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Michael Sosteric · 2026-08-27T15:36:53Z

Today I'm reading through Erich Fromm's To Have or to Be. It's a book that makes a distinction between two Modes of Being, Having-Mode and Being-Mode. It makes the basic argument that if we all don't switch into being-mode, the Earth is cooked. In the having mode, one's relationship to the world is "one of possessing and owning, one in which [one wants] to make everybody and everything, including [oneself], [one's] property" (p. 24). Possession extends beyond things to knowledge, people, ideas, feelings. Our identity becomes that which we eat (Wagyu beef), what we buy (Mercedes-benz), and what we consume (only the top brands, the brands with vibe, etc.). In this mode, we are merely a shell. In the being-mode, we are two things. Being as aliveness: we are alive, engaged, and connected; the mode "in which one neither has anything nor craves to have something, but is joyous, employs one's faculties productively, is oned to the world" (pp. 18–19). Being as essence: — from the Indo-European root es: "that which is authentic, consistent, true" (p. 24). To say something is refers to its true nature, not its deceptive surface. In LP terms, a fully functioning individual in being-mode is aligned, connected, and expressing their true essence, their essential beingness, that which you really are. The goal of life is to be much, not to have much. Download To Have or to Be.

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