Man is intrinsically (biologically) social. The
affordance of successfully nurturing progeny to a self-sufficient
being is heavily weighted to group effort.
This point may be subverted by perspective. A
person may think and feel they are "self-made," when, in fact, they
could not exist except for their progenitors and, almost
universally, their social environment.
4.3.1 The Mythic Hero
Telling Yourself the Story
While being a social creature, interacting with
our parents, sibs, and the panoply of indoctrinating "folk," we
narrate our own story. This process creates a unique "self"
perspective. Even in communal cultures like Japan, people can't
avoid seeing themselves as playing the "central role" of such a
perspective story.
The 'Me' Magnet
No Copernicus, Your Wrong!
Perspective story is so basic that it creates a
special set of relationships. Not only are you the "center of the
universe," all things are in magnetic relationship to you i.e.
things happen to and because of "you."
4.3.2 The Ties That Bind
Why We Owe
The fact that we were born, and not just by our
mothers, but by a social enclave, traces and bears a debt
throughout our biology and psyche. Our unique self emerges from
that path as an accumulation of relations that have marked
us.
We are a gestalt of our capacities and
indoctrinations.