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Abstract
Like most tragic losses, the events surrounding the terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001, initiated a quest for meaning, to which the thoughtful essays in this issue of The Humanistic Psychologist are a partial response. In this capstone commentary, I integrate key themes in the articles bearing on experience and explanation, trauma and transcendence, and constructivism as corrective to some of the underlying psychological dynamics contributing to the violent assertion of one group's perspective against another. I also attempt to extend the predominantly individualistic formulations put forth by the authors by underscoring the importance of the social construction of identities, and reflect on the validating function of “positioning” the other in such a way that aggression is morally justified.