Individuation is not only an upward but also a downward process. Without any body, there is no mind and therefore no individuation. Our civilizing potential has led us down the wrong path. All too often an American worker who owns only one car considers himself a poor devil, because his boss has two or three cars. This is symptomatic of pointless striving for material possessions. Yet, we need to project ourselves into the things around us. My self is not confined to my body. It extends into all out these things, I would not be myself; I would not be a human being, I would merely be a human ape, a primate.

*Everything surrounding me is part of me, and that is precisely why a rented apartment is disastrous. It offers so few possibilities for self-expression. In a standardized apartment, in a standardized milieu, it is easy to lose the sense of one’s own personality, of one’s individuality. A community is based on personal relationships. No community can evolve where people can...

The bonfire represents humanity's earliest form of spatial congregation, driven by a shared aspiration or purpose.