I think Karen Horney (an early psychoanalyst) was on to something when she said that if a person is seriously mishandled (abused, neglected, or normal development excessively interfered with) when they're little, they're apt to conclude that being a human being isn't good enough.
The non-human requirement can be anything-- coolness, strength, success, helpfulness.... and a person can hold more than one standard, and if so, the standards may be contradictory.
I've been working on the idea that when a person goes extremely far in one direction, it's because they feel driven to do so.
The thing is, you strike me as reliably cool, though not in the Beat sense-- you're intense and you do and write about passionately about interesting things.
Why am I so distanced so much of the time? Why can't I bring the intensity? If my theory is correct, it's because I've pushed myself to specialize in being reasonable.
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Date: 2011-02-16 06:20 pm (UTC)I think Karen Horney (an early psychoanalyst) was on to something when she said that if a person is seriously mishandled (abused, neglected, or normal development excessively interfered with) when they're little, they're apt to conclude that being a human being isn't good enough.
The non-human requirement can be anything-- coolness, strength, success, helpfulness.... and a person can hold more than one standard, and if so, the standards may be contradictory.
I've been working on the idea that when a person goes extremely far in one direction, it's because they feel driven to do so.
The thing is, you strike me as reliably cool, though not in the Beat sense-- you're intense and you do and write about passionately about interesting things.
Why am I so distanced so much of the time? Why can't I bring the intensity? If my theory is correct, it's because I've pushed myself to specialize in being reasonable.