High Hemoglobin Sleep

With this title I have given the game post acknowledge that a little forgetfulness. If you had given it had, it would have been very clear. I mean I'm going to talk about fear of freedom, ie the well known book by Erich Fromm become a genre classic test. I read it during my participation in one of the test book clubs in my library.

First I have to say I highly recommend reading it, and not I happen to think that with these comments of mine could I make nowhere near the same enrichment that can give a direct reading of Fromm. I just want, if anything, to arouse interest in doing so.

"The fear of freedom" which was published by Erich Fromm in 1947 and written over the previous years, including the development of World War II, in my opinion was a primary objective: to explain the birth of Nazism and the support received to this ideology and this regime by millions of Germans and many more hundreds of thousands of Europeans from other nations.

A second objective as important as the first was the attempt to lecture and warn of the danger that threatens all societies, including Western democracy "consolidated" to see how large segments of the population may be attracted to authoritarianism as a political solution.

Fromm, which could be defined as a Marxist philosopher, psychoanalyst, he ventured to formulate a psychological explanation of social behavior. After the groups are not more than the sum of individuals, and for that matter, any relationship must be found between collective behavior and psychology of individuals.

Admittedly very complex social evolution explain the psychological basis. Occurs in this case, as in many other branches of knowledge, there are always several magnitudes from which to contemplate reality. For example, although we all know that the basis of all the "really existing" is the atom (below it, subatomic particles, and above, the molecules), one tries to explain the functioning of the digestive system or fluid mechanics based atomic but goes to another dimension elements to do so. Something could be said of Fromm attempted to explain social psychological basis.

But accepting this challenge, in my opinion is true, as Fromm says that "only a theory, psychological using the concept of unconscious forces can penetrate into the dark rationalizations we found when analyzing the individual or culture. A large number of problems, apparently insoluble, they disappear as soon as we decided to abandon the idea that the reasons that people believe are the cause of their actions, thoughts or emotions, are not necessarily those of reality that drives them to act, feel and thinking that certain way ".

Based on this formulation, Fromm tells us why and the how come the inclination of individuals to authoritarianism, conformism and other" mechanisms of evasion. "Everything comes from the discrepancy existing "between the purpose to ensure the smooth functioning of society and to promote the full development of the individual ", which as is clear, are very different things.

more stable societies and" harmonious "were those in which the individual was fully under a social and psychological order which determined the place and aspirations concerning it. Fromm refers to feudal societies. In these societies, lack of freedom led to totally frustrated and unfulfilled individuals from a modern viewpoint, but also On the other hand, the absence of uncertainties. It was with the rise of capitalism and, closely related, with the emergence of the Reformation and the vindication of Christianity more personal and internalized when the individual began to feel free but also unsafe.

Undoubtedly, it is reassuring to believe that your place in the world is defined and not up to you to change it, or future that awaits you after death, but in relation to it is a being called god who awarded it to you on a whim. With these beliefs, there was no room for anxiety.

Those times are gone, because there is no god and that we are obviously free, at least with respect to their psychological meaning. It is for this reason that the modern individual suffering from anxiety, depression, fears.
There is no longer
that established order, and Fromm's words:

• (...)" education too often leads to the elimination of spontaneity and the replacement of original psychic acts by emotion , thoughts and desires imposed from outside ".
• (...)" Modern man lives under the illusion of knowing what you want, when, in fact, want only what is supposed to (socially) has desirable ".
• (...)" We have become automatons who live under the illusion of being gifted individuals free will ".

... and if this was already true in the 40's of last century, how valid it is today in this culture and the desire hiperpublicidad occurred.

To date we free in the sense that Fromm gives the concept of "negative liberty", for having got rid of what we were bound, but still are not free in the positive sense because we have not learned to be spontaneous, we have not learned to join nature and balanced reason, will and feelings.