Feeling is the bedrock of intimacy. . . . Many are strangers to themselves. How can they hope to be intimate with another being? We cannot bridge the apparent gap between ourselves and others as long as we have not found access to the secret chamber of our own inner being. We must become intimate with ourselves: we must know and love ourselves first before we can truly love and enjoy the fullness of intimacy with another being.
— Georg Feuerstein, A Little Book for Lovers