Bauman Quotes

Reading was a joy, a desperately needed escape -- I didn't read to learn, I was reading to read.

The rationality of the ruled is always the weapon of the rulers.

Real dialogue isn’t about talking to people who believe the same things as you.

For one to be free there must be at least two.

Questioning the ostensibly unquestionable premises of our way of life is arguably the most urgent of services we owe our fellow humans and ourselves.

The truth that makes men free is for the most part the truth which men prefer not to hear.

The updated version of Descartes’s Cogito is ‘I am seen, therefore I am’ – and that the more people who see me, the more I am…

What has been cut apart cannot be glued back together. Abandon all hope of totality, future as well as past, you who enter the world of fluid modernity.

Desire and love act at cross purposes. love is a net cast on eternity, desire is a stratagem to be spared the chores of net weaving. True to their nature, love would strive to perpetuate the desire. Desire, on the other hand, would shun love's shackles.

The main point about civility is...the ability to interact with strangers without holding their strangeness against them and without pressing them to surrender it or to renounce some or all the traits that have made them strangers in the first place.

Where we hope to land (and where we do land, though only for a fleeting moment, enough for tired wings to catch the wind anew) is a 'there' which we thought of little and knew of even less.

A consumerist attitude may lubricate the wheels of the economy; it sprinkles sand into the bearings of morality.

What is assumed to be the materialisation of the inner truth of the self is in fact an idealisation of the material - objectified - traces of consumer choices.

If political rights are necessary to set social rights in place, social rights are indispensable to make political rights 'real' and keep them in operation. The two rights need each other for their survival; that survival can only be their joint achievement.

To you is granted the power of degrading yourself into the lower forms of life, the beasts, and to you is granted the power, contained in your intellect and judgment, to be reborn into the higher forms, the divine.

Writing is the only art form where a good number of the artists make a slice of their living criticizing one another in print, in public.

But I know something else, too: bad people are rare. Good people are everywhere.

No longer can democracy and freedom be fully and truly secure in one country, or even in a group of countries; their defence in a world saturated with injustice and inhabited by billions of humans denied human dignity will inevitably corrupt the very values they are meant to defend.

Literature simply becomes richer after you've been fired, rejected, stranded, or had to change a few midnight diapers.

In other words, it is not in craving after ready-made, complete and finished things that love finds its meaning ― but in the urge to participate in the becoming of such things. Love is akin to transcendence; it is but another name for creative drive and as such is fraught with risks, as all creation is never sure where it is going to end.

Bauman argues that most people “slip” into the roles society provides them, and he is very critical of any implication that “faulty personalities” are the cause of human cruelty. For him the exception—the real “sleeper”—is the rare individual who has the capacity to resist authority and assert moral autonomy but who is seldom aware of this hidden strength until put to the test.

Beneath the dream of fame, another dream, a dream of no longer dissolving and staying dissolved in the grey, faceless and insipid mass of commodities, a dream of turning into a notable, noticed and coveted commodity, a talked about commodity, a commodity standing out from the mass of commodities, a commodity impossible to overlook, to deride, to be dismissed. In a society of consumers, turning into a desirable commodity is the stuff of which dreams, and fairy tales, are made.

Partnerships are increasingly seen through the prism of promises and expectations, and as a kind of product for consumers: satisfaction on the spot, and if not fully satisfied, return the product to the shop or replace it with a new and improved one! You don't, after all, stick to your car, or computer, or iPod, when better ones appear.

Admitting your limitations and accepting help makes you stronger too.

I write for the same reason I read: because it's all there is for me.

Precisar tornar-se o que já se é é a característica da vida moderna.

From the start and to this very day, modernity was about forcing nature to serve obediently human needs, ambitions and desires –

What happens is never unpredictable: there are always breaches, carelessness, incompetence, omissions, which have not prevented the occurrence.

Postmodernity means the exhilarating freedom to pursue anything, yet mind-boggling uncertainty as to what is worth pursuing and in the name of what one should pursue it.

Ser dos significa aceptar un futuro indeteminado

Occupying the bottom end of the inequality ladder, and becoming a 'collateral victim' of a human action or a natural disaster, interact the way the opposite poles of magnets do: they tend to gravitate towards each other.

