More About Psychological Walls (& how needless & uncourageous so many of our walls are)

The paradox of the ‘lonely crowd’ exists because Americans render most of their associations strained, superficial, and unsatisfying. Their confinement is self-imposed. When confronted with an adverse environment, some microorganisms seal themselves off to await better times. In an analogous fashion, many people assume that their social environment is adverse and encyst themselves psychologically. Fearing that open and candid association might be damaging they erect barriers against it. Their walls are well constructed and difficult to breach. But the dangers are illusory, and the walls serve to confine rather than protect. . . . Often the individual erects walls less to conceal things from others than to block insight.

(Gail & Snell Putney, “The Adjusted American: Normal Neurosis in the Individual and Society,” pp. 75-78).

~ by John 24x7 on July 27, 2008.