The Art of Being

Rating:
Summary: In search of your 'self'
Review: Erich Fromm has spent many years studying the corners of our human psyche. We go to school to learn biology, chemistry, physics, economics but we do not take any courses on how to live.

Mr. Fromm has made an intense effort to help us realize that we are who we want to be. There is a genetic structure that leads everyone of us in their own direction. However, nature is only one of the forces behind our development. As we become aware of who we are - our fears, strengths and weaknesses, we begin to understand how little we know about ourselves.

Looking inside is a wonderful way to begin seeing the world around us. Erich Fromm is allowing us to become more comfortable with who we are, where we are, and where we want to go!

Enjoy the book and the River of Life!

Rating:
Summary: Adventures in being.
Review: Meister Eckart once asked, "How can anyone live without being instructed in the art of living and dying?" Examining what it means to truly live, psychologist and social philosopher, Eric Fromm (1900-80) drafted the manuscript of this book as a supplement and expansion to his book, TO HAVE OR TO BE. This book, which is somewhat uneven, is not so much a how-to book on how to live life more meaningfully, but an insightful exploration into the theories of escaping the "shackles" of greed and illusion that prevent us from realizing our full potentials for self-awareness, well being, independence, and the capacity to love.

The "average man today," Fromm observes, thinks very little for himself, and his capacity to concentrate has become "a rarity" (pp. 44, 89). We are a composite of data presented by schools and mass media, and we know very little from our own observations and thinking. We live our lives by the political, idealogical, and religious cliches that appeal most to our character and social class. Fromm encourages his reader to avoid the false paths ("shams") in the field of human enlightenment, and to also avoid "trivial talk." Instead, we should pursue self-awareness through the difficult practices of concentration, meditation, psychoanalysis, and breaking through the consumer/property structure of our existence.

G. Merritt

Rating:
Summary: Adventures in being.
Review: Meister Eckart once asked, "How can anyone live without being instructed in the art of living and dying?" Examining what it means to truly live, psychologist and social philosopher, Eric Fromm (1900-80) drafted the manuscript of this book as a supplement and expansion to his book, TO HAVE OR TO BE. This book, which is somewhat uneven, is not so much a how-to book on how to live life more meaningfully, but an insightful exploration into the theories of escaping the "shackles" of greed and illusion that prevent us from realizing our full potentials for self-awareness, well being, independence, and the capacity to love.

The "average man today," Fromm observes, thinks very little for himself, and his capacity to concentrate has become "a rarity" (pp. 44, 89). We are a composite of data presented by schools and mass media, and we know very little from our own observations and thinking. We live our lives by the political, idealogical, and religious cliches that appeal most to our character and social class. Fromm encourages his reader to avoid the false paths ("shams") in the field of human enlightenment, and to also avoid "trivial talk." Instead, we should pursue self-awareness through the difficult practices of concentration, meditation, psychoanalysis, and breaking through the consumer/property structure of our existence.

G. Merritt

Rating:
Summary: Another book for life
Review: This book is an expansion of his book entitled "To Have or to Be". One should not read one without the other. Highly recommend both,as an insight into the art of trying to function in this life as a whole, real person in this consumer driven world.

Rating:
Summary: Another book for life
Review: This book is an expansion of his book entitled "To Have or to Be". One should not read one without the other. Highly recommend both,as an insight into the art of trying to function in this life as a whole, real person in this consumer driven world.