I was thinking of the sense of individualist anarchists (and Thoreau, perhaps), and of hermits. I don't think vanity would figure into that :)

Thoreau was who came to mind, and since I'm trying to live a Thoreauvian life, I try to keep the praise thereof in check, since it easily veers into vanity. :)

Not of an outer design, no, but it might be possible to focus on those parts of oneself that is conducive to dealing with society. If one has a weak point, one might still be able to train it, as it were.

Hmm, I still have to object. A transformation is more than just a training regimen, in that it affects one's entire self, or nearly that much. You can't have one superego-like part that stands off to the side and dictates how the rest changes. In the physical counterpart, a partial transformation wouldn't produce a new, viable creature, but instead a chimera. A partial transformation is a failed transformation.

*grins* Oh, and have a Thoreau quote about the sort of experience I mean: "Our moulting period must be a crisis in our lives. The loon retires to solitary ponds to spend it."

I wouldn't call that realignment, either. If one forces oneself into humanity despite not feeling it as right, there's a tension. If the realignment was proper and actually worked, there would be no (or little) tension, and so it isn't.

I don't think I know enough about this realignment to say what is or is not proper, or what does and does not count as real realignment. :P