Page "Otto Rank" Paragraph 46

On a microcosmic level, however, the lifelong oscillation between the two " poles of fear " can be made more bearable, according to Rank, in a relationship with another person who accepts one's uniqueness and difference, and allows for the emergence of the creative impulse — without too much guilt or anxiety for separating from the other.

Living fully requires " seeking at once isolation and union " ( Rank, 1932 / 1989, p. 86 ), finding the courage to accept both simultaneously, without succumbing to the Angst that leads a person to be whipsawed from one pole to the other.

Creative solutions for living emerge out of the fluctuating, ever-expanding and ever-contracting, space between separation and union.

Art and the creative impulse, said Rank in Art and Artist, " originate solely in the constructive harmonization of this fundamental dualism of all life " ( 1932 / 1989, p. xxii ).