With great insight and empathy, Dr. Mary E. Mercer reflects on happiness and the difficulties we encounter at each stage of life, pointing out that all growth requires separation from previous attachments and loves. As we move from infancy to old age, the pain of each separation lifts us to a higher level of awareness of ourselves. This pattern of love and separation repeats itself throughout our lives until, if we're fortunate, our desire to be loved becomes a desire to love. Dr. Mercer explains what is required for personal growth, details the aspects of life that touch us profoundly, and lays out the choices that can lead to the highest state of humanness attainable. Augmented by eloquent quotations from literary classics, Mercer reveals the universal self-creative pattern that lies beneath the surface of individual life.