ABSTRACT
Democracy always involves multiple people, on a smaller scale in a family or a classroom, or on a wider scale— a country, a continent, or all of us together, including our ecological environment. People are not independent of each other, we do not exist in our own bubble, but we are all part of something that is larger than us. Other people are even within others, they contribute to the constellation of who they are. The other, or others, in ourselves function as I-positions. In a democracy, it is vital that we work together. That requires that we open ourselves up to other people, to admit opposition and to enter into a dialogue with other people, even if they disagree with us. But when those other individuals are also represented in ourselves, then we can admit this opposition also in ourselves, and use it for the development of meaningful relations with others and ourselves.
