THE SIGNIFICANCE OF DOUBLING AND ROLE REVERSAL FOR COSMIC MAN

Abstract

Marx postulated the economic man, Freud the psychological man, Moreno the cosmic man. Man's cosmic nature is evident at his birth. Of this, motherhood brings its own intimation. One of the most potent experiences of the mother (and of the father, in role reversing with his mate) when she first sees and holds her newborn child is of great wonder, awe, a sense that this is a gift, this child, an inheritance, that she could not possibly have produced it, that there are forces at work which have caused this to come into being, over
and beyond the biological. It is as if this child is "loaned" to the parents by the cosmos for a certain period of time, eventually to be returned to it when an adult. The mystery of this is overwhelming, rarely completely grasped.