Name: Die Kunst des Liebens
Rating: 4.005882352941176 (85 reviews)
ISBN: 9783423361026

Erich Fromm

Die Kunst des Liebens

The fiftieth Anniversary Edition of the groundbreaking international bestseller that has shown millions of readers how to achieve rich, productive lives by developing their hidden capacities for love Most people are unable to love on the only level that truly matters: love that is compounded of maturity, self-knowledge, and courage. As with every art, love demands practice and concentration, as well as genuine insight and understanding. In his classic work, The Art of Loving, renowned psychoanalyst and social philosopher Erich Fromm explores love in all its aspects—not only romantic love, steeped in false conceptions and lofty expectations, but also brotherly love, erotic love, self-love, the love of God, and the love of parents for their children.

The Art of Loving

Greg Talbot

A 2021 New York Times piece "How Nothingness Became Everything We Ever Wanted" (<a target="_blank" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/19/magazine/negation-culture.html" rel="nofollow noopener">https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/19/ma...</a>), discussed how the pursuit of the self has been a solitary inner bound experience. The 2020 pandemic quashed social intimacy or stirred a patriotic resentment to further disband social harmony. Living through windows of experience, particularly through the lens of social media, reveal our existential angst as felt globally but experienced in isolation. Distancing, masked, drop-offs, doom-scroll and lockdown became part of the daily lexicon. We found ourselves at last - alone, alienated, and auto-playing Hulu, youtube and netflix videos. Erich Fromm's "Art of Loving" peels away sentimental poetry and parental bromides to ask how to fundamentally approach the only sensible approach to living. His descriptions of the "personality market", and our consumerist approach toward sex and partnership do not feel outdated at all. One of the great triumphs of the writing is the exploration of how our fundamentals attitudes toward connection and responsibility to others builds our society. Relationships with mother, father, lovers, God, and society are explored. Like his peer Freud, ,Fromm does not negate the animal looking to relieve anxiety, but starts with our rational gift that "life is aware of itself". The ideas to build a self, to win friends, achieve sexual exploits, consume lavishly and meet a destined future of satisfaction, this deep narcissistic adventure are explored. Fromm moves the conversation toward relationship, attitude toward our living and a culture that observed otherness with attention. We seem the push away from role-control, and the sketches of spontaneity in life that we crave and seek to maintain. Fromm suggests that real love is rare. We are misguided and misguiding. Our hedonistic and social controls limit the possibility of a true self. And yet, we have the potentiality to create living and joyous lives. Fromm offers no easy answers, but to say that the life journey of deepening awareness. Fromm's work is part of the creative generative psychologists who put some rational faith in our irrational species. A current philosopher, who has often written of the guiding force of love, Alan De botton wrote “It is in books, poems, paintings which often give us the confidence to take seriously feelings in ourselves that we might otherwise never have thought to acknowledge" ("The Architecture of Happiness"). Perhaps an insight that our self-transformations are ripples in a larger cultural awakening. The last year has revealed the deep wounds from an criminal political system run by cowards and Trump sycophants, a pandemic has taken the lives of more than 475,000 people and racial inequality that hurts deeply. Our healing and reconstruction will require a deep reckoning with this kind of love. Nothing is as intimate as the unknown, and may we find the deep faith to travel there together.

eye opening in so many facets of human life.

g.h.

After some time reflecting, I’ve come to understand why this book is amazing in its own way. It captivates in an indescribable way, which might be the very charm that makes it so beloved by many. If I’m being completely honest, I was somewhat disappointed because it didn’t meet my expectations. I find the writing little worth highlighting.

🏹

I have read the art of loving twice. Each time, I leave with a strong desire to love others and love them well. I believe Erich has achieved his goal by making me feel that way.

Kehinde Adeleke

I have read the art of loving twice. Each time, I leave with a strong desire to love others and love them well. I believe Erich has achieved his goal by making me feel that way.

Must read for everyone 

Varol Aksoy

sevmeyi cok iyi bildigini iddaa eden yazarın eksiklerini arastırıyorum sadece :P

Renowned psychoanalyst Erich Fromm has helped generations of men and women achieve rich and productive lives by developing their capacity to love. This centennial edition of his most enduring work salutes the valuable lessons that are Fromm's legacy.

