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About this quote

What does it mean?
Man is born from a conflict between being separated from nature and needing unity with it. Human evolution involves resolving this tension to find harmony.
In plain terms
Humans are born torn between being separate from nature and needing to be one with it.
What can you take from it?
Seek harmony with nature to resolve human conflict.

Where it applies

  • environmental ethics
  • personal growth
  • philosophy

Putting it to work

  • reconnect with natural rhythms
  • study human origins

Questions to consider

  • Where do you feel separated from nature?
  • How do you seek unity?

Another view

Modern life often makes this unity seem impossible to achieve.

More from Erich Fromm

  1. I believe that the unity of man as opposed to other living things derives from the fact that man is the conscious life of himself. Man is conscious of himself,…

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  2. I believe that the nature of man is a contradiction rooted in the conditions of human existence that requires a search for solutions, which in their turn creat…

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  3. To speak of love is not 'preaching,' for the simple reason that it means to speak of the ultimate and real need of every human being. That this need has been o…

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