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715b59c
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There is no word in our language which has been so much misused and prostituted as the word . It has been preached by those who were ready to condone every cruelty if it served their purpose; it has been used as a disguise under which to force people into sacrificing their own happiness, into submitting their whole self to those who profited from this surrender. [...] It has been made so empty that for many people love may mean no more tha..
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meaning
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Erich Fromm |
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9d3a5a5
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Love is possible only if two persons communicate with each other from the center of their existence, hence if each one of them experiences himself from the center of his existence. Only in this "central experience" is human reality, only here is aliveness, only here is the basis for love. Love, experienced thus, is a constant challenge; it is not a resting place, but a moving, growing, working together; even whether there is harmony or conf..
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Erich Fromm |
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92837ca
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We forget that, although each of the liberties which have been won must be defended with utmost vigour, the problem of freedom is not only a quantitative one, but a qualitative one; that we not only have to preserve and increase the traditional freedom, but that we have to gain a new kind of freedom, one which enables us to realize our own individual self; to have faith in this self and in life.
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Erich Fromm |
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862463d
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n hm mjl ll`T lys hw mjl l'shy lmdy@, bl hw lmjl ldhy ykmn fy l`lm lnsny bSf@ khS@. fmdh y`Ty lnsn llakhr ? nh y`Ty mn nfsh, mn 'thmn m ymlk, nh y`Ty Hyth. wlys hdh y`ny blDrwr@ nh yDHy bHyth llakhr-bl nh y`ny nh y`Tyh mn dhlk lshy lHy fyh, nh y`Tyh mn frHh, mn shGfh, mn fhmh, mn `lmh, mn mrHh, mn Hznh- mn kl lt`byr wltjlyt ldhlk lshy lHy ldhy fyh. whkdh b`Ty'h mn Hyth nm ythry lshkhS lakhr blHy@ wdhlk bt`zyzh lsh`wrh hw blHy@. nh l y`Ty lk..
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Erich Fromm |
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548ee86
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Modern man lives under the illusion that he knows 'what he wants,' while he actually wants what he is supposed to want. In order to accept this it is necessary to realize that to know what one really wants is not comparatively easy, as most people think, but one of the most difficult problems any human being has to solve. It is a task we frantically try to avoid by accepting ready-made goals as though they were our own.
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freedom
wants
will
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Erich Fromm |
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c309c1a
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Wenn ich zu einem anderen sagen kann: "Ich liebe dich", muss ich auch sagen konnen: "Ich liebe in dir auch alle anderen, ich liebe durch dich die ganze Welt, ich liebe in dir auch mich selbst."
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Erich Fromm |
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528383d
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Human beings had two basic orientations: HAVING and BEING
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possession
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Erich Fromm |
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8ae3df3
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When Fascism came into power, most people were unprepared, both theoretically and practically. They were unable to believe that man could exhibit such propensities for evil, such lust for power, such disregard for the rights of the weak, or such yearning for submission. Only a few had been aware of the rumbling of the volcano preceding the outbreak.
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Erich Fromm |
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e547368
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Escape from Freedom attempts to show, modern man still is anxious and tempted to surrender his freedom to dictators of all kinds, or to lose it by transforming himself into a small cog in the machine, well fed, and well clothed, yet not a free man but an automaton.
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Erich Fromm |
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62132ec
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Freedom to creat and construct, to wonder and to venture. Such freedom requires that the individual be active and responsible, not a slave or a well-fed cog in the machine . . . It is not enough that men are not slaves; if social conditions further the existence of automatons, the result will not be love of life, but love of death.
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Erich Fromm |
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44c71da
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If faith cannot be reconciled with rational thinking, it has to be eliminated as an anachronistic remnant of earlier stages of culture and replaced by science dealing with facts and theories which are intelligible and can be validated.
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Erich Fromm |
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578b13d
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I think that the word does not get the attention it deserves. We speak of all sorts of terrible things that happen to people, but we rarely speak about one of the most terrible things of all : that is, being bored, being bored alone and, worse than that, being bored together.
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psychology
society
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Erich Fromm |
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0326c93
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Love is a power which produces love.
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amour
love
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Erich Fromm |
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cfcee2f
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If I am what I have and if what I have is lost, who then am I? Nobody but a defeated, deflated, pathetic testimony to a wrong way of living.
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Erich Fromm |
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684857d
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A person who has not been completely alienated, who has remained sensitive and able to feel, who has not lost the sense of dignity, who is not yet "for sale," who can still suffer over the suffering of others, who has not acquired fully the having mode of existence--briefly, a person who has remained a person and not become a thing--cannot help feeling lonely, powerless, isolated in present-day society." --
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Erich Fromm |
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e9b3d86
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Today the lack of faith is an expression of profound confusion and despair. Once skepticism and rationalism were progressive forces for the development of thought; now they have become rationalizations for relativism and uncertainty.
