Forming the Relational Self

This significant segment describes briefly the way the self is formed as well as its concomitant sense of separation (pp. 35-38).

...Each moment of interpersonal contact generates feelings of private autonomy. This is universal and by no means bad. When we fail to recognize this identification, however, we lay the foundation for loneliness and other forms of anguish. p. 36

The passage also includes three valuable excercises. Each practice is an opporunity to explore, in your immediate experience, your own experience of separation. Spend several days with each one: looking at superiority and inferiority, looking at your family relationships, and noticing the sense of separation when observing people on the street.