THE REVOLUTION OF HOPE

I bought this book some 15 years ago from a used book store on the upper westside of NYC with the cover ripped off. Of all the books that have come and gone in my life, fromms book was the only book that I always kept with my special belongings. Over the years I have gotten 3/4s of the way through the book. Today since I am finally established I bought a new copy (with a cover this time) Fromms analysis of depression in americans is beautiful stating that because we have so many choices in life (what to study in college, choice of career, spouse etc) as well as so many opportunities we a given everyday,we feel overwhelmed to not make any wrong choices thus causing dep and grief. (obviously he goes on for pages about this but this simple observation, has made an impression on me for years! Also he was dead on about how human nature was thrown to the waste side in the last 100 years, while technology took over and seduced this country. He said that we as people are turning from "human beings" into "human doings". I still bring that up in conversations even today. It's a book that you dont read over the weekend , you really have to take time to absorb and think about what he wrote. "Heavy" reading but written in a way that it takes you by the hand chapter through chapter. Fromm is outstanding - what a beautiful piece of work.

Seldom I've read an author who goes so outspokenly, clearly and concisely to the basic assumptions of contemporary Western society. And offers a hopeful alternative. His views from the '60s are 1:1 applicable now, including those on computers. 'Hope' is for him an inner readiness / not yet spent activeness. It contrasts with 'busyness': the latter seems full of life, but is little more than efforts to fill 'quiet lives of desperation' by cheap thrills. Hope is linked to a basic faith in 'Life': there are no guarantees, but in the act of faith, Life leads you to a more aware, more compassionate, more sustainable life. This is (my) basic Humanism, with sympathetic overtones towards Illich, Marx and Buddhism. His 'The art of loving', Illich's books, Ken Wilber's books and Fowler's 'Stages of Faith' are for me in the same league. Joseph Campbell, Peter Drucker, Alan Watts and Manuel Castells are some other favorites in a somewhat wider perspective.