ABSTRACT
D. W. Winnicott places the experience of “being” with the female element—and he also states that, at the heart of being, culture is located. Being belongs to the true self and the inherited potential. Being is linked with unintegration, which is the precursor of the ability to relax and enjoy. The ability to "be" derives from the experience of a holding environment at the very start. Early on, Winnicott describes the state of “being” as a state of unintegration and describes what he means in some notes written in 1948, in preparation for a talk. From the sense-of-being and being-seen emerges a space in which to dream and to play. The infant depends on being seen by mother in order to feel alive. Looking and being seen are the focus of primary identification. From the sense-of-being and being-seen emerges a space in which to dream and to play.
