mother, comforting him to sleep ~ p. 75.
Interestingly, Hamilton alludes to one other example of internalization—specifically introjection—relative to a church he attended on the south side of Chicago. He writes, I once heard the congregation sing over and over again, “Open up your heart and let Jesus come in.” Here, the heart represents the loving self, and Jesus represents the good object which is to be introjected ~ p. 75.
To summarize the psychological process known as introjection, we see that this middle stage of the human self-other maturing process called internalization involves experiencing and taking in both good and bad objects. Bad objects that are associated with criticism, shame, abuse of every kind, and even a desire to destroy the child/adult will be introjected along with their dark ingredients and can later be experienced as the voice of a prosecuting attorney.
Some particularly abusive bad objects experienced at a very young age can cause such severe suffering and psychological damage that the child will dissociate from her self so she doesn’t disintegrate before the trauma of it all. The child will “split” the abuse off from her self and hide it away in some closet or basement room inside her soul.
When these experiences and body memories are reincorporated during therapy, they can be so intense that the client will feel like they are reoccurring today as contemporary events. This journey of reintegration is necessary so that the person can one day be free from severe symptoms of PTSD but will require professional care and an understanding of the process so the person does not believe that she is crazy and will never heal.
Good objects that are associated with positive words, encouraging attitudes, and a desire to protect the child/adult will be introjected along with their hopeful and soothing ingredients that can later be summoned as the voice of a defense attorney or a comforting Presence in the dark times of life.
As important as introjection is to the healthy development of a child/adult, psychological taking in does have limits. You can only internalize a mental representation of the object you have experienced through your physical body via touch, smell, sound, taste, and sight. You cannot literally take that good object inside of you. It cannot exist within you as part of you or as one with you. It always remains separate from you.
Some individuals might turn to food, alcohol, or sex as a means to literally take in the object itself, but even these attempts are not lasting. They all end come to an end through satiation or the pain of eating too much or sheer fatigue. Try as we might, we cannot physically take things in and expect them to remain within us. They always leave us in the end. We can only introject things psychologically through a memory/mental representation of the object’s Presence.
So, we are left hungry and will attempt to fill ourselves with a good object (or a bad object, for some people because it might be highly stimulating for a short season even though the aftereffects might be torturous) whose Presence we can later re-experience in our heads and hearts.
Maybe randomly interjected by me at this point, C.S. Lewis speaks about the desire to internalize earthly beauty, to take it inside oneself, as it were. The following words are from his sermon, The Weight of Glory: In speaking of this desire for our own far off country, which we find in ourselves even now, I feel a certain shyness. I am almost committing an indecency. I am trying to rip open the inconsolable secret in each one of you—the secret which hurts so much that you take your revenge on it by calling it names like Nostalgia and Romanticism and Adolescence . . .
He goes on to say, We cannot tell it because it is a desire for something that has never actually appeared in our experience. We cannot hide it because our experience is constantly suggesting it, and we betray ourselves like lovers at the mention of a name.
I believe Lewis is referring to introjection in these writings whether he was thinking psychologically or not. He was speaking of the beauty of this world and the fact that nothing that we attempt to take in/internalize in this world will ever satisfy our deepest longings. Even if we introject music, the taste of food, the sight of a beautiful sunset, or the look of a loved one’s face, they will never get inside of us the way God intended us to experience ultimate Presence. We will always be left disappointed. The good object will always remain outside of our being.
Lewis speaks of the dissatisfaction that accompanies the introjection of good objects in this world when he writes, The books or the music in which we thought the beauty was located will betray us if we trust to them; it was not in them, it only came through them, and what came through them was longing. These things—the beauty, the memory of our own past—are good images of what we really desire; but if they are mistaken for the thing itself they turn into dumb idols, breaking the hearts of their worshipers. For they are not the thing itself; they are only the scent of a flower we have not found, the echo of a tune we have not heard, news from a country we have never yet visited.
