We can gain further insights into the nature of the contact rebus by examining the principles of transmutation. Our previous examples of romantic liaisons and the bonding of children and teenagers with their parents highlight three different governing principles that exist apart from the degree of motivation. For this reason, we can call them neutral or independent principles of transmutation. (Motivational Work; Part 1: Values and Theory, pages 227 – 237).
Opposites
One principle of transmutation involves the transformation of a positive gambit through opposites. The individual aims his contact rebus at the target with the same untransmuted emotional intensity but his feelings and behavior are the opposite of what constitutes a positive contact. Aggression is one example whereby love turns to anger and there is an intense commitment, but it seems that the individual dislikes rather than loves his target.
Negation
The second principle of transmutation involves negation of the contact rebus, which to all appearances is a non-contact gambit. Withdrawal is an example of this, such as in a romantic situation where one party demonstrates his love by avoiding contact. Here, the direction of the gambit is reversed and, unlike the principle of opposites where contact is initiated, contact is withdrawn.
The intensity of the contact is now transmuted into dedicated avoidance. On a conscious level, feelings are transformed into ambivalence – the individual does not experience any special feelings for the other person, having subjugated them to the contact rebus, where they have now been unleashed in a transmuted form.
Emulation
The third principle of transmutation involves the emulation of a positive gambit. The individual adopts a transmuted approach that retains positivity whilst its components are adapted to the target’s expectations of what constitutes a positive gambit. The individual demonstrates that he is no longer being himself by, for instance, denying feelings of love and only appearing to be concerned about making a good impression.
However, his actions do mean that he directs his contact rebus at his target and actively initiates contact. In this way, his actions are similar to those resulting from the principle of opposites, but the intensity of feeling is paralleled by extreme compliance in feelings and actions in order to live up to what the individual perceives his target’s expectations to be.
Destruction
The fourth principle of transmutation is directly linked to the degree of motivation and elicits varying degrees of destructiveness from the contact rebus. For this reason, this fourth principle may be assigned the term destruction and differs from the other principles of transmutation by its very dependence on levels of motivation.
Destruction is actually more of a transmutation variable arising from the neutral principles of transmutation, meaning that in the manifestly motivated, neutral or independent principles of transmutation are more evident than destruction, whereas in latently motivated individuals, both independent principles of transmutation and destruction are discernable, the latter becoming more noticeable.