Groups

The Groups envisaged here are very different. Their members would share a new philosophy, a philosophy of the love of life, its manifestations in human relations, politics, art, social organization. What would be characteristic of them is that none of these areas of human activities is isolated from each other, but each aspect gets its meaning by being related to all others.

…They should become a real home for every participant, a home where he finds nourishment in the sense of knowledge and of interpersonal sharing and, at the same time, where he has a chance to give. Their aim would be to move toward a personal transformation from an alienated person into one of active participation. Naturally, the Groups would be critical of the conduct of life as the alienated society offers it, but they would try to find an optimum of personal non-alienation rather than the solace of constant indignation as a substitute for being alive.

The Groups would develop a new style of life, unsentimental, realistic, honest, courageous, and active. It must be stressed that realistic unsentimentality – bordering, if you like, on cynicism – needs to be united with deep faith and hope. Usually the two are disconnected. People of faith and hope are often unrealistic, and the realists have little faith or hope. We shall find a way out of the present situation only if realism and faith become blended again as they were in some of the great teachers of mankind.

excerpt from: Erich Fromm (1968) The Revolution of Hope.

more: Groups pdf

國際協作動力讀書會(18 Jan 2014)

Collaborative Initiatives International organizes reading circle on monthly basis. All are welcome.  

國際協作動力每月舉行讀書會，歡迎各界人仕參加。

活動內容       :   文章分享 Sharing of reading materials; 

                           協作訓練 - 溝通 | 協作領導 | 社群建立                         

                           Exercises for communications, collaborative leadership and community building;                                 集思活動 Brainstorming Activities

                             

Place 地點     :  Club House, 8 Waterloo Road, Yau Ma Tei (油麻地窩打老道8號會所)

Date日期       :  (every third Sat evening), coming: 18 Jan 2013 (每月第三個星期六)

Time時間       :  7:30 – 9:30 pm

Contact聯絡  :  Desmond Chan 9033 4604, ytchan.hkg@gmail.com

Reading Materials 閱讀資料 : (1-3月) 葛琳卡《情緒四重奏》。

(報名請留下聯絡電話及姓名，聚會時間地點如有更改當另行通知。Please leave your name and mobile number for contact. Separate notice shall be given should there be any changes on gathering location and time.)

Greed

Greed is a common quality of desires by which men are driven to achieve a certain goal. In the nongreedy feeling, man is not driven, he is not passive, but he is free and active.

Greed can be motivated in two ways: 1. By a physiological imbalance which produces the greedy desire for food, drink, etc. Once the physiological need is satisfied, the greed ceases, unless the imbalance is chronic. 2. By a psychological imbalance, especially the presence of increased anxiety, loneliness, insecurity, lack of identity, etc., which is alleviated by the satisfaction, power, fame, property, etc. This type of greed is, in principle, insatiable, unless a person’s anxiety, etc., ceases or is greatly reduced. The first type of greed is reactive to circumstances; the second is inherent in the character structure.

The greedy feeling is highly egocentric. Whether it is hunger, thirst, or sexual desire, the greedy person wants something for himself exclusively, and that by which he satisfies his desire is only a means for his own purposes. This is obvious when we speak of hunger and thirst, but it is also the case when we speak of sexual arousal in its greedy form, where the other person becomes primarily an object. In the non-greedy feeling, there is little egocentricity. The experience is not needed to preserve one’s life, to allay anxiety, or to satisfy or enhance one’s ego; it does not serve to still a powerful tension, but begins precisely where necessity in the sense of survival or stilling of anxiety ends. In the non-greedy feeling, the person can let go of himself, is not compulsively holding on to what he has and what he wants to have, but is open and responsive.

excerpt from: Erich Fromm (1968) The Revolution of Hope.

pdf: Greed