Humanistic Psychology has the basic premise that we are born as pure and loving organisms (unlike many religious views that we are born evil). As pure and loving beings, appreciating closeness, nurturing and contact (no mammal species survive without it), we are on our way at birth to receive and give love and appreciation. This natural loving ability is also a means to heal and relate to others and to develop ourselves as powerful, creative and spontaneous. In the past, we were told we were born evil, and needed to have that evil removed from us through schooling, home life and through parental and teacher relationships. This oppression causes us to bottle up our true emotions, and we do not utter our real thoughts which are obstructed and suppressed rather than release them appropriately, whilst respecting and caring for others and understanding that they have suffered abuse under this misguided belief.