Lewis is saying that we can fleetingly and shallowly experience the good objects of this world but we cannot take them inside of us and hold onto them for our ultimate joy. The sights of Paris, or the taste of triple chocolate cake, or the mist from Takkakaw Falls on our skin, or sex with our spouse, or the smell of our favorite food will never be taken inside with the same intensity as when we experienced these things in the moment of their physical Presence.
I also believe Lewis is saying that none of these earthly experiences would fully satisfy us anyway even if we could permanently and fully experience them within our minds, souls, and heart after the actual event.
At present we are on the outside of the world, the wrong side of the door, Lewis writes. We discern the freshness and purity of morning, but they do not make us fresh and pure. We cannot mingle with the splendors we see. But all the leaves of the New Testament are rustling with the rumor that it will not always be so. Some day, God willing, we shall get in.
I am not entirely certain if Lewis is referring to getting into heaven or if he also means that when we get to heaven only then will we be able to take things fully into us and hold on to them in the most deeply satisfying way or if he is saying that when we get to heaven then our bodies which were created for taking in Jesus’ glorious Presence will finally be filled with the Ultimate that the universe can offer. Only then will we be filled with what we were made for, namely, God Himself.
Not fully certain of what Lewis means (but wanting to include it in our discussion because I believe what he writes overlaps with our psychological discussion), what I want to say here is that introjecting all the good objects in this world will never satisfy us both because trying to hold onto them is like trying to hold water in a bucket with holes in the bottom and because they would not fully satisfy us even if we could take them in because they are not ultimately glorious to us.
On this side of heaven, there is only one good object we can deeply introject simply because it enters us; we do not strive to internalize it. Incidentally, this good object is not a thing but a person, the third member of the Triune God, namely, the Holy Spirit.
True, believers are in Christ through a mystical union, and we are also in relationship with the Father through Jesus. Jesus says in John 14, Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me. He also says, In that day, you will know that I am in the Father, and you in me, and I in you. Clearly, then, as born again believers, we have deep intimacy with the Father and the Son.
However, Jesus specifically tells us that until he returns for his children, He will be leaving behind a proxy, an authority to represent Him. I don’t think I entirely like the word proxy to refer to the Holy Spirit since He, the Son and the Father are all part of the same Godhead. In a sense, they are all separate persons but united in the Trinity. Let’s see what Jesus has to say about the Holy Spirit.
Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you ~ John 16:7
If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you ~ John 14:16
In these passages, we see that the Holy Spirit will be sent to us by Jesus and the Father, that He will be with us forever and bring truth to us, and that He will dwell not only with us but also in us.
Here it is, then: the ultimate internalization. But we did not take in the Holy Spirit through some human introjection. No, the Spirit was given to us by Jesus and the Father. In a sense, the gift of the Spirit is closer to the psychological mechanism known as projection (from God). The main point here, however, is that when we come to believe in Jesus as our Savior, we are given not a mental representation to remember fondly inside of us but an actual divine Being to live within us who is known as the Holy Spirit.
What are some interesting application points we lead out of this truth concerning the Holy Spirit in us?
First, psychological truth on the level of general revelation as fleshed out by N. Gregory Hamilton points to deeper spiritual truth on the level of special revelation found in the content of the Scriptures. As human beings, we internalize and introject objects because we were created to have God Himself living within us as the Perfect Object, the Ultimate Presence. The truth of psychology with its concept of introjection is a gift to us from God that is a shadow of a greater, higher truth.
Yes, we were designed to internalize not just good objects like parents and songs and books and nature but the Creator of the universe! If we settle for introjecting the things of this world only, as we alluded to above, we will never be filled but will always be empty in the end. Why? We were made for more than material objects. We were made to be indwelt by God Himself, by the Designer in the person of the Holy Spirit.
Whoever came up with the idea that humans have a God-sized hole in their souls that only Jesus can fill was correct. Only God can fill us up by setting up His home within us not as some divine parasite but as the Giver of every good and perfect gift.
