Hello Rethinking Humanity Subscribers!

I am super excited to introduce you to Fromm Daily!

It’s birth has been a focused effort since October of 2022, as I faced the task of figuring out how to pivot Rethinking Humanity in the absence of my dearly beloved co-host, Sonya.

How do I preserve the podcast until she is able to record again, but yet, continue to post episodes without her? I didn’t want a temporary co-host, and I didn’t want to do a 45 minute podcast episode on my own.

My solution? Fromm Daily.

A short form podcast would give me the length I needed to feel comfortable going solo. A daily podcast was one that I felt, frequency wise, would be a good fit for short form.

Although not explicitly the main subject of the Rethinking Humanity Podcast, much of the content from the episodes are based on Fromm’s writings. Sonya and I decided we wouldn’t make the podcast explicitly about Fromm. We both liked that.

But now, I like how niche a Fromm podcast sounds. He was, ultimately, the inspiration for me behind the Rethinking Humanity podcast. Plus he has loads of content that can absolutely justify a podcast dedicated to his writings.

And guess what? From what I can see, there aren’t any podcasts out there devoted to Fromm.

So, I said, I’m in!

I began with the idea of doing Fromm Daily under the umbrella of Rethinking Humanity, right here on the Rethinking Humanity Substack.

But, as I thought more about the marketing around the podcast, and how niche it was, I felt that it would be more successful to create it as a separate podcast and as it’s own Substack. After all, I plan to market this podcast and I hope that it can ultimately bring me an income. I never had that intention with Rethinking Humanity.

So, I went about creating it separately in mid-December. It delayed the scheduled launch for more than a month. There was lots to rewrite and redo as a result of the changes.

But, ultimately, it was worth it!

I want to focus on Fromm Daily and build it over time as a great resource for you and others, and an income source for me. Doing so will enable me to live a life that aligns with my values. I don’t want to live work obsessed. I want to do something I authentically want to do with my time. Fromm Daily would accomplish that goal.

You can see what I’ve created at www.frommdaily.com. Keep in mind, though, its not quite done yet. And, don’t subscribe! Because I already have you added to the list.

You might be thinking, “Wait, what if I have a paid subscription for Rethinking Humanity?!”

Great question.

Here’s how that will work:

Those of you who have paid subscriptions to Rethinking Humanity will be grandfathered in as paid subscribers of Fromm Daily for the remainder of your subscription period. So, don’t worry, you won’t be missing out on any of the benefits you’re rightly due.

I have given paid subscribers to Rethinking Humanity a comped subscription to Fromm Daily until the end of their paid Rethinking Humanity subscription. At that point, you can choose to resubscribe paid to Fromm Daily. So there is no need to cancel your paid subscription here.

Those of you who are free subscribers of Rethinking Humanity, I have added you to the Fromm Daily Subscription list automatically, since the content is so similar to Rethinking Humanity and, since I know you have been invested in my work previously. If you’d like to unsubscribe, you can do so at any time.

As for regular Rethinking Humanity episodes, we hope for them to continue again when Sonya is back in action. Until then, some episodes may drop at random times, but it’s highly unlikely. With Victor also now unavailable due to outside circumstances, it’s just me. So, for now, the main focus is Fromm Daily.

You’ll learn more in the coming days about what Fromm Daily is, but for now I want to share a short description to whet your appetite for the things to come.

What is Fromm Daily?

Fromm Daily is a fifteen minute daily podcast and ensuing Substack community. The podcast gives listeners encouragement in their personal growth journey and exposure to the writings of social philosopher Erich Fromm. The Substack provides engagement with myself and other listeners twice weekly, via Substack Chats and a Zoom-based Personal Growth Support Group.

Stay tuned! Fromm Daily is slated to launch Monday, Feb 20.

Thank you for your continued patience and support these last few months during a very quiet transition period.

If you have any questions or concerns and want to reach out, feel free to send me an email at lacey@frommdaily.com.

With love and humanity,

Lacey Delayne

I wanted to share some recent paintings I’ve done.

Before leaving the US, I purchased a small watercolor notebook. I had previously found myself cutting small pieces of watercolor paper and painting on them.

Somehow the smaller size was less intimidating.

Yet, it was difficult to keep up with the pictures I’d painted, so I thought that I’d purchase a small notebook to keep all my paintings together, to form a portfolio of sorts.

While on the plane to London, I painted my first painting in the notebook, entitled Happy Chaos.

