An analysis of the concept of value is being proposed based on the work of Northrop Frye, for whom mythology, as the matrix of meaning, structures both time and space. But it will be argued that this structuring is not simply due to the myth itself, but also to a geographical condition. This hypothesis provides an opportunity to return to an economic theory which, by underscoring the use value and exchange value of objects, suggests that the advent and communication of the meaning of objects is based on spatio-temporal distancing created between objects and the subjects called upon to grasp their meaning before appropriating them or detaching themselves from the objects in question. In order to understand the nature and full extent of this distancing process, we must however go outside the area of economic theory. To do so, it is suggested that a ban on property would be at the basis of this distancing. Even outlined briefly, this idea leads to the formulation of several proposals concerning the relationship between the mythological process, language and rational thought in contemporary society.