ABSTRACT
This chapter begins with Wilfred Bion’s theory of thinking and his particular formulation of the grid. The grid was a means chosen by Bion to describe the processes by which thoughts evolve and the method of thinking. Bion made a very precise distinction between mental processes of an adaptive, contractual, or quantitative type, which, he said, made part of the exoskeleton of the personality, and the processes founded on emotional experience—creativity, symbolic representation, and dream thought. This emotional and symbolic aspect of the formation of the personality was considered fundamental by Bion for its development. Countertransference is an emotional experience. Naturally Richard's initial drawings were seascapes with air fights and surface attacks; gradually, his imagination slipped beneath the surface to the world of fish, starfish, and octopi, giving way gradually to a territorial investigation rich with countertransference references.
