The
process by means of which human beings arbitrarily make certain things stand for
other things many be called the symbolic process. Everywhere we
turn, we see the symbolic process at work. There are {{U}} {{U}} 1
{{/U}} {{/U}}things men do or want to do, possess or want to possess, that
have not a symbolic value. Almost all fashionable clothes are
{{U}} {{U}} 2 {{/U}} {{/U}}symbolic, so is food. We {{U}}
{{U}} 3 {{/U}} {{/U}}our furniture to serve {{U}} {{U}}
4 {{/U}} {{/U}}visible symbols of our taste, wealth, and social
position. We often choose our houses {{U}} {{U}} 5 {{/U}}
{{/U}}the basis of a feeling that it "looks well" to have a "good address." We
trade perfectly good cars in for {{U}} {{U}} 6 {{/U}}
{{/U}}models not always to get better transportation, but to give {{U}}
{{U}} 7 {{/U}} {{/U}}to the community that we can {{U}}
{{U}} 8 {{/U}} {{/U}}it. Such complicated and
apparently. {{U}} {{U}} 9 {{/U}} {{/U}}behavior leads
philosophers to ask over and over again, "why can't human beings {{U}}
{{U}} 10 {{/U}} {{/U}}simply and naturally." Often the complexity of
human life makes us look enviously at the relative {{U}} {{U}} 11
{{/U}} {{/U}}of such live as dogs and cats. Simply, the fact that symbolic
process makes complexity possible is no {{U}} {{U}} 12 {{/U}}
{{/U}}for wanting to {{U}} {{U}} 13 {{/U}} {{/U}}to a cat and to a
cat-and-dog existence. A better solution is to understand the symbolic process
{{U}} {{U}} 14 {{/U}} {{/U}}instead of being its slaves we
become, to some degree at least, its {{U}} {{U}} 15 {{/U}}
{{/U}}.