Humans Do Not Own Themselves

The concept of human autonomy within society is beginning to seem like willful self-deception to me.

The self in society depends on others, it owes its character and self-image to others, and it relies on gifts from others to meet its needs.

And, by its very embodied presence, as well as its every word, gesture, and action, the self causes experiences that constantly affect other selves.

It’s greedy to take all that for granted and then say, “I am my own person,” isn’t it? It’s not even just greedy; it’s demonstrably untrue. And think about what that means for notions of property, ownership, authorship, originality, and so on!

[A train of thought that left the station while reading Sacred Economics by Charles Eisenstein]