Escape from Freedom
Episodes about this book
2 episodesHow to Tame Your Demons: Healthy Passion vs. Obsessive Drive
The host invokes Eric Fromm's book while arguing that obsessive drive is partly a mechanism for escaping existential anxiety. The speaker paraphrases Fromm alongside Eric Hoffer to suggest that surrendering oneself to a consuming pursuit—like religion, authoritarianism, or the relentless chase of excellence—is a way people avoid confronting the difficulty of being a free, mortal human being.
Don't Get Rid of Anxiety. Use It.
A speaker cites Eric Fromm's book to argue that existential anxiety arising from being a free agent in an uncertain world can be escaped in two ways: submission to an authoritarian ruler who promises certainty, or channelling it into what Fromm called 'productive activity' — creating, contributing, and doing good work. The speaker uses this to explain the appeal of fear-based politics and the alternative of channelling anxiety constructively.
Also on excellence, actually
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