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Quote by Hanna Abi Akl

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Correspondence

This book compiles a variety of correspondence, including letters, diaries, and other written forms of communication, offering insights into the personal and historical context of the authors involved. more

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Hanna Abi Akl

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“A man with strongly, in fact exclusively, religious interests, showed markedly this characteristic of helping people without really feeling for them. He said: 'I've no real emotional relations with people. I can't reciprocate tenderness. I can cry and suffer with people. I can help people, but when they stop suffering I'm finished. I can't enter into folks' joys and laughter. I can do things for people but shrink from them if they start thanking me.' His suffering with people was in fact his identifying himself as a suffering person with anyone else who suffered. Apart from that he allowed no emotional relationship to arise.”

SufferingSchizoid
Book:Schizoid Phenomena, Object Relations and the Self
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“Praise (The Sonnet) In praising myself, I only insult myself. In pleasing myself, I bring misery upon myself. Lots of things I bought, Plenty places I travelled. Nothing gave me the bliss I seek, No matter how much I groveled. Then I stopped wanting things, I ceased craving for gratification. I placed my heart at your feet, Finally I found my absolution. Long was I lost in the sleep of pride. Erasing the self I found my light.”

PoetrySufferingPraiseSelf RealizationService Of HumanityMaterialismSelflessSonnetTravelingSelf Obsession
Book:Earthquakin' Egalitarian: I Die Everyday So Your Children Can Live
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“When examining the history of any human network, it is therefore advisable to stop from time to time and look at things from the perspective of some real entity. How do you know if an entity is real? Very simple – just ask yourself, ‘Can it suffer?’ When people burn down the temple of Zeus, Zeus doesn’t suffer. When the euro loses its value, the euro doesn’t suffer. When a bank goes bankrupt, the bank doesn’t suffer. When a country suffers a defeat in war, the country doesn’t really suffer. It’s just a metaphor. In contrast, when a soldier is wounded in battle, he really does suffer. When a famished peasant has nothing to eat, she suffers. When a cow is separated from her newborn calf, she suffers. This is reality. Of course suffering might well be caused by our belief in fictions. For example, belief in national and religious myths might cause the outbreak of war, in which millions lose their homes, their limbs and even their lives. The cause of war is fictional, but the suffering is 100 per cent real. This is exactly why we should strive to distinguish fiction from reality. Fiction isn’t bad. It is vital. Without commonly accepted stories about things like money, states or corporations, no complex human society can function. We can’t play football unless everyone believes in the same made-up rules, and we can’t enjoy the benefits of markets and courts without similar make-believe stories. But the stories are just tools. They should not become our goals or our yardsticks. When we forget that they are mere fiction, we lose touch with reality. Then we begin entire wars ‘to make a lot of money for the corporation’ or ‘to protect the national interest’. Corporations, money and nations exist only in our imagination. We invented them to serve us; how come we find ourselves sacrificing our lives in their service?”

Suffering
Book:Homo Deus A Brief History of Tomorrow By Yuval Noah Harari & How We Got to Now Six Innovations that Made the Modern World By Steven Johnson 2 Books Collection Set
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