Representational World

The totality of all object images are integrated into what is called the representational world (a concept introduced by Sandler). The self-concept plus the representational world constitute an overall psychic structure, what Erikson and Kernberg refer to as ego identity. (The Pearl Beyond Price, pg 438)

One cannot let go completely of the self-concept unless one let's go of the totality of ego identity, including the representational world. One cannot be the Personal Essence relating to the representational world. The self-concept will eventually reassert itself through the presence of its milieu, the representational world. But if the Personal Essence is truly integrated then the representational world will start being perceived as not the real world, and will become an issue to be understood. (The Pearl Beyond Price, pg 439)

Representational world and projection

When the ego individuality associated with the self-concept is finally perceived objectively, it is experienced as a kind of empty shell. One feels the presence of boundaries that give one a sense of being an individual, but one feels fake, unreal and empty of any true substance or nature. Usually this leads to the absorption of ego boundaries into the Personal Essence. However one can still perceive the world in the usual way, as real and full of significance. This means one is still not seeing through the representational world. One is still projecting this ego structure onto the real world, and is filtering one's perceptions of the world through it. The realization of both the Personal Essence and the Cosmic Consciousness now make it possible to see through the projection of the representational world. (The Pearl Beyond Price, pg 439)