The antithesis to narcissism is not the object relation but object love. - Heinz Kohut

States the self may expand far beyond the borders of the individual, or it may shrink and become identical with a single one of his actions or aims.

The creative individual, whether in art or science, is less psychologically separated from his surroundings than the non-creative one; the "I-you" barrier is not as clearly defined.

The self in the psychoanalytic sense is variable and by no means coextensive with the limits of the personality as assessed by an observer of the social field.