Circular reasoning is infallible even if not exactly logical, and this is why so many of us so often resort to it—not so much to resolve baffling problems, but to be absolved of the obligation to worry about them.

Los celulares ayudan a estar conectados a los que están a distancia. Los celulares permiten a los que se conectan… mantenerse a distancia.

فقد وقعت هذه الجريمة "بعيدًا هناك" ، في زمن آخر وبلد آخر. وكلما أُلقي اللوم "عليهم" ، كلما كنا "نحن" في أمان، وكلنا قل أضطرارنا إلى الدفاع عن هذا الأمان

But I know something else, too: bad people are rare. Good people are everywhere

Lack of love. Sleep, then nightmare. Paper everywhere. Trivial bits of paper. Nothing ever done. Sure, sure, sure. Today I will walk in the sun. I will simply walk in the sun.

This was replaced by a widespread and aggressive individualism whereby everyone looks out for himself, at the expense of others and without worrying about the good of society.

One thing which even the most seasoned and discerning masters of the art of choice do not and cannot choose, is the society to be born into - and so we are all in travel, whether we like it or not. We have not been asked about our feelings anyway. Thrown into a vast open sea with no navigation charts and all the marker buoys sunk and barely visible, we have only two choices left: we may rejoice in the breath-taking vistas of new discoveries - or we may tremble out of fear of drowning. One option not really realistic is to claim sanctuary in a safe harbour; one could bet that what seems to be a tranquil haven today will be soon modernized, and a theme park, amusement promenade or crowded marina will replace the sedate boat sheds. The third option not thus being available, which of the two other options will be chosen or become the lot of the sailor depends in no small measure on the ship's quality and the navigation skills of the sailors. Not all ships are seaworthy, however. And so the larger the expanse of free sailing, the more the sailor's fate tends to be polarized and the deeper the chasm between the poles. A pleasurable adventure for the well-equipped yacht may prove a dangerous trap for a tattered dinghy. In the last account, the difference between the two is that between life and death.

I like the night beach. The full moon. The moonlit sand, the waves silvery in the brightness. Nature is sexy, and that makes me think God is alive and has very good taste.

But I know something else, too: bad people are rare. Good people are everywhere.

Nadie dice que convertir a alguien en tu compañero de destino sea fácil, pero no hay otra alternativa que intentarlo, e intentarlo y volver a intentarlo.

And the enticement to seek a rose without thorns is never far away and always difficult to resist.

يبدو أن العالم يفضل تكريم فلاسفته برسم لوحات تذكارية لهم، وليس بالإنصات الجيد لهم

People are cast in the underclass because they are seen as totally useless; as a nuisance pure and simple, something the rest of us could do nicely without. In a society of consumers - a world that evaluates anyone and anything by their commodity value - they are people with no market value; they are the uncommoditised men and women, and their failure to obtain the status of proper commodity coincides with (indeed, stems from) their failure to engage in a fully fledged consumer activity. They are failed consumers, walking symbols of the disasters awaiting fallen consumers, and of the ultimate destiny of anyone failing to acquit herself or himself in the consumer’s duties. All in all, they are the ‘end is nigh’ or the ‘memento mori’ sandwich men walking the streets to alert or frighten the bona fide consumers.

globalization is the last failed hope that, somewhere, there still exists a land where one can escape and find happiness. Or the last failed hope that, somewhere, there still exists a land different from yours in terms of being able to oppose the sense of meaninglessness, the loss of criteria and, ultimately, moral blindness and the loss of sensitivity.

En cuanto al poder, se aleja a toda vela de la calle y del mercado, de las asambleas y de los parlamentos, de los gobiernos locales y de los nacionales, más allá del alcance del control de los ciudadanos, hacia la extraterritorialidad de las redes electrónicas. En la actualidad, los principios estratégicos favoritos de los que tienen el poder son el escape, la evasión y la retirada, y su estado ideal es la invisibilidad.

sociologist Zygmunt Bauman writes, in modern life, “there is always a suspicion . . . that one is living a lie or a mistake; that something crucially important has been overlooked, missed, neglected, left untried, and unexplored; that a vital obligation to one’s own authentic self has not been met or that some chances of unknown happiness completely different from any happiness experienced before have not been taken up in time and are bound to be lost forever if they continue to be neglected.”8 He speaks directly to our nostalgia for unlived lives, unexplored identities, and roads not taken.

