Spiritual Wisdom:

"Relationship with others is a mirror of one's own state and thus a direct help to one's self-purification. Conversely, it is equally true that only by thorough self-honesty and self-facing can relationships be sustained, feelings expand, and contact between human beings blossom in long-term relationships. So you can see, my friends, that relationships and human contact represent a tremendously important aspect of human growth." (PL #180)

"It is also possible to measure one's personal sense of fulfillment or frustration by the depth of relatedness and intimate contact, by the strength of one's feelings one permits oneself to experience, and by the openness and willingness to give and receive. The degree of frustration indicates an absence of contact, which in turn is a precise indicator that the self withdraws from the challenge that relationship is, thereby sacrificing personal fulfillment, pleasure, love, and joy. When sharing is wanted on the basis of receiving only according to one's own terms while the self is really (although secretly) unwilling to do any sharing, longings must remain unfulfilled. People would be well advised to consider their unfulfilled longings from this point of view rather than indulging in the usual assumption that one is unlucky and unfairly put upon by life." (PL #180)

"A part of your innermost being is developed and governs your thinking, feeling, willing, and acting. There are other parts still in a lower state of development, which also govern and influence your thinking, feeling, will, and acting. Thus you find yourself divided, and this always creates tension, pain, anxiety, and inner and outer difficulties. Some aspects of your personality are in truth, others in error and distortion.

It is exactly the same law and principle when it comes to the unity or, respectively, to the dissension between outwardly separated and totally different entities... The dissension is not caused by actual different units of consciousness but, just as in the inner dissensions of one person, by different aspects of development of the manifesting universal consciousness. The principle of unification is exactly the same. Yet this principle cannot be executed with another human being unless it has first been applied to one's inner self. If the divergent parts of a self are not approached according to this truth and ambivalence not faced, accepted, and understood within a self, the process of unification cannot be put into practice with another person. This is a very important fact, which explains the great emphasis of this Pathwork on the primary approach to oneself. Only then can relationship be cultivated in a meaningful and effective way." (PL #180)

"Relationship represents the greatest challenge for the individual. For it is only in relationship with others that unresolved problems, the difficulties, and conflicts that still exist within the individual psyche are affected and activated. It is because of this that many individuals withdraw from contact with others, from interaction with others. The illusion can sometimes be maintained that the problems arise from the other person when one feels disturbance only in their presence and not when by oneself." (PL #180)