There are other ways of finding satisfaction, recipes for human happiness, enjoyment, dignified and meaningful, gratifying life, than increased consumption that increases production.
Zygmunt BaumanRead
In a liquid modern life there are no permanent bonds, and any that we take up for a time must be tied loosely so that they can be untied again, as quickly and as effortlessly as possible, when circumstances change - as they surely will in our liquid modern society, over and over again.
Interpretation
In a rapidly changing world, relationships and commitments must be flexible to adapt to new circumstances.
Zygmunt Bauman discusses the nature of relationships in our modern society, describing them as 'liquid' due to their transient and adaptable nature. In a world where change is constant, forming permanent bonds becomes unrealistic; instead, we must accept that our connections may need to be loose and easily adjustable, allowing us to navigate the fluctuations of life without being overly constrained by our commitments.
In practice
In a speech about the evolving nature of work and collaboration.
There are other ways of finding satisfaction, recipes for human happiness, enjoyment, dignified and meaningful, gratifying life, than increased consumption that increases production.
Civilisation, the orderly world in which we live, is frail. We are skating on thin ice. There is a fear of a collective disaster. Terrorism, genocide, flu, tsunamis.
We belong to talking, not what talking is about... Stop talking - and you are out. Silence equals exclusion.
The carrying power of a bridge is not the average strength of the pillars, but the strength of the weakest pillar. I have always believed that you do not measure the health of a society by GNP but by the condition of its worst off.
As far as love is concerned, possession, power, fusion and disenchantment are the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
We live in a world of communication - everyone gets information about everyone else. There is universal comparison and you don't just compare yourself with the people next door, you compare yourself to people all over the world and with what is being presented as the decent, proper and dignified life. It's the crime of humiliation.
I hope to see the two great religions, Islam and Christianity, hand-in-hand, embracing each other. Then the Torah and the Bible and the Qurβan will become books supporting one another being read everywhere, and respected by every nation β¦ [I am] looking forward to seeing Muslims read the Torah and the Bible.
Capitalism does not permit an even flow of economic resources. With this system, a small privileged few are rich beyond conscience, and almost all others are doomed to be poor at some level. That's the way the system works. And since we know that the system will not change the rules, we are going to have to change the system.
I am one of billions. I am stardust gathered fleetingly into form. I will be ungathered. The stardust will go on to be other things someday and I will be free.
Freedom can be destroyed, not just by its retraction, but also by its abuse.
The war of ideas is a Greek invention. It is one of the most important inventions ever made. Indeed, the possibility of fighting with with words and ideas instead of fighting with swords is the very basis of our civilization, and especially of all its legal and parliamentary institutions.
When you kill a man, you steal a life. You steal his wife's right to a husband, rob his children of a father. When you tell a lie, you steal someone's right to the truth. When you cheat, you steal the right to fairness.
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