If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you always got.

There is always a suspicion...that one is living a lie or a mistake; that something crucially important has been overlooked, missed, neglected, left untried, and unexplored; that a vital obligation to one's own authentic self has not been met or that some chances of unknown happiness completely different from any happiness experienced before have to been taken up in time and are bound to be lost forever if they continue to be neglected.

Ideally, nothing should be embraced by a consumer firmly, nothing should command a commitment till death do us part, no needs should be seen as fully satisfied, no desires considered ultimate. There ought to be a proviso 'until further notice' attached to any oath of loyalty and any commitment. It is but the volatility, the in-built temporality of all engagements that truly counts; it counts more than the commitment itself, which is anyway not allowed to outlast the time necessary for consuming the object of desire (or, rather, the time sufficient for the desirability of that object to wane).

The population of every country is nowadays a collection of diasporas. Every sizable city is now an aggregate of ethnic, religious, and lifestyle enclaves in which the line dividing insiders from outsiders is a hotly contested issue, while the right to draw that line, to keep it intact and make it unassailable, is the prime stake in the skirmishes over influence and battles for recognition that follow.

… when I needed her, Mom was there. All my life, she is the one who has been there for me. And I don’t know if I ever tell her, but I love her for it. I love her for who she is. So thank you, Mom. We made it. Together.

To understand how that astounding moral blindness was possible, it is helpful to think of the workers of an armament plant who rejoice in the 'stay of execution' of their factory thanks to big new orders, while at the same time honestly bewailing the massacres visited upon each other by Ethiopians and Eritreans; or to think how it is possible that the 'fall in commodity prices' may be universally welcomed as good news while 'starvation of African children' is equally universally, and sincerely, lamented.

El deseo destruye su objeto, destruyéndose a sí mismo en el proceso;

Volar liviano produce alegría, volar a la deriva es angustiante. El cambio es embriagador, la volatilidad es preocupante. ¿La insoportable levedad del sexo?

Microeconomists are wrong about specific things and macroeconomists are wrong about things in general!

Rigidity of order is the artefact and sediment of the human agents ' freedom.

La naturaleza del amor implica —tal como lo observó Lucano dos milenios atrás y lo repitió Francis Bacon muchos siglos más tarde— ser un rehén del destino.

En otras palabras, el amor no encuentra su sentido en el ansia de cosas ya hechas, completas y terminadas, sino en el impulso de participar en la construcción de esas cosas. El amor está muy cercano a la trascendencia; es tan sólo otro nombre de impulso creativo, y por lo tanto, está cargado de riesgos, ya que toda creación ignora siempre cuál será su producto final

Arlie Russell Hochschild resume "el daño colateral" fundamental causado en el curso de la invasion consumista en una expresion tan incisiva como sucinta: "la materialización del amor".

Ivan Klima dice: casi nada se parece tanto a la muerte como el amor realizado. Cada aparición de cualquiera de los dos es única pero definitiva, irrepetible, inapelable e impostergable.

Os filhos estão entre as aquisições mais caras que o consumidor médio pode fazer ao longo de toda a sua vida. Em termos puramente monetários, eles custam mais do que um carro luxuoso do ano, uma volta ao mundo em um cruzeiro ou até mesmo uma mansão. Pior ainda, o custo total tende a crescer com o tempo, e seu volume não pode ser fixado de antemão nem estimado com algum grau de certeza. [...] Além disso, ter filhos é, em nossa época, uma questão de decisão, não um acidente - o que aumenta a ansiedade. Tê-los ou não é comprovadamente a decisão com maiores consequências e de maior alcance que existe, e portanto também a mais angustiante e estressante.

As can be seen, ‘crisis’, in its proper sense, expresses something positive, creative and optimistic, because it involves a change, and may be a rebirth after a break-up. It indicates separation, certainly, but also choice, decisions and therefore the opportunity to express an opinion.

Athletes who can perform on demand—Torres, Phelps, Ledecky—are enough like SEALs that this was Bauman’s mantra for the American swimmers in Rio, in 2016: Swim like a dolphin, think like a SEAL.

not to mention forever – since they fear that such a state may bring burdens and cause strains they neither feel able nor are willing to bear, and so may severely limit the freedom they need – yes, your

Um aspecto muito visível do desaparecimento das velhas garantias é a nova fragilidade dos laços humanos. A fragilidade e transitoriedade dos laços pode ser um preço inevitável do direito de os indivíduos perseguirem seus objetivos individuais, mas não pode deixar de ser, simultaneamente, um obstáculo dos mais formidáveis para perseguir eficazmente esses objetivos -- e para a coragem necessária para persegui-los.

