Stalkers / Intimacy seekers / Human connectedness / The power of presence

Cries And Whispers, Ingmar Bergman

We human beings are all hardwired to connect with others. From whatever perspective we study human society, whether its broad evolutionary history or the development of a single individual, we are obliged to view the human being in his or her interpersonal context — as related to others. There is convincing data from the study of nonhuman primates, primitive human cultures, and contemporary society that our need to belong is powerful and fundamental: we have always lived in groups with intense and persistent relationships among members. Confirmation is ubiquitous: to cite only one example, many recent studies in positive psychology stress that intimate relationships are a sine qua non for happiness.

[...] Because many therapists have trained in traditions that stress the importance of opaqueness and neutrality, friends willing to reveal themselves to one another may, in this regard, have an advantage over professional therapists. [...] The more you can be truly yourself, can share yourself fully, the deeper and more sustaining the friendship.
Staring at the Sun, Irvin Yalom