Our trip had gotten off to a crazy start, and would continue to be crazy, as I mentioned in our latest episode. I expressed some of the stress I was feeling in the painting. At the same time, I was happy to be making the move and taking the risk to have an experience like living in Spain. So I titled it Happy Chaos.

Here it is:

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Saludos desde Espana!

It has been about two weeks since our last episode, in which I prepped you for a couple of weeks without one. The demands of adjusting to a new home in Spain were to keep me from it, and now I have my head above water enough to send a little written update, although we are still very much in the midst of the transition. We are feeling the weight of the challenges of the change, and have likely exited the honeymoon period that tends to last 2-4 weeks before culture shocks hits those who move to a different country.

So here we are, and it doesn’t feel great! Everything is so different, and everything is a challenge. Taking solace in eating a meal out can be difficult in our small town because the menus here are so different. I knew getting adjusted would be a challenge, because I have lived abroad before, but I forgot how it actually feels. Culture shock is ….not fun. I feel super isolated, alone, confused, disconnected, a little bit judged, outcast, like an outsider, irritated, unable to find calm like I did back home, and perplexed by the way folks do certain things here. All these feeling are normal, I know, and I take rest in that, but it doesn’t change the fact that it doesn’t feel good. Writing about it is helping, though, and I greatly appreciate you who are reading it right now!

My boyfriend and I landed in Spain Sept. 28, in Madrid, and, after a VERY eventful trip, full of unexpected twists and turns, we made our way to Sevilla where we would spend the night and finally get to take a little bit of a breath. Making it to Sevilla was so refreshing. It was like cold water on a hot day. We had been lugging around three XL suitcases that were over 50 pounds each, plus a rolling carry on and a backpack each. We booked a nice hotel, anticipating we’d need the rest, and boy was it what the doctor ordered. It was beautiful, and the shower in it was magnificent. Just what we needed after two days of travel. We washed off, and went and ate at a nearby restaurant that was accessible on foot, as most things are in Spain and much of Europe. We had three main courses, and two beers each and our tab was 20 Euros. We were like yess! This is why we came! Low cost of living, walkability.

The next day we rented a car to drive to what will become our home for the next 8 months or so, a pueblo in northern Cadiz, about an hour south of Sevilla. It was necessary since we hadn’t found a place to live yet, and we had a lot of luggage to carry around until we did. We saw two places that day, and the second one we fell in love with. Mountain views from the kitchen and living room, third floor, three bedroom two bath, very spacious and lots of natural light. A private patio and community rooftop terrace topped it off. We were like “Where do we sign?” Shortly after, we found out the owner of the piso wouldn’t be able to allow us to declare its address as our living space, which is necessary for getting a residence card. So, it wasn’t going to work out. But, he did offer for us to stay in the place until we found the right apartment. And we took him up on it, gratefully! However, it was certainly a disappointment that is still lingering a little with me.

Fast forward to today, Saturday, October 15, and we are preparing to move. Not from that beautiful 3BR mountain view piso, but from the one we moved into a couple of days after.

I think this could be part of the reason why I am feeling a lot today. Its been weeks since I’ve felt settled and although the move we are making today is ultimately good, it is still hard, it is still change, it is still us unsettled, and I am feeling some fear around how we will adjust and if it will be what we need. Mo has had some major trouble sleeping in the current apartment, and I have had some as well. It is in a very central location, very close to the school I am placed in and one street over from the main street where all the bars and restaurants are. So, it might not be hard to imagine that it is loud. And, this is southern Spain. Where there is lovely weather year round, no central heating and air conditioning, and lots of people living close together. So the combination of folks being loud (culturally folks are much louder here than in the United States), sleeping with the windows open for air flow, being close to the center of town and the schedule many in Spain hold, we hear noise pretty much all day, and late at night since dinnertime here is around 10pm. The new piso, which we will move into later today, will be much more quiet, has way more natural light, is brighter on the inside, is on the other side of town, has more modern decor, has a large private patio and is bigger. It is absolutely imperative for our health right now to make the move. As I type Mo is napping to catch up after a night of only a few hours sleep. We will begin the move in about an hour, around 6:00 local time with the help of the owner of the piso, who will grab us and our 10,000 maletas to get the process going.

I have several thoughts on things to share with you all, and I plan to do so soon, as well as posting a new episode. Hang in there with me and stay tuned!

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As I have mentioned in previous podcast episodes, I have intentionally begun to make time to paint.

