[الإنسان] هو الكائن الوحيد الذي يعيش خارج ذاته، ودافعه في الأشياء الخارجية: الملكية والبيوت والمال ومفاهيم القوة. يعيش في مدنه ومصانعه، وفي تجارته ووظيفته وفنه. لكنه إذ أسقط ذاته على هذه التعقيدات الخارجية، صار هو نفسه. بيتُه وسيارته جزءٌ منه، بل جزءٌ كبيرٌ منه. وقد أثبت ذلك ما يعرفه الأطباء، وهو أن الرجل إذا فقد ممتلكاته كان من أشيع نتائج ذلك العجزُ الجنسي.

“[Man] is the only animal who lives outside of himself, whose drive is in external things—property, houses, money, concepts of power. He lives in his cities and his factories, in his business and job and art. But having projected himself into these external complexities, he is them. His house, his automobile are a part of him and a large part of him. This is beautifully demonstrated by a thing doctors know—that when a man loses his possessions a very common result is sexual impotence.”John Steinbeck — The Log from the Sea of Cortez (1995)