Deborah Luepnitz, Schopenhauer's Porcupines: Intimacy And Its Dilemmas

Freud's Bronze Porcupine

"A troop of porcupines is milling about on a cold winter’s day. In order to keep from freezing, the animals move closer together. Just as they are close enough to huddle, however, they start to poke each other with their quills. In order to stop the pain, they spread out, lose the advantage of commingling, and again begin to shiver. This sends them back in search of each other, and the cycle repeats as they struggle to find a comfortable distance between entanglement and freezing." [More about The Porcupine Illusion]