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carnation7's review
3.0
Seems to me that Fromm makes some fairly obvious points on human nature, albeit in a concise, appealing manner. It felt nice seeing them all in one place.
He also calls for a necessary and urgent change in the way societies function and approach living - a sort of all-encompassing "change from within" which in 2021 still sounds as impossible and intimidatingly far-fetched as it did in 1976, when this book came out.
Strangely, what comforts me is that the nuclear/ecological catastrophe he considered inevitable in the 1970s still hasn't occurred. The world of today is not as bleak as he assumed the world of tomorrow would be.
It gives me hope that the humanity might be able to survive itself in the long run. :)
This hopeful observation, of course, does not invalidate the points he makes and the actions he suggests would improve on humanity. It's just that - they really do sound nearly impossible.
And they are impossible as long as we aim at imposing them on others.
They might be just nearly, barely possible - if we give them a go ourselves.
So, whoopty doopty doo, I'm off to change the world.
P.S.
I found his linguistic observations interesting. Fromm points out the all-pervasive presence of the verb to have in the language. We have friends, children, spouses, we have a good lawyer or a doctor's appointment, we have feelings for other people...
No, we haven't. But our collective unconscious seems to suggest otherwise...?
Anyway, an interesting personal observation is that the auxiliary verbs in the English, Italian and German - imperialistic languages I'm somewhat familiar with - are: to be and to have (avere/essere, essen/haben).
Whereas the auxiliary verbs in my mother tongue of Croatian, and other South Slavic languages, are: biti (to be) and htjeti (to want).
Huh. :P
He also calls for a necessary and urgent change in the way societies function and approach living - a sort of all-encompassing "change from within" which in 2021 still sounds as impossible and intimidatingly far-fetched as it did in 1976, when this book came out.
Strangely, what comforts me is that the nuclear/ecological catastrophe he considered inevitable in the 1970s still hasn't occurred. The world of today is not as bleak as he assumed the world of tomorrow would be.
It gives me hope that the humanity might be able to survive itself in the long run. :)
This hopeful observation, of course, does not invalidate the points he makes and the actions he suggests would improve on humanity. It's just that - they really do sound nearly impossible.
And they are impossible as long as we aim at imposing them on others.
They might be just nearly, barely possible - if we give them a go ourselves.
So, whoopty doopty doo, I'm off to change the world.
P.S.
I found his linguistic observations interesting. Fromm points out the all-pervasive presence of the verb to have in the language. We have friends, children, spouses, we have a good lawyer or a doctor's appointment, we have feelings for other people...
No, we haven't. But our collective unconscious seems to suggest otherwise...?
Anyway, an interesting personal observation is that the auxiliary verbs in the English, Italian and German - imperialistic languages I'm somewhat familiar with - are: to be and to have (avere/essere, essen/haben).
Whereas the auxiliary verbs in my mother tongue of Croatian, and other South Slavic languages, are: biti (to be) and htjeti (to want).
Huh. :P
lxmn_s's review
2.0
honestly, it comes off as a stranger version of freud's life and death impulses. there are some interesting philosophical takes here but on the whole it seems like a "right vs left brain" type of conversation and attempting to apply that to politics seems foolish. however fromm's writing style is pretty good and his other work seems interesting.
tanvika's review
5.0
Classic introduction on an important question: how to live?
I particularly, like the way Fromm tears slowly and gradually our commonsensical beliefs. Be it, the views on love or sanity or living itself. He firstly presents the widely accepted belief of having in the modern society.
Having means the belief that the our relation is with an object. A having person derives meaning in life by possessing and accumulating products, ideologies, other people. This way of living is fairly common. Visibly, terrorists, nationalistic fanatics, middle classes, addicts. One identifies with the object to seek completion of the void within. The most dangerous consequence of this mode is that the person is caught in a loop of passive fulfillment by frequent stimulations like soma, sports in BNW. Rising anxiety and stress to secure these objects results in suspicion and isolation from other fellows. Fear of death follows as it will break the illusion of permanence with the object. Caught in distractions, there is little time to pay attention to the manipulations by leaders and companies. My thoughts over this mode is that it is building on the hypothesis that humans are greedy. They can be incentivized by lollipop of money and status endlessly on the basis of a rat race. I think this hypothesis can easily be disproved. Even rich and successful people face severe depression and can harm themselves. Buddha, being well off, gave it up to free the world from suffering. There are empathetic qualities in humans like helping others during tsunami, raising voice against injustices like apartheid etc. I think most of the people are indoctrinated to pursue the path of excessive materialism. This is done by parents initially because they equate it with happiness. The other institutions like school, media, company etc also promote this mindset because of their vested interest.