Second, the Holy Spirit, like Jesus, intercedes for us. He is our internal Defense Attorney: Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God ~ Romans 8:26-27
While it can be very helpful to have a human therapist listening, encouraging, and even defending us, what an amazing gift to have the third person of the Triune God defending us within our own hearts! I will personally attest to the potential healing power of having a human being with you and for you who you can internalize during times of difficult growth. This introjection of a positive human Presence can be very powerful and a helpful defense against the voice of condemnation that growls within us.
However, nothing is better than knowing that the God who lives within us is for us. Every believer—everyone who has experienced the new birth whereby the Holy Spirit is sent to live in us—will forever have a divine Counselor (Paraclete) within them who does not bring condemnation but intercession and comfort and God’s very Presence within the human being. The Spirit will always defend us against the lies of the Liar and the voices of bad objects in our minds that do the work of the Accuser.
Let us never forget that the Holy Spirit often brings people into our lives (creatures with skin on) who will definitely be a proxy for the Presence of Jesus. Let us not overlook this truth. The Bible is teeming with examples of how God heals and reveals Himself through other humans in the body of Christ.
Third, the Holy Spirit living within us clearly reveals our purpose on this planet that gives us meaning and hope in the face even of despair and suicidal ideation. I Corinthian 6:19-20 says, Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
You were bought with a price—the price of Jesus’ own blood. Your body is now a temple in which the Holy Spirit lives as an actual spiritual Presence. You are now capable through the power of the Spirit to glorify God in your own body. You were created, pursued, loved, made new, and now called to live for the One who died and lives for you.
Fourth, blankets (transitional objects) and songs, and nature that speaks of the glory of God, and people with skin on are wonderful things to internalize. Just remember, that the Holy Spirit has come to be your greatest comfort since He is an actual person living in you.
Fifth, consider the words of 1 Corinthians 2: For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.
The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.
The Presence of the Holy Spirit in us brings us a wealth of truth and wisdom and discernment that the world simply cannot access because it can only be found in God. Introjecting human heroes and mentors is certainly an important part of growth and maturity, but listening to the voice of the Spirit who lives in us imparts to us spiritual knowledge that is not from this planet. So, don’t settle for less. Believe on Jesus, receive His Spirit, begin to access the God who lives in you through the practice of spiritual disciplines, and soon you will be walking by faith and not by sight.
Sixth, for you believers in Jesus who have also been called to the profession of a counselor, pray that your clients will introject more than just a positive attitude from you but also experience the presence of a loving Creator who speaks through the Spirit in you to them. Be the Holy Spirit’s human defense attorney for your client. Advocate for them like the Holy Spirit. Intercede for them and challenge them with the truth they need to hear. Love them with God’s pure agape love.
Make it a point to continue to grow in your personal walk with Jesus because your clients, a little or a lot, will introject you as they develop a deeper relationship with you.
Last of all, having the Spirit of God within you offers great potential. It’s like finding a vein of gold in your own personal mine. You still need to dig it out, though. It won’t magically mine itself. In the same way, you need to intentionally walk in the Spirit. You need to practice the Presence of God. Be in the word. Worship. Be in a body of Christ where you sharpen each other like iron. Be thankful.
You must appropriate the Presence of God. You must mine the gold.
Learn how to be in God’s Presence even if it’s the only thing you learn how to do in this lifetime. The practice of His Presence is that important to a life of joy, peace and love.
If you are a believer in Jesus, you are already filled with God. Of course, heaven will be better yet, but you already have a foretaste of it as you access day after day after day the One who lives inside of you. If you are not a believer, you are a jar of clay waiting to be filled with His glorious Presence. He is but a prayer away from being in you forever.
Pray the prayer because you were made for His Presence. Nothing else will satisfy.
But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us ~ 2 Corinthians 4:7
If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit ~ Galatians 5:25