"Friendships, courtships, marriages, and families begin to reflect this strange logic,

so that, far from cherishing one another as emodiments of the holy, we increasingly see each other instrumentally - as tools for satisfying our own needs. Instead of taking an interest in finding out who someone is and how we might build a relationship with him or her, we spend our time figuring out how to manipulate the person to get whatever it is we want."

-Michael Lerner, The Left Hand of God: Healing America's Political and Spiritual Crisis, p. 58