Bauman notes that a typical feature of the interregnum, once the faith in salvation from above, from the state, or from revolution is gone, is indignation. Such indignation knows what it doesn’t want, but not what it does.

Rilke wrote in one of my favourite books [Letters to a Young Poet], “Perhaps all the dragons in our lives are princesses who are only waiting to see us act, just once, with beauty and courage. Perhaps everything that frightens us is, in its deepest essence, something helpless that wants our love.” It takes courage to live as our true selves; especially when doing so can be faced with such unkindness. But I believe the more we show of ourselves, the more we make space for positive change in the world. I feel so grateful I get to be a part of a series that is contributing to that change.

La cultura no puede convivir pacíficamente con la gestión, sobre todo, cuando ésta es molesta e insidiosa, y, más aún, cuando se trata de una gestión dedicada a distorsionar las ansias exploradoras/experimentadoras de la cultura para que encaje en el marco de la racionalidad dibujado por los gestores

Utopia’ used to denote a coveted, dreamt-of distant goal to which progress should, could and would eventually bring the seekers after a world better serving human needs. In contemporary dreams, however, the image of ‘progress’ seems to have moved from the discourse of shared improvement to that of individual survival. Progress is no longer thought about in the context of an urge to rush ahead, but in connection with a desperate effort to stay in the race.

[..] the innate tendency of a society of consumers to instil in their members a willingness to accord other people the same - and no more - respect as they are trained to feel and to show to consumer goods, the objects designed and destined for instantaneous, and possibly untroubled satisfaction, with no strings attached.

A society notorious for effacing the boundary which once separated the private from the public, for making it a public virtue and obligation to publicly expose the private, and for wiping away from public communication anything that resists being reduced to private confidences, together with those who refuse to confide them.

El amor es un préstamo hipotecario a cuenta de un futuro incierto e inescrutable.

Después de todo, ¿qué diferencia hay entre vivir y dar explicaciones sobre la vida?

Quien busque la supervivencia asesinando la humanidad de otro ser humano sólo consigue sobrevivir a la muerte de su propia humanidad.

Like the phoenix, socialism is reborn from every pile of ashes left day in, day out, by burnt-out human dreams and charred hopes.

Being a vigilante, if only a self-proclaimed one, was becoming exhausting.

Siempre y cuando uno no olvide que lo que antes era invisible -la cuota de intimidad de cada uno, la vida interior de todos- ahora es expuesto en la escena pública, uno comprenderá que quienes procuran la invisibilidad están condenados al rechazo, a la exclusión, condenados a ser sospechosos de algún crimen. La desnudez física, social y psíquica está a la orden del día.

The relations individuals enter into with other individuals nowadays have been described as ‘pure’ – meaning ‘no strings attached’, no unconditional obligations assumed and so no predetermination, and therefore no mortgaging, of the future. The sole foundation and only reason for the relationship to continue is, it has been said, the amount of mutual satisfaction drawn from it.

According to the Times notice, Mr. Bauman called his employees into a meeting and asked them to accept a 10 percent reduction in salary so that he wouldn’t have to fire anyone. They all agreed. Then he quietly decided to give up his personal salary until his company was back on safe ground. The only reason his staff found out was because the company bookkeeper told them. Bauman

El amor está muy cercano a la trascendencia; es tan sólo otro nombre del impulso creativo y, por lo tanto, está cargado de riesgos, ya que toda creación ignora siempre cuál será su producto final.

This is stability at the cost of dependence − because the primary cause of ‘voluntary servitude’, i.e. submission to power, even if it's not required – according to Étienne de la Boétie – is simply a habit.5

Robbing humans of their faces and individuality is no less a form of evil than diminishing their dignity or looking for threats primarily among those who have immigrated or harbour different religious beliefs.

the notion that we know all there is to know about people and their needs and that all these data are pinned down exactly and fully explained by the market, the state, sociological surveys, ratings, and everything else that turns people into the Global Anonymous.

