While Mr. Branden never put it in these terms, I think the following is the best definition I've heard of how we profane the realm of psyches (our own and others): "the fulfillment and enjoyment of [man's] life, depends upon the successful integration of thought, feeling, and action. When that inegration is broken - when thought, feeling and action are split off from one another, to operate in separate vacuums so to speak - the result is disaster to the organism. One of the forms of that disaster is an impoverished sense of self. Any normal human faculty is susceptible to a perversion of its proper function by a person wishing to avoid confrontation with some frightening or painful aspect of reality. And this applies to thought, feeling and action. Thinking can become that form of counterfeit reasoning known as "rationalizing"; or it can become "intellectualizing," a flight into abstractions that have no meaningful relevance, or no experienced relevance, to the issues one is considering, which is a perversion of the purpose of thought. Feeling can become...a blind clutching to one or two emotions on the top layer of conscienceness, intended to blot out not only thought but also knowledge of the rest of one's emotions - which is a perversion of one's capacity to feel. ...Action can become...an anxious flight from contact with one's inner world, with one's thoughts or one's feelings - which is a perversion of function of action." pp. 4-5