Attention is milk. I mean that almost literally: Babies deprived of attention stop growing and many of them will sicken and die even if they get sufficient food and are kept dry and at comfortable temperature. (Scientifically constructed orphanages in the 20th centuries drove this point home.)
Like the mother processes food on behalf of the baby's body, she also processes nourishment for the soul. Like the baby has a rudimentary digestive tract that is made for milk, so it has a rudimentary soul digestive tract or "bootstrap loader" as we computer people call it, attuned to faces. Starting with the attention it receives, the baby begins to download the other modules of its humanity. It is long before it can process other sources of "soul food".
Unfortunately, some people are never weaned, and depend on human attention all their lives. Even though there are vast amounts of beauty, truth and virtue intruding into the world, they are unable to process it. Since depending on attention as an adult is unnatural, this dependency leads to bizarre and deviant / perverted behaviors, like trying to force attention by threats or by self-damage, or by promising sexual favors.
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