The Art of Being

by Erich Fromm

But what they have in common is the character of a whim.

The general criterion of a whim is that it responds to the question “Why not?” and not to the question “Why?”

not?” This “Why not?” implies that one does something simply because there is no reason against doing it, not because there is a reason for it; it implies that it is a whim but not a manifestation of the will.

it is a whim but not a manifestation of the will. Following a whim is, in fact, the result of deep inner passivity blended with a wish to avoid boredom. Will is based on activity, whim on passivity.

Following a whim is, in fact, the result of deep inner passivity blended with a wish to avoid boredom. Will is based on activity, whim on passiv...

The greater the sense of powerlessness and the greater the lack of authentic will, the more grows either submission or an obsessional desire for satisfaction of one’s whims and the insistence on arbitrariness.

But antiauthoritarianism can—and has—become a rationalization for narcissistic self-indulgence,

for a childlike sybaritic life of unimpaired pleasure,

Herbert Marcuse even the primary of genital sexuality is authoritarian, because it restricts the freedom of pr...

Finally, the fear of authoritarianism serves to rationalize a kind of madness, a desire to escape from reality. Reality imposes its law on man, laws that he can only escape ...

is to will one thing.[x]

To will one thing presupposes having made a decision, having committed oneself to one goal.

Where energies are split in different directions, an aim is not only striven for with diminished energy, but the split of energies has the effect of weakening them in both directions by the constant conflicts that are engendered.

In the ‘normal’ case, where the aims are not so rigidly opposed, a smaller amount of energy is wasted; nevertheless, the capacity to reach any goal is greatly reduced.

nevertheless, the capacity to reach any goal is greatly reduced.

Halfheartedness leads one to prison, the others to becoming

an unproductive and bored college professor or a member of a second-class orchestra, respectively.

It is easy to observe the frequency of unresolved contradictions of goals within people.

While in practice the norm of selfishness is generally adopted, quite a few people are nevertheless still influenced by the old norms, yet not strongly enough to lead them to a different conduct of life.

As a number of recent experiments show, one can reduce the monotony of work and create the possibility of a certain degree of interest and skill by reversing the process of overspecialization and changing the methods of production in such a way that the worker decides on his method of operating and thus ceases to be narrowed down to the repetition of one or two mechanical movements.

At the present stage of alienation this is quite impossible; in a humanized society, aside from his own life, society itself becomes man’s most important work fact—and the ends of both coincide.

Various means are recommended to reach this state of altered consciousness, primarily the psycho-drugs of various intensities and self-induced states of trance.

No one can deny that such states of altered consciousness can occur; but few people who are so enthusiastic about them seem to raise the question why anyone would want to alter his consciousness, when, in his normal state of being, he has not even reached the state of normally developed consciousness.

He is turned inward and is capable of formulating messages to himself, creating, directing, and acting out plans in which he expresses his wishes, his fears, and his deepest insights into himself and others—insights made possible by the fact that he is not drugged by the voices of common sense and illusions that intrude on him while he is awake.

Everybody recognizes differences in the state of alertness, openness, vigor of mind, as against states of a certain sluggishness or inattentiveness.

It is interesting to analyze what factor changes the state of “tiredness” to that of intense alertness.

One could say, justifiedly: “Tell me what wakes you up and I’ll tell you who you are.”

“Tell me what wakes you up and I’ll tell you who you are.”

It would be a mistake, though, to assume that the quality of being fully awake is independent of the sti...

it. To put it more generally, we become alert in the way and to the degree with which a vitally necessary task (such as working or defending one’s vital interests) or a passionate goal (such as the quest for money) requires it.

In this state one is not only aware of that which one needs to be aware of in order to survive or to satisfy passionate goals, one is aware of oneself and of the world (people and nature) around one. One sees, not opaquely but clearly, the surface together with its roots. The world becomes fully real; every detail and the details in their configuration and structure become a meaningful unit. It feels as if a veil that had been in front of our eyes permanently—without our recognizing it was there—and had suddenly dropped away.

Later on, indeed they may think of each other; they may analyze, evaluate, clarify—but if they thought while they are aware, the awareness would suffer.

This means more than simple consciousness or knowledge; it has the meaning of discovering something that was not quite obvious, or was even not expected. In other words, awareness is knowing or consciousness in a state of close attention.

To the degree to which one succeeds in concentrating on one’s breathing, one is aware of the process of breathing.

One will discover that this awareness of breathing is something quite different from thinking about one’s breathing.

The same principle exists in the “art of moving” (taught by Katya Delakova) and in an old Chinese traditional sequence of movements, the T’ai Chi Chuan. (The latter is a particularly recommendable exercise because it combines elements of “sensory awareness” with a state of concentrated meditation.)

Marx showed the moving powers and the conflicts in the social-historical process, Freud aimed at the critical uncovering of the inner conflicts.

Since the individual is a part of society and cannot be conceived of outside the social fabric, the illusions about social reality affect the clarity of his mind and thus also prevent him from liberating himself from the illusions about himself.

To believe one can be seeing internally but blind as far as the outside world is concerned is like saying that the light of a candle gives light only in one direction and not in all. The light of a candle is reason’s capacity for critical, penetrating, uncovering thought.

Is the liberating effect of awareness possible, and if so how? Furthermore is awareness necessarily desirable?

The strength of man’s position in the world depends on the degree of adequacy of his perception of reality.

The more adequate it is, the more can he stand on his own feet and have his center within himself.

provided the insight into the hidden conflicts leads to a constructive solution and hence to greater well-being.

Freud believed that the insight into the hidden conflicts between conscious and unconscious forces would result in the cure of neurosis.

Or, if a sadistic, obsessional person recognized the roots of his suffering, and yet, for a number of possible reasons, knew also that he could not change, would he not be better off if he remained blind and continued to believe in his rationalizations?

remember that becoming aware of the truth has a liberating effect; it releases energy and de-fogs one’s mind. As a result, one is more independent, has one’s center in oneself, and is more alive. One may fully realize that nothing in reality can be changed, but one has succeeded in living and dying as a human person and not as a sheep.

and thus attaining an optimum of personal fulfillment.

In addition, the more seeing individuals will become, the more likely it is that they can produce changes—social and individual ones—at the earliest possible moment, rather than, as is often the case, waiting until the chances for change have disappeared because their mind, their courage, their will have become atrophied.

The conclusion from all these considerations is that the most important step in the art of being...

and enhances our capacity for heightened awareness and, as far as the mind is concerned, for critical, questioning thinking. This is not primarily a question of intelligence, education, or age. It is essentially a matter of character; more specifically, of the degree of personal independe...