The historical man is alienated from the womb of the universe, and his passionate desire to reunite with it can only take the form of the possession of dead matter. Freud saw man’s desire to be the master of his mother’s womb as a substitute for being a part of that womb. In order to be the master of the mother’s womb, he needs to become his own father, the king of a realm that includes the mother and the nurturing heaven that was once his rightful home. Man’s creation of an ego that is separate from that universe means that he must use ownership and control as a substitute for union.
Human history begins in caves.
Norman Brown
But only dead things can be owned and controlled. Living things are self-willed and violate our rules of ownership. Being absolutely deterministic is the essential requirement of property. The very act of “owning” something means that it is subject to our will and is therefore without a “will of its own.” The ego can only own dead matter as a substitute for a living universe that he longs to be a part of.
See p. 120, Being and the End of History.
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