In other words, turning against ourselves can be easier than entering difficult emotions. Making villains of ourselves helps us escape the grief required to fully engage the healing process. All self-contempt creates barriers against the transformative power of love.

For I showed men how they were the cause of their own unhappiness and, in consequence, how they might avoid it’, writes Rousseau to Voltaire in his famous letter on the Lisbon disaster, laying the foundations of a new spirit that desacralizes nature, removing it from divine will and entrusting it to the hands of man.

...el "multiculturalismo" (y el "culturalismo en general), en su esfuerzo por proporcionar un apoyo académico (o, para ser más precisos, una pátina promocional) a la práctica multiculturalista, es en sí mismo un ejercicio de encubrimiento. Lo que intenta tapar y expulsar del debate público es la cruda realidad de la discriminación y la privación sociales.

Each extra lock on the entry door in response to successive rumours of foreign-looking criminals in cloaks full of daggers and each next revision of the diet in response to a successive ‘food panic’ makes the world look more treacherous and fearsome, and prompts more defensive actions – that will, alas, add more vigour to the self-propagating capacity of fear.

الكفاح من أجل الحرية ، الذي هو في أصله علاقة اجتماعية تماما ، لا يمكن أن يكون إلا قوة تحدث الفرقة والشقاق ، وأن أي تطبيق واقعي لها لا بد من أن يحدث الانقسام والاختلاف لا محالة . فالحرية ، مثل كثير من القيم والمثل العليا ، في حالة مخاض دائم ، فلا تتحقق أبدا ، بل ( أو لهذا السبب نفسه ) نصبوا إليها دائما ، ونكافح من أجلها ، فتتولد قوة دافعة كبيرة في تجريب متواصل لا نهاية له. وهو ما يسمى التاريخ

E assim é numa cultura consumista como a nossa, que favorece o produto pronto para uso imediato, o prazer passageiro, a satisfação instantânea, resultados que não exijam esforços prolongados, receitas testadas, garantias de seguro total e devolução do dinheiro. A promessa de aprender a arte de amar é a oferta (falsa, enganosa, mas que se deseja ardentemente que seja verdadeira) de construir a “experiência amorosa” à semelhança de outras mercadorias, que fascinam e seduzem exibindo todas essas características e prometem desejo sem ansiedade, esforço sem suor e resultados sem esforço. Sem humildade e coragem não há amor. Essas duas qualidades são exigidas, em escalas enormes e contínuas, quando se ingressa numa terra inexplorada e não-mapeada. E é a esse território que o amor conduz ao se instalar entre dois ou mais seres humanos.

السعادة العامة وتبعاتها من المسؤولية؛ تلك الحرية التي يهيم في مدحها دعاة التحرر ليست على النقيض من تأكيداتهم ضامنة للسعادة ، فأغلب الظن انها ستأتي ببؤس وشقاء يقوق الفرح . ومن هذا المنظور يخطى دعاة التحرر عندما يحزنون ، كما يفعل ديفيد كونواي ، ويؤكدون مبدا هنري سیدجويك الذي يقول إن السعادة العامة تأتي على أكمل وجه وأحسنه إذا ما غرسنا في نفوس الشباب البالغين، التوقع بأن كل واحد منهم سيترك إلى قدرته على تدبير أموره وقضاء حوائجها.

Em todo amor há pelo menos dois seres, cada qual a grande incógnita na equação do outro. É isso que faz o amor parecer um capricho do destino – aquele futuro estranho e misterioso, impossível de ser descrito antecipadamente, que deve ser realizado ou protelado, acelerado ou interrompido. Amar significa abrir-se ao destino, a mais sublime de todas as condições humanas, em que o medo se funde ao regozijo num amálgama irreversível. Abrir-se ao destino significa, em última instância, admitir a liberdade no ser: aquela liberdade que se incorpora no Outro, o companheiro no amor. “A satisfação no amor individual não pode ser atingida sem a humildade, a coragem, a fé e a disciplina verdadeiras”, afirma Erich Fromm – apenas para acrescentar adiante, com tristeza, que em “uma cultura na qual são raras essas qualidades, atingir a capacidade de amar será sempre, necessariamente, uma rara conquista”.