The other alternative considered by Fromm is the being mode. It is a state of activity. Here he presents a important distinction between busyness and being active. Being busy, is passive engagement with what one is doing. I was reminded of the truckloads of boring assignments I have to write in University. While, being active is a active involvement with what one is doing. It can be reading a nature poem, enjoying the rustling leaves. It is like being in the flow- doing effortlessly. In being, there is joy of enjoying world, without possession.like music, without buying the CD. There is a fulfillment in quality living over quantity. Critical thinking along with love and empathy are important in this mode. I am miles away from this way. Undoubtedly, a change from exploiting to caring, blind obedience to critical thinking, from anxiety to calmness will do the world much good. The Noble path is dealt by Fromm in the book - art of being.
Fromm does refer to work of many spiritual teachers like Buddha, meister Eckhart, Jesus.
A background in it, would come handy to understand his works. His distinction of modes derives a lot from marx's theory of alienation. On Freud, I can't say much because I haven't read his work.
Looking forward to more of his works. It did help me explain my cognitive dissonance and bouts of insanity with the present society.
I particularly, like the way Fromm tears slowly and gradually our commonsensical beliefs. Be it, the views on love or sanity or living itself. He firstly presents the widely accepted belief of having in the modern society.
Having means the belief that the our relation is with an object. A having person derives meaning in life by possessing and accumulating products, ideologies, other people. This way of living is fairly common. Visibly, terrorists, nationalistic fanatics, middle classes, addicts. One identifies with the object to seek completion of the void within. The most dangerous consequence of this mode is that the person is caught in a loop of passive fulfillment by frequent stimulations like soma, sports in BNW. Rising anxiety and stress to secure these objects results in suspicion and isolation from other fellows. Fear of death follows as it will break the illusion of permanence with the object. Caught in distractions, there is little time to pay attention to the manipulations by leaders and companies. My thoughts over this mode is that it is building on the hypothesis that humans are greedy. They can be incentivized by lollipop of money and status endlessly on the basis of a rat race. I think this hypothesis can easily be disproved. Even rich and successful people face severe depression and can harm themselves. Buddha, being well off, gave it up to free the world from suffering. There are empathetic qualities in humans like helping others during tsunami, raising voice against injustices like apartheid etc. I think most of the people are indoctrinated to pursue the path of excessive materialism. This is done by parents initially because they equate it with happiness. The other institutions like school, media, company etc also promote this mindset because of their vested interest.
The other alternative considered by Fromm is the being mode. It is a state of activity. Here he presents a important distinction between busyness and being active. Being busy, is passive engagement with what one is doing. I was reminded of the truckloads of boring assignments I have to write in University. While, being active is a active involvement with what one is doing. It can be reading a nature poem, enjoying the rustling leaves. It is like being in the flow- doing effortlessly. In being, there is joy of enjoying world, without possession.like music, without buying the CD. There is a fulfillment in quality living over quantity. Critical thinking along with love and empathy are important in this mode. I am miles away from this way. Undoubtedly, a change from exploiting to caring, blind obedience to critical thinking, from anxiety to calmness will do the world much good. The Noble path is dealt by Fromm in the book - art of being.
Fromm does refer to work of many spiritual teachers like Buddha, meister Eckhart, Jesus.
A background in it, would come handy to understand his works. His distinction of modes derives a lot from marx's theory of alienation. On Freud, I can't say much because I haven't read his work.
Looking forward to more of his works. It did help me explain my cognitive dissonance and bouts of insanity with the present society.
valkyriejmu's review
5.0
I could feel my life change while reading this. My copy, which was used in the first place, is now well underlined, dog-eared and full of post-its for easy reference.
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