A long silence.

«So, maybe I haven`t liberated you. Let me try something. Can you, Stuart, or

others, lay out our agenda, what`s here on the table—what are the open issues today?»

Stuart was the informal group historian: he was blessed with such a retentive

memory that Julius could always call on him for an account of past or present group

events. He tried not to overuse Stuart, who was in the group to learn how to engage

others, not to be a recorder of events. Wonderful with his child patients, Stuart was

socially at a loss whenever he left the perimeter of his pediatrician role. Even in the group

he often carried some of the accoutrements of the trade stuffed in his shirt pocket: tongue

depressors, penlight, lollipops, medication samples. A stable force in the group for the

past year, Stuart had made enormous progress in, as he had put it, «project

humanization.» Yet interpersonal sensitivity was still so undeveloped that his recounting

of group events was entirely without guile.

Leaning back in his chair, he closed his eyes before responding. «Well, let`s see—

we began with Bonnie and her desire to talk about her childhood.» Bonnie had been

Stuart`s frequent critic, and he glanced at her for approval before continuing.

«No, not quite right, Stuart. Right facts, wrong tone. You`re making it sound

flippant. Like I just want to tell a story for the fun of it. There are a lot of painful

memories from my childhood that are now coming up and haunting me. Get the

difference?»

«I`m not sure I do get it. I didn`t say you were doing it for the fun of it. That`s just

the kind of thing my wife complains about. But, to continue: next there was some stuff

with Rebecca, who felt insulted and angry with Bonnie for pointing out how she was

preening and attempting to impress Philip.» Stuart ignored Rebecca`s slapping her hand

to her forehead and muttering, «Goddamnit,” and continued, «Then there was Tony`s

feeling that we were using a more complex vocabulary in order to impress Philip. And

then Tony commented that Philip was a show–off. And Philip`s sharp response to Tony.

And then there was my comment to Gill that he avoided displeasing women so much that

he lost his sense of self.

«Let`s see what else...” Stuart scanned the room. «Well, there`s Philip—not what

he said but what he didn`t say. We don`t talk too much about Philip, as though it`s taboo.

Come to think about it, we don`t even talk aboutnot talking about him. And, of course,

Julius. But we worked on that. Except that Bonnie was particularly concerned and

protective, as she often is about Julius. In fact, the Julius part of the meeting started with

Bonnie`s dream.»

«Impressive, Stuart,” said Rebecca. «And pretty complete: you left out only one

thing.»

«And that is?»

«Yourself. The fact that you were being the group camera again, photographing

rather than plunging in.»

Often the group had confronted Stuart about his impersonal style of participation.

Months ago he described a nightmare in which his daughter had stepped into quicksand

and he could not save her because he wasted so much time getting his camera out of his

backpack to take a snapshot of the scene. That was when Rebecca labeled him the «group

camera.»

«Right you are, Rebecca. I`ll pack my camera away now and say I agree entirely

with Bonnie: you are a good–looking woman. But that`s not news to you—you know that.

And you know I think so. And,of course, you were preening for Philip—doing and

undoing and stroking your hair. It was obvious. How did I feel about it? I felt a little

jealous. No, a lot jealous—you never preened for me. No one ever preened for me.»

«That kind of thing makes me feel like I`m in prison,” Rebecca shot back. «I hate it

when men try to control me like this, like my every movement is under scrutiny.»

Rebecca broke off each word, showing an edge and a brittleness that had been under

wraps for a long time.

Julius remembered his first impressions of Rebecca. A decade ago, long before she

entered the group, he had seen her individually for a year. She was a delicate creature

with an Audrey Hepburn graceful, slim body and precious, large–eyed face. And who

could forget her opening comment in therapy? «Ever since I turned thirty I`ve noticed

that when I enter restaurants, no one stops eating to look at me. I`m devastated.»

Two sources of instruction had guided Julius in his work with her both individually

and in the group. First, there had been Freud`s urging that the therapist should reach out

in a human way to a beautiful woman and not withhold himself or penalize her simply

because she was beautiful. The second had been an essay he had read as a student titled,

«The Beautiful Empty Woman,” which made the point that the truly beautiful woman is

so often feted and rewarded solely for her appearance that she neglects developing other

parts of herself. Her confidence and feelings of success are only skin–deep, and once her

beauty fades she realizes she has little to offer: she has developed neither the art of being

an interesting person nor that of taking an interest in others.

«I make observations, and I`m called a camera,” said Stuart, «and when I say what

I feel I`m labeled a controlling man. Talk about feeling cornered.»

«I don`t get it, Rebecca,” said Tony. «What`s the big deal here? Why are you

freaking out? Stuart`s just saying what you`ve said yourself. How many times have you

said you know how to flirt, that it comes naturally to you? I remember your saying that

you had an easy time in college and in your law firm because you manipulate men with

your sexuality.»

«You make me sound like a whore.» Rebecca swiveled suddenly to Philip.

«Doesn`t that make you think I`m a whore?»

Philip, not distracted from gazing at his favorite spot somewhere on the ceiling,

answered quickly, «Schopenhauer said that a highly attractive women, like a highly

intelligent man, was absolutely destined to living an isolated life. He pointed out that

others are blind with envy and resent the superior person. For that reason, such people

never have close friends of their same sex.»

«That`s not necessarily true,” said Bonnie. «I`m thinking of Pam, our missing

member, who is beautiful too and yet has a large number of close girlfriends.»

«Yeah, Philip,” said Tony, «you saying that, to be popular, you have to be dumb or

ugly?»

«Precisely,” said Philip, «and the wise person will not spend his life or her life

pursuing popularity. It is a will–o`-the–wisp. Popularity does not define what is true or

what is good; quite the contrary, it`s a leveler, a dumbing down. Far better to search

within for one`s values and goals.»

«And how aboutyour goals and values?» asked Tony.

If Philip noted the surliness in Tony`s question, he gave no evidence of it and

replied ingenuously, «Like Schopenhauer, I want to will as little as possible and to know

as much as possible.»

Tony nodded, obviously baffled about how to respond.

Rebecca broke in: «Philip, what you or Schopenhauer was saying about friends

was right on the mark for me—the truth is that I`ve had few close girlfriends. But what

about two people with similar interests and abilities? Don`t you think that friendship is

possible in that case?»

Before Philip could answer, Julius enjoined, «Our time is growing very short

today. I want to check in about how you all are feeling about our last fifteen minutes.

How are we doing here?»