Hakikaten de, günümüzün "reel dünya"sında her şey "ikinci bir habere kadar" var gibi görünüyor... Bugün "sizin için iyi" olan, yarın yeniden sınıflandırılıp zehir kategorisine girebilir. Çok sıkı gibi görünen bağlılıklar, büyük ciddiyetle imzalanan anlaşmalar bir gecede bozulabilir. Verilen sözlerin çoğu, sanki tutulmamak için söylenmiştir. Gelgitlerin arasında sağlam, güvenli bir ada yok gibidir. Melucci'yi bir kez daha alıntılarsak, "Bir evimiz yok artık; üç küçük domuz masalındaki gibi evlerimizi sürekli yeniden yapmak ya da salyangozlar gibi sırtımızda taşımak zorundayız." (S. 136)

Milan Kundera'nın söylediği gibi: Cervantes Don Kişot'u mitlerden, maskelerden, basmakalıplardan, önyargılardan ve önyorumlardan örülü perdeyi yırtmak için gönderdi, içinde bulunduğumuz ve anlamaya çabaladığımız dünyayı sıkı sıkı örten perdelerden... Ancak perde kalkmadıkça ya da yırtılmadıkça boşuna uğraşıyoruz. Don Kişot bir fatih değildi, 0 fethedilmişti. Ancak, yenilgisi ile, bize gösterdiği, “hayat denen kaçınılmaz yenilginin karşısında yapabileceğimiz tek şey durup onu anlamaya çalışmaktır” oldu. Bu Miguel de Cervantes'in büyük, çığır açan keşfiydi; bir kere bulundu mu bir daha unutulamazdı. Beşeri bilimlerle uğraşan bizler önümüzde serili duran bu keşfin izlerini takip ediyoruz. Cervantes sayesinde buralardayız. Perdeyi yırtmak, hayatı anlamak... Bunun anlamı ne? Biz, insanlar, iyinin ve kötünün, güzelin ve çirkinin, gerçeğin ve yalanın birbirlerinden kesin bir şekilde ayrıldığı ve asla bir diğerine karışmadığı, böylece şeylerin nasıl olduğundan, nereye gidebileceğimizden ve nasıl ilerleyebileceğimizden emin olduğumuz sıradan, temiz ve saydam bir dünyayı tercih ediyoruz; çaba gerektiren bir anlayış olmadan hükümlere ulaşmayı ve kararlar almayı hayal ediyoruz. İşte bizim bu hayalimizden ideolojiler doğdu. Görüşümüzü kapatan o kalın perdeler. . . Bizim bu etkisizleştirici eğilimimize Etienne de la Boétie "gönüllü kölelik” adını verdi. Cervantes bizim bu tür bir kölelikten çıkmamızı istiyordu; dünyanın tümüyle çıplak, rahatsız, ancak özgürleştirici gerçekliğini sunarak; anlam çokluğu gerçekliğini ve onarılamaz mutlak gerçekler açığını. Bu tür bir dünyada, kesin olan tek şeyin hiçbir şeyin kesin olmaması olduğu bir dünyada, tekrar tekrar ve sonuç almaksızın kendimizi ve birbirimizi anlamaya, iletişim kurmaya ve birbirimiz için yaşamaya çalışacağız.

Hacer pedazos el velo, comprender la vida... ¿Qué significa esto? Nosotros, seres humanos, preferiríamos habitar en un mundo ordenado, limpio y transparente donde el bien y el mal, la belleza y la fealdad, la verdad y la mentira estén nítidamente separados entre sí y donde jamás se entremezclen, para poder estar seguros de cómo son las cosas, hacia donde ir y cómo proceder. Soñamos, con un mundo donde las valoraciones puedan hacerse y las decisiones puedan tomarse sin la ardua tarea de intentar comprender. De este sueño nuestro nacen las ideologías, esos densos velos que hacen que miremos sin llegar a ver. Es a esta inclinación incapacitadora nuestra a la que Étienne de La Boétie denominó . Y fue el camino de salida que nos aleja de esa servidumbre el que Cervantes abrió para que pudiésemos seguirlo, presentando el mundo en toda su desnuda, incómoda, pero liberadora realidad: la realidad de una multitud de significados y una irremediable escacez de verdades absolutas. Es en dicho mundo, en un mundo donde la única certeza es la certeza de la incertidumbre, en el que estamos destinados a intentar, una y otra vez y siempre de forma inconclusa, comprendernos a nosotros mismos y comprender a los demás, destinados a comunicar y de ese modo, a vivir el uno con y para el otro.