The Centennial Edition

Martin Pannier

A life-changing book

I was introduced to Fromm by a good friend. Undoubtedly a life-changing book, and a must-read for those who wish to overcome the estrangement and solitude that come with living in this day and age.

annie

I don’t know what I was supposed to get out of this book. The only chapter I remember was the last one. I ended up listening to it on 3x speed.

Definitely written in the 1950s but some gems in there especially regarding capitalism being the antithesis of love.

“Love isn't something natural. Rather it requires discipline, concentration, patience, faith, and the overcoming of narcissism. It isn't a feeling, it is a practice.”

ame 

this book is packed with wisdom and knowledge so much so that it was hard to get into. the language was difficult for me to understand - that’s because english isn’t my first language tho so don’t b intimidated by that if it’s on ur tbr :) overall the message is really good and i liked it but in sum passages u can clearly sense the book being published in fifties. some mentions and examples were misogynistic and homophobic so b aware of that before reading! apart from that, the book was sympathetic and it deffo gave me a lot of new information and approaches to my relationships with people. i did have to concentrate sm on it when reading and it took a lot of my mental capacity - it is a difficult, psychological and old text afterall

Capucine Fachot

Safiya 

Short, otherwise it would have been a bad idea to carry on detailing his last say chapter.
I was interested in his first conceptualizations of love theories and how there are different types and then that many psychosis are caused by lack or exaggeration of say fatherly/motherly love. When he writes about spiritual love he is almost nearing Sufi thoughts except that he never mentioned anything about Islam in his analysis of monotheistic religions.
I lost interest before finishing it! The idea of a rational and irrational faith didn't sit well in my head.
But, cute attempt there...

A guide to well-being from the renowned social psychologist and New York Times–bestselling author of The Art of Loving and Escape from Freedom. Though laptops, smartphones, and TVs have in many ways made life more convenient, they have also disconnected us from the real world. Days are spent going from screen to machine, machine to screen. In The Art of Being, renowned humanist philosopher and psychoanalyst Erich Fromm draws from sources as varied as Sigmund Freud, Buddha, and Karl Marx to find a new, centered path to self-knowledge and well-being. In order to truly live, Fromm argues, we must first understand our purpose, and the places where we lost it. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Erich Fromm including rare images and never-before-seen documents from the author’s estate.

The Art of Being

Michael Friess

Fromm examines the true paths--as opposed to false directions--that will lead us to self-knowledge and enlightenment and offers another way to self-awareness and well-being, one based on psychoanalysis and self-awareness through meditation.

Art of Being

Ivaylo Durmonski

(The full summary: https://durmonski.com/book-summaries/...)

Before I talk about the book itself, I want to talk briefly about why you need to read the book…

Every month, when your salary hits your bank account. You immediately think about what new to get. What new cool gadget you can add to your collection of things.

Not that you don’t have stuff. You do. Quite a lot, actually. But since the ones you already have are known and no longer provoke the pleasant sensations they once did. Seeking new things is what you want to ignite happy feelings.

This type of behavior grows inside you. You reach a point where you associate both your identity and the state of happiness in general with the stuff you own.

But for how long? How many things do you need to finally feel good?

The answer is depressing: If stuff is what you seek, you will never be satisfied.

Our modern society sends a clear message to the masses: Consume more and you will be more.

But there is never an end to consumption. The more we get, the more we want. Therefore, unsurprisingly, we never feel content because there is always something new to get.

The Art of Being is a masterpiece.

Erich Fromm paves the way towards an alternative route of existence. Or at least an alternative to our current route. He helps us become aware of how the current sick world is infecting our mindset with consumerism.

Full of sage advice and practices, this book can change the way you live and experience life.

Key takeaway:

Once someone realizes that not getting more, but being more is what matters, he feels like a sane man living in a sick society. But instead of feeling isolated and lonely, he should pursue his sane conviction. Not comply with the conventional “normal” belief the rest of the world follows.

Die Kunst des Liebens

Reviews

Highlights