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the subject that the plastic hand on the table was his own. A hammer blow on the plastic hand produced pain, which was measured electro-chemically. The hand, Ramachrandran concluded, "had now become coupled to the student's limbic system."

The symbols of self-hurt owe their meaning to the relational objects from whence they came. The razorblade associated with the father; it is an aspect of the father-object. The corset may be connected with a mother. The cross Henry Suso pounded into his own back was, of course, a Christian object. None of these is the principal phenomenological fact. Instead, the symbols become self-objects proper to belonging to the phenomenal self by their application to the body and by means of the sensations they generate. The same holds true for the body. The upper thigh is first an organic location, as is the torso. Secondly, it is a social body, that is, a place loaded with values acknowledged by the subject. The upper thigh is almost sexual, it is hidden, it is a place of vulnerability to weight gain. Finally, the body is the experiential body, the body image. This body is a neurological and perceptual system, as I outlined earlier.

The information that travels in the phenomenal circuits of the self-injurer crosses the thresholds between these levels. It is cognitive, affective, and nociceptive, all at different times and manners. The differentiations of levels is as true for the buyer of a Porsche as it is for Jill or Maria. The self-hurter, however, generates self-objects and object relations by means of pain, a unique sensation. The choice of pain means that the objects used for self-hurting not only resonate because their symbolism (for example, association with an abusive father) is powerful. Their resonance increases because the sensation of pain weakens the preexisting self-images, due to the neurological principals discussed in my previous article. The newly emergent self thus lack the "as if" quality of less effective integrating feedback information, such as the visual effect of a new car, or even the pleasures of a new relationship. The phenomenological power of pain signals that remove the old self makes the transformation of the self-hurter far more effective than any defense or other depth mechanism ever could. The power is at the surface.

I conclude by outlining the agenda for further study. An extended case study is needed that lays out the origin of the symbolic meaning of the tools and that provides a rich biographical account of the user of the tools. The meaning of the tools is cultural, but the tools become bonded into their user's sense of identity only if such meaning resonates with biography. Neurology, psychology, and cultural analysis must cooperate in such a study. Consequently, the cultural approach would have to be accompanied by a detailed first-person narrative that would allow a glimpse into the inner terrain of the subject. I believe that such a project, perhaps a detailed narrative between a mystic like Maria Maddalena and a self-abuser like Jill, would reveal a close phenomenal correspondence between the symbolic meaning of tools, the sensations generated by their application to key body parts, and the emergent sense of empowered self.

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