http://forums.thinkarete.com/forums/the-big-ideas/topics/pretence en-us 60 <p align="center">&ldquo;<em>Today we come across an individual who behaves like an automaton, who does not know</em></p><p align="center"> <em>or understand himself, and the only person that he knows is the person that he is supposed to be, </em></p><p align="center"><em>whose meaningless chatter has replaced communicative speech, whose synthetic smile has replaced genuine laughter, and whose sense of dull despair has taken the place of genuine pain. </em></p><p align="center"><em>Two statements may be said concerning this individual. One is that he suffers from defects of spontaneity and individuality which may seem to be incurable. At the same time it may be said of him he does not differ essentially from the millions of the rest of us who walk upon this earth.&rdquo;</em></p><p align="center">&nbsp;</p><p align="center">~ Erich Fromm</p><p><em>That </em> is a powerful statement.</p><p>&hellip;</p><p>Are you authentically showing up in your life?</p><p>Or pretending to be something you&rsquo;re not?</p><p>Beware of the latter.</p> Fri, 11 Jan 2008 22:43:13 -0000 forums.thinkarete.com:503:211:211 brian http://forums.thinkarete.com/forums/503/topics/211