In preceding chapters we have tried to unravel the ways in which the self develops through transaction with the symbolic environment of the home. The objects that constitute this environment help to channel their owners' psychic energy toward goals that give meaning to life. Some of these goals appear to be limited to satisfying a person's needs; some include the well-being of others, some aim toward wider patterns of harmony. It is now time to view this process of cultivation more closely, in order to attempt to provide a context for individual development within the history of the human species. Only from this broader perspective can we evaluate the significance of symbolization and assess the various goals that men and women create to direct their lives.

Throughout the millions of years of the evolution of life on our planet, the various species of bacteria, plants, and animals have struggled to create their form and to maintain it through time. To do so they had to capture energy from the environment – sunlight, chemicals, the fibers and flesh of other living things – and to use it to shape matter according to the blueprint contained in their genes. Thus the basic sources of energy were transformed into tens of thousands of differentiated life forms, each attempting to impose and retain its own form of order.

One of the reasons that the Earth has supported such a variety of life forms has been the fact that none of them have been able to gain an advantage over others in this process of transformation.