That’s a fair point, @DurwinFoster.
@sue brought up Gebser. It seems the alienated consumer self is an expression what Gebser calls the “mental structure of consciousness”—gone awry—as it becomes dissociated from its “archaic,” “magic,” and “mythical” roots, leaving a void where outside manipulators can enter into the psyche and exert power.
It also suggests, it seems to me, that through reclaiming these dimensions of self, one can counteract the power of the “deficient mental” (as Gebser put it) and its various absurdities and atrocities. The ability for individuals to achieve this reclamation (in part, through becoming “willing to feel”), and for a culture to support this kind of vertical integration, could be another import aspect of a “secure” style community.