éste es un mundo duro, hecho para las personas duras, un mundo de individuos que sólo pueden confiar en su propia astucia, decididos a ser más listos que sus enemigos y a superarlos. Al encontrarse con un desconocido, se requiere en primer lugar vigilancia, en segundo lugar vigilancia y en tercer lugar vigilancia. Reunirse, estar juntos y trabajar en equipos tiene sentido en tanto y en cuanto los demás contribuyan a que uno se salga con la suya. No hay razón para que el compañerismo persista luego de que los otros ya no reportan más beneficio, o reportan menos que el que reportaría deshacerse del compromiso y cancelar toda obligación hacia ellos.

Just think," she said, "the Antarctic is a world away, but the ocean here in front of us reaches all the way down there. We could board a ship and sail across this very sea to reach it. Perhaps the water in front of us now was lapping up against the shores of the Antarctic at this time last year." He looked at her without speaking. "What I am trying to say is, it makes the world seem so small." She didn't know how to say it to him, or even to herself, but what she meant was that it was all so vast, and yet even the smallest bits of matter, even invisible atoms, could cover the vastness, could claim both here and the place that was a world away. "It makes me feel small and yet eternal at the same time.

Please don’t give me answers; though that is what I say, that is not what I long for in this chest of broken pieces. I do not want your sympathy, your pat Bible verses, or your lofty promises of prayer. No, I want something much more sinister than that. I ask you to suffer, to take my nails of my grief and drive them into yourself. I ask you to be silent, shut your mouth, and open your hands. Don’t say you understand. Just touch me. Will you hold my hand? Though it’s cold and bony, will you embrace me tightly? Can you wail as I wail, curse as I curse, pray as I pray? I don’t want to be fixed; I want to be known. I want your presence kneeling by my bed, feeling useless, powerless, helpless. Yes, for then, for then, you will understand a small part of me that few have had the courage to know.

La gente se siente un poco mejor porque la soledad es la gran amenaza en estos tiempos de individualización. Pero en las redes es tan fácil añadir amigos o borrarlos que no necesitas habilidades sociales. Estas las desarrollas cuando estás en la calle, o vas a tu centro de trabajo, y te encuentras con gente con la que tienes que tener una interacción razonable. Ahí tienes que enfrentarte a las dificultades, involucrarte en un diálogo (...) el diálogo real no es hablar con gente que piensa lo mismo que tú. Las redes sociales no enseñan a dialogar porque es tan fácil evitar la controversia… Mucha gente usa las redes sociales no para unir, no para ampliar sus horizontes, sino al contrario, para encerrarse en lo que llamo zonas de confort, donde el único sonido que oyen es el eco de su voz, donde lo único que ven son los reflejos de su propia cara.

في سالف الأزمان ، كان الزمن يتحرك بسرعة أبطأ بكثير من السرعة المعتادة ، فكان يقاوم زيادة السرعة ، وكان الناس يحاولون سد الفجوة الرهيبة بين فقر تمثله حياة فانية قصيرة وثراء لا نهائي يمثله الكون الأبدي من خلال الآمال الموعودة بيوم القيامة أو البعث . أما في عالمنا الذي لا يعرف حدودا للتسارع ، فقد صارت الآمال منبوذة . فإن استطاع المرء أن يتحرك بسرعة كافية وأن يجري من دون توقف ينظر من خلاله إلى الخلف ويحسب المكاسب والخسائر ، فبوسعه أن يفوز في زمن الحياة الفانية بحيوات عديدة وجديدة ، ربما بعدد الحيوات التي يمكن أن تهبها الأبدية . فإن لم يكن ذلك عملا بذلك الإيمان ، فماذا يكون الوسواس القهري الدائم الذي يدفع إلى تحسين الهوية وتجديدها وإعادة تدويرها وإصلاحها إصلاحاً شاملاً وإعادة تشكيلها من جديد ؟ فالهوية - في نهاية الأمر - تشبه تماما بعث الأزمنة الماضية وإحياءها ، فهي تدور حول إمكانية " الميلاد من جديد " ، إمكانية الخروج من هيئة الوجود الحالي إلى هيئة جديدة .