We have to realize that we are as deeply afraid to live and to love as we are to die.
R. D. LaingRead
Here we have the paradox, the potentially tragic paradox, that our relatedness to others is an essential aspect of our being, as is our separateness, but any particular person is not a necessary part of our being.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote explores the balance between our connections with others and our individuality.
R. D. Laing highlights a paradox in human existence, where our inherent need for connection with others is juxtaposed with the understanding that no single individual is essential for our being. This reflects on the complexity of relationships and individuality, suggesting that while relationships enrich our lives, they are not the sole determinant of our identity.
Themes
ParadoxRelatednessSeparatenessIdentityRelationships
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about the importance of personal identity alongside community involvement.
More from R. D. Laing
All quotes →Madness need not be all breakdown. It may also be break-through. It is potential liberation and renewal as well as enslavement and existential death.
R. D. LaingRead
Whether life is worth living depends on whether there is love in life.
R. D. LaingRead
The experience and behavior that gets labeled schizophrenic is a special strategy that a person invents in order to live in an unlivable situation.
R. D. LaingRead
The range of what we think and do is limited by what we fail to notice.
R. D. LaingRead
There is a great deal of pain in life and perhaps the only pain that can be avoided is the pain that comes from trying to avoid pain.
R. D. LaingRead
Similar quotes
We're never going to come to a moment where all of us who claim to be feminists can agree about what the first priority of feminism is.
Kimberle Williams CrenshawRead
In my day, MI6 - which I called the Circus in the books - stank of wartime nostalgia. People were defined by secret cachet: one man did something absolutely extraordinary in Norway; another was the darling of the French Resistance. We didn't even show passes to go in and out of the building.
John Le CarreRead
Ownership is not limited to material things. It can also apply to points of view. Once we take ownership of an idea - whether it’s about politics or sports - what do we do? We love it perhaps more than we should. We prize it more than it is worth. And most frequently, we have trouble letting go of it because we can’t stand the idea of its loss. What are we left with then? An ideology - rigid and unyielding.
Dan ArielyRead
It is intolerable that in our country citizens should feel so upset and under assault because of their religious choice that they would conclude that they have to hide.
Francois HollandeRead
Each one of them is Jesus in disguise.
Mother TeresaRead
Something in the world forces us to think. This something is an object not of recognition but of a fundamental encounter.
Gilles DeleuzeRead