A good part of our progress in our own counseling is to “find ourselves” as individuals, distinct from the pressures and identifications that society and distresses have foisted upon us. We discharge and re-evaluate to free ourselves from the “shoulds” and “have to’s,” to think for ourselves, from ourselves, and of ourselves as trustworthy and sovereign individuals. 


Yet when we attain a measure of such independent intelligence, when we have been able to think of ourselves as individuals distinct from all others, with our own goals and purposes, then we spontaneously tend to also think of ourselves as a group with other human beings. We become able to link our survival potential, mentally, with that of our families, our groups, our species, and our environment and universe in a meaningful way, free from identifications and distress.