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skepticism
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Erich Fromm |
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10f1bf2
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The task of the moral philosopher-thinker is to support and strengthen the voice of human conscience, to recognize what is good or what is bad for people, whether they are good or bad for society in a period of evolution. May be a "voice crying in the wilderness", but only if that voice remains lively and uncompromising, it is possible to transform the desert into fertile land."
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moral
philosopher
support
task
transform
uncompromising
voice
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Erich Fromm |
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d24a81c
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You do many things at once; you read, listen to the radio, talk, smoke, eat, drink. You are the consumer with the open mouth, eager and ready to swallow everything--pictures, liquor, knowledge. This lack of concentration is clearly shown in our difficulty in being alone with ourselves. To sit still, without talking, smoking, reading, drinking, is impossible for most people. They become nervous and fidgety, and must do something with their m..
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Erich Fromm |
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6d3c27d
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If I perceive in another person mainly the surface, I perceive mainly the differences,that which separates us. If I penetrate to the core, i perceive our identity, the fact of our brotherhood. This relatedness from center to center - instead of that from periphery to periphery - is 'central relatedness'.
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Erich Fromm |
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c74330c
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I want the loved person to grow and unfold for his own sake, and in his own ways, and not for the purpose of serving me. If
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Erich Fromm |
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11d8b97
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Perhaps most trivial talk is a need to talk about oneself; hence, the never-ending subject of health and sickness, children, travel, successes, what one did, and the innumerable daily things that seem to be important. Since one cannot talk about oneself all the time without being thought a bore, one must exchange the privilege by a readiness to listen to others talking about themselves. Private social meetings between individuals (and often..
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Erich Fromm |
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b2388f6
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To be fully awake is the condition for not being bored, or being boring--and indeed, not to be bored or boring is one of the main conditions for loving. To be active in thought, feeling, with one's eyes and ears, throughout the day, to avoid inner laziness, be it in the form of being receptive, hoarding, or plain wasting one's time, is an indispensable condition for the practice of the art of loving.
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Erich Fromm |
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b91c95b
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If one is not productive in other spheres, one is not productive in the love either.
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Erich Fromm |
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4817cd6
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Man represses the irrational passions of destructiveness, hate, envy, revenge; he worships power, money, the sovereign state, the nation; while he pays lip service to the teachings of the great spiritual leaders of the human race, those of Buddha, the prophets, Socrates, Jesus, Mohammed--he has transformed these teachings into a jungle of superstition and idol-worship. How can mankind save itself from destroying itself by this discrepancy b..
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Erich Fromm |
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c7ccba2
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Love is the active concern for the life and the growth of that which we love.
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Erich Fromm |
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7b5f6f1
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Among the many forms of alienation, the most frequent one is alienation in language. If I express a feeling with a word, let us say, if I say "I love you," the word is meant to be an indication of the reality which exists within myself, the power of my loving. The word "love" is meant to be a symbol of the fact love, but as soon as it is spoken it tends to assume a life of its own, it becomes a reality. I am under the illusion that the sayi..
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Erich Fromm |
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a2344ae
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t`tmd qw@ mwq` lnsn fy lHy@ `l~ drj@ kf@ drkh llwq`, wklm nqSt kfy'th yzdd tshwshh wbltly ytnm~ sh`wrh b`dm l'mn, fySbH bHj@ l~ 'whm ytky' `lyh lyjd lmn ldhy ynshdh. wklm zddt kfy'th tzdd mknyth fy lwqwf `l~ qdmyh wyjd jwhrh dkhl dhth.
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Erich Fromm |
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4f5625d
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The source of irrational authority, on the other hand, is always power over people. This power can be physical or mental, it can be realistic or only relative in terms of the anxiety and helplessness of the person submitting to this authority. Power on the one side, fear on the other, are always the buttresses on which irrational authority is built. Criticism of the authority is not only required but forbidden. Rational authority is based u..
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Erich Fromm |
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982a970
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In addition to conformity as a way to relieve the anxiety springing from separateness, another factor of contemporary life must be considered: the role of the work routine and the pleasure routine. Man becomes a 'nine to fiver', he is part of the labour force, or the bureaucratic force of clerks and managers. He has little initiative, his tasks are prescribed by the organisation of the work; there is even little difference between those hig..
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individuality
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Erich Fromm |
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8c8fcb0
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The failure of modern culture lies not in its principle of individualism, not in the idea that moral virtue is the same as the pursuit of self-interest, but in the deterioration of the meaning of self-interest; not in the fact that people are too much concerned with their self-interest, but that they are not concerned enough with the interest of their real self; not in the fact that they are too selfish, but that they do not love themselves..
