Escape from Freedom Book

In his beautiful and profound book Escape from Freedom (1941) Erich Fromm gives us an accurate analysis of the concept of freedom in its psychological meaning. Human beings on the one hand have a deep longing for freedom, but on the other hand fear nothing as much as that very freedom. Historically our culture and our consciousness have developed in such a way that we became free and autonomous individuals, able to make our own choices andthe art of Being decisions. We are proud of being independent. Nobody can tell us what to do. We have shaken off all feudal dominance. We no longer tolerate someone else having power over us. Ever since the late Middle Ages and Renaissance, aided by economic developments such as the upcoming capitalism, a change in consciousness has taken place. Man has become psychologically more himself. Fromm has called this cultural development, following Jung, individuation. In developmental psychology we can also see this individuation taking place, when the child in the course of its physical and psychological growth strips off its primary bonds with its parents and grows out into an adult, full-fledged and independent human being.http://home.planet.nl/~brouw724/Frommenglisch.html