"the protean self seeks to be both fluid and grounded, however tenuous that combination. there is nothing automatic about the enterprise, no "greening of the self," but rather a continous effort without clear termination. proteanism, then, is a balancing act between responsive shapeshifting, on the one hand, and efforts to consolidate and cohere, on the other.

"the protean self represents an alternative to violence. violence always has an absolute quality: behavior is reduced to a single, narrow focus; and in that sense, violence is a dead end...

"there is a trajectory, never automatic but always possible, from the protean self to the species self: to the formation of a sense of self based significantly upon one's connection to humankind. here as elsewhere, proteanism provides no panacea for grave human problems. what it does offer is a potential for change and renewal, for tapping human resiliency."

(TPS; Human Resilience in an Age of Fragmentation, Robert Jay Lifton)