A boy is reading a book. His father tells him to put the book down, hands him a hammer and chisel, points him to a rock and tells him to get to work. As the boy chips away, he dreams of becoming a wizard. His father tells him to forget about that and explains that he is going to be a stonemason. The boy continues to dream about becoming a wizard and being able to help other people. Again, his father stops him. The boy gets the message: his is a family of stonemasons. The years go by, and his beard grows long.
''Once upon a time, there was a man who had swallowed so many things raw that his self-image had become misleading.''
The notion of introjection
Every culture and every family has its own norms and statements that control and socialize the members.
Our genetic make-up, the environment we grow up in and our social background affect us via language and norms, from the day we are born.
These norms are instilled in us (introjected) while we are so young that we have no choice but to swallow the statements raw without being able to reflect on them.