Dear Jaclyn:

Thank you for your answer. I think we always need someone in our lives, at least one person, because we are social animals and a person, isolated cannot possibly be “whole and fulfilled” on an ongoing basis. I think it is true in any culture, anywhere on the face of the earth. To be whole and fulfilled it takes quality, honest, loving interactions with at least one other person.

On the other hand, to be desperate for another person, to hurt ourselves for the purpose of being with another, to hurt or minimize ourselves for that purpose, that of course, leads nowhere close to whole-and-fulfilled.

When I first saw your #48 I related to it this way: I felt intense empathy for another person, for example, because I felt pain myself. I wasn’t able to direct my empathy toward myself not believing my pain was valid, or justified, so I directed my empathy toward another person.

anita