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Erich Fromm |
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db7a666
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Indeed, freedom and the capacity for disobedience are inseparable; hence any social, political, and religious system which proclaims freedom, yet stamps out disobedience, cannot speak the truth.
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freedom
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Erich Fromm |
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12590a7
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Reason is man's faculty for grasping the world by thought, in contradiction to intelligence, which is man's ability to manipulate the world with the help of thought. Reason is man's instrument for arriving at the truth, intelligence is man's instrument for manipulating the world more successfully; the former is essentially human, the latter belongs to the animal part of man.
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Erich Fromm |
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13658dd
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The person who is normal in terms of being well adapted is often less healthy than the neurotic person in terms of human values. Often he is well adapted only at the expense of having given up his self in order to become more or less the person he believes he is expected to be.
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Erich Fromm |
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47b5893
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Most people are convinced that as long as they are not overtly forced to do something by an outside power, their decisions are theirs, and that if they want something, it is they who want it. But this is one of the great illusions we have about ourselves. A great number of our decisions are not really our own but are suggested to us from the outside; we have succeeded in persuading ourselves that it is we who have made the decision, whereas..
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Erich Fromm |
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8f99386
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What kind of men, then, does our society need? What is the "social character" suited to twentieth century Capitalism? It needs men who co-operate smoothly in large groups; who want to consume more and more, and whose tasks are standardized and can easily be influenced and anticipated. It needs men who feel free and independent, not subject to any authority, or principle, or conscience - yet willing to be commanded, to do what is expected, t..
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conformity
groupthink
herd-mentality
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Erich Fromm |
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5574334
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The "pathology of normalcy" rarely deteriorates to graver forms of mental illness because society produces the antidote against such deterioration. When pathological processes become socially patterned, they lose their individual character. On the contrary, the sick individual finds himself at home with all other similarly sick individuals. The whole culture is geared to this kind of pathology and arranged the means to give satisfactions wh..
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individual
individualism
insanity
originality
pathology
sanity
society
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Erich Fromm |
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66f1016
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What holds true for the individual holds true for a society. It is never static; if it does not grow, it decays; if it does not transcend the status quo for the better, it changes for the worse. Often we, the individual or the people who make up a society, have the illusion we could stand still and not alter the given situation in the one or the other direction. This is one of the most dangerous illusions. The moment we stand still, we begi..
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evolution
humanity
humanity-and-society
individual
society
stagnation
transformation
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Erich Fromm |
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8b502e6
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Rationalizing is not a tool for penetration of reality but a post-factum attempt to harmonize one's own wishes with existing reality.
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Erich Fromm |
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fb7e52e
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the lust for power is not rooted in strength but in weakness. It is the expression of the inability of the individual self to stand alone and live. It is the desperate attempt to gain secondary strength where genuine strength is lacking. The word power has a twofold meaning. One is the possession of power over somebody, the ability to dominate him; the other meaning is the possession of power to do something, to be able, to be potent. The l..
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Erich Fromm |
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c259d16
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Man does not suffer so much from poverty today as he suffers from the fact that he has become a cog in a large machine, an automaton, that his life has become empty and lost its meaning.
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Erich Fromm |
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b6da0c5
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Also in contemporary Western society the union with the group is the prevalent way of overcoming separateness. It is a union which the individual self disappears to a large extent, and where the aim is to belong to the heard. If I am like everybody else, if I have no feeling or thoughts which make me different, if I conform in custom, dress, ideas, to the pattern of the group, I am saved: saved from the frightening experience of aloneness.
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Erich Fromm |
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a115bb2
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Ethical principles stand above the existence of the nation and that by adhering to these principles an individual belongs to the community of all those who share, who have shared, and who will share this belief.
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freedom
nazism
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Erich Fromm |
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0f83d65
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Frequently, and not only in the popular usage, sadomasochism is confounded with love. Masochistic phenomena, especially, are looked upon as expressions of love. An attitude of complete self-denial for the sake of another person and the surrender of one's own rights and claims to another person have been praised as examples of "great love". It seems that there is no better proof for "love" than sacrifice and the readiness to give oneself up ..
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no-greater-love
sacrifice
sadomasochism
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Erich Fromm |
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ba1127e
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Well-being is the state of having arrived at the full development of reason: reason not in the sense of a merely intellectual judgment, but in that of grasping truth by "letting things be" (to use Heidegger's term) as they are. Well-being is possible only to the degree to which one has overcome one's narcissism; to the degree to which one is open, responsive, sensitive, awake, empty (in the Zen sense). Well-being means to be fully related t..
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Erich Fromm |