But how does he defend himself against the superior forces of nature, of fate, which threaten him like everyone else? Culture does the job for him; it does it for everyone in the same way; in fact, remarkably, more or less all cultural are alike in this. For instance, culture does not cease to operate once it has performed its task of defending the individual human against nature; it simply continues that task by other means. In this case, the task is a multiple one: man’s badly threatened self-esteem craves consolation, the world and life need to lose their terror, and at the same time
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