Social Metaphysical Fear
It must be emphasized that the social metaphysician's dependence on other men is not, fundamentally, material or
financial; it is deeper than any practical or tangible consideration; the material forms of parasitism and exploitation
that some men practice are merely one of its consequences.
The basic dependence of the social metaphysician is psycho-epistemological; it is a parasitism of cognition, of
judgment, of values—a wish to function within a context established by others, to live by the guidance of rules for
which one does not bear ultimate intellectual responsibility—a parasitism of consciousness.
Since the social metaphysician's pseudo-self-esteem rests on his ability to deal with the-world-as-perceived-by-
others, his fear of disapproval or condemnation is the fear of being pronounced inadequate to reality, unfit for
existence, devoid of personal worth—a verdict he hears whenever he is ''rejected."
The nonvenal, nonpractical nature of the social metaphysician's dependence is illustrated in the following example:
Consider the case of a social metaphysician who is a multimillionaire—and who is obsessively concerned with the
question of what everyone thinks of him, even his office boy. He feels driven to win the office boy's approval or
liking, he watches eagerly for any signs of a personal response, and any indication of the boy's indifference or
dislike makes him feel anxious or depressed. He finds himself being compulsively "charming" in order to win the
boy's admiration. He has nothing practical to gain from that boy's favor, neither money nor advice nor prestige nor
business advantage; in any practical, business sense, the boy is his inferior; yet the multimillionaire feels that he
must win the boy's affection. What significance, then, does the boy have for him? It is not the office boy as an
actual person that he seeks to placate or charm, but the office boy as a symbol of other people, of any other people,
of mankind at large. The implicit thought behind his compulsion is not: "This office boy is a potential provider who
will take care of me and guide me"—but: "I am acceptable to other people. People who are non-me, approve of me,
they regard me as a good human being."