In order to belong with others, the social metaphysician is willing to belong to them. Since, however, he is seeking
a manner of survival improper to man by nature, since the intellectual sovereignty he has surrendered is an essential
of mental health and self-esteem, he condemns himself to chronic insecurity, and to a fear of other men that is
profoundly humiliating. The humiliation he endures—the sense of living under blackmail, in effect—is one of the
most painful aspects of his plight.
The nature of his humiliation and fear, however, are seldom identified by him—because he would find it too
degrading. Most often, he seeks to protect his pseudo-self-esteem by evading the humiliation and rationalizing the
fear; he commonly attempts to justify his fear by an appeal to allegedly "practical" considerations, asserting that his
fear is an appropriate response to an actual danger. This is one of the most prevalently used devices by which men
seek to conceal their dread of independence and their moral cowardice.
The following examples illustrate this practice in various representative areas of life. They illustrate the manner in
which men, prompted by a fear they dare not acknowledge and so cannot overcome, invent nonexistent dangers or
grossly exaggerate minor ones, betray their own minds, sell out whatever authentic rationality they possess,
contribute to the spread of values inimical to their own—and acquire a vested interest in believing that men are
unavoidably evil, that human existence is evil, that the good has no chance on earth.
Consider the case of a professor of philosophy who is an atheist. He knows that the arguments for the existence of a
God are thoroughly indefensible, he regards the notion of a supernatural being as irrational and destructive, he
despises mysticism and considers himself an advocate of reason. Bu he evades the issue of atheism versus theism in
his books and lectures, refuses to commit himself on the subject publicly, and, every Sunday, attends church with
his parents and relatives.
He does not tell himself that his motive is fear, that he is terrified to stand alone against his family, friends, and
colleagues, that violent arguments of any kind make him panicky—and that he desperately wants to feel
"accepted." Instead, he tells himself that if