Our relatedness brings us into reality, provided we are open to it.  For instance, we prefer to avoid those people who annoy us, upset us, rub us the wrong way, push our buttons.  Yet these are precisely the people who can help us to grow.  Our reaction to them exposes the egoism we try to hide, the fear we suppress, the spite we pretend isn't there.  Let's ask ourselves, 'Who is the person I most hate to be around?'  We need that very person in order to be real.

Relationships show us what's truly happening in our life, if we have the courage to face it.  They reveal this separate, unreal self of ours who wants to isolate us from the rest of the human race.