Why does the individual exist?

Man is essentially a question mark. We don't know what man is, or where he is destined to go when he outgrows his essential immaturity.

We have individuals because we don't know what man is.  Each individual exists as a tentative answer to this question mark, a tentative exploration of man's possible maturity.

Every attempt to submerge the individual in the crowd is driven by the fear of this mystery. Plato's Republic is the classic instance of this at the political & philosophical level.

But every day men & women try to take flight from their individuality, because it is a reminder of the unknown. They seek what is acceptable, what is the norm.

In psychotherapy we try to work all the time against this tendency, to make men & women a little less afraid of the great experiment we are each embarked upon.