I don’t consider myself an artist. But, the more I have read, especially the more I have read Fromm, the more I have realized the importance of creativity. Flexing the creative muscles are vital to well being.

And, play is imperative to creativity. Creativity is one of our productive human powers.

Creativity and play are avenues to concentration and inner productivity.

So, on my journey to live from the being mode of existence (see episode three for more on what this means), I have set out to paint more. And I have decided that my paintings would be a fun thing to share with our paid subscribers on occasion.

So, here is my latest piece:

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Episode 49: The Handbag Analogy

Introduction & Thanks to Supporters

How can an analogy with handbags illustrate how we have turned humans from beings into things? We also discuss “proper functioning,” manipulative intelligence, and the split between emotion and intellect. And, Lacey shares where she’s moving!

We send lots of love and a huge shoutout to all our newest Substack subscribers since the last episode: Brad Swingruber, Bethany Williamson, Jenn Dearth, Mark Miller, Florence Tang, Carly Reilly, Moma Sayplay, Aaron Seskin, Rebecca Koenig, and Corey Moore. We appreciate you signing up for a free subscription!

Big props to Don Freeman and Cheryl & Steve Arnemann, who are our first paid subscribers! And we were so excited to see Cheryl’s comment on the bonus episode. We love it when you guys comment in the Rethinking Humanity Substack community!

New Podcast Host Description

What is substack, you might be asking? It is a blog-like platform made for content creators to easily connect with their supporters, executed by email subscription. We like to say its a subscription-based online podcast community. Subscribers can post comments, read posts authored by Sonya and Lacey, listen to the podcast, hear bonus episodes and more. To check it out, simply visit www.rethinkinghumanity.us or rethinkinghumanity.substack.com.

To become a subscriber, enter your email address in the popup window that appears when you go to rethinkinghumanity.us. Choose your level of support, (free, paid monthly or paid yearly) and that’s it! Check out our previous podcast episodes and written posts, and get access to our bonus content and bonus episodes if you become a paid subscriber.

We wrote a piece describing who we are as a podcast and it is pinned to the main page. Its right by the picture of the two of us. We invite you to give it a read! For paid subscribers, Lacey will be sharing her art as she learns to paint, we have bonus episodes that we put out a week after each regular episode, and we are developing more fun bonus content as we grow!

National News Commentary

The Inflation Reduction Act Legislation, Sonya shared, seems to be a big step in the right direction for the U.S. on climate change. Incentives versus punishments were the cornerstone of this legislation that many democrats knew was a goal of Biden’s to pass before the end of his presidency.

Trump’s Mar-A-Lago FBI Raid reminded Lacey of the FBI raid on Jeffrey Epstien’s Palm Beach home years ago, and wonders if big things will happen at some point in the future as a result of the historical event.

Personal News

Lacey is moving to Spain! For all the juicy details, become a paid subscriber and you’ll have access to bonus episodes where she shares all about the big decision.

Content

Quotes from the book The Essential Fromm by Erich Fromm, Edited by Ranier Funk. (The Continuum International Publishing Group Inc., 2007. Copyright 1993, 1995 by The Estate of Erich Fromm)

The Handbag Analogy

The average person today feels alone. He feels himself to be a commodity, by which I mean he feels that his value depends on his success, depends on his salability, depends on the approval of others. He feels that it does not depend on the intrinsic or what you might call the use value of his personality, not on his powers, not on his capacity to love, not on his human qualities - except if he can sell them, except if he can be successful, except if he is approved by others.

This accounts for the fact that the self-esteem of most people today is very shaky. They do not feel themselves worthy because of their own conviction: “This is me, this is my capacity to love, this is my capacity to think and to feel,” but because they are approved by others, because they can sell themselves, because others say “This is a wonderful man or woman.”

Naturally, when the feeling of self-esteem is dependent upon others it becomes uncertain. Each day is a new battle because each day you have to convince someone, and you have to prove to yourself, that you are alright.

To use an analogy, I would suggest that you consider how handbags would feel on a counter store. The handbag of one particular style, of which may have been sold, would feel elated in the evening; and the other handbag, of a style a little out of fashion or a little too expensive or which, for some other reason, had not been sold, would be depressed. The one handbag would feel: “I am unworthy,” and yet the “wonderful” handbag may not be more beautiful, or more useful or have any better intrinsic quality than the other one. The unsold handbag would feel it was not wanted. In our analogy, a handbag’s sense of value would depend on its success, on how many purchasers, for one reason or another, preferred this one to the other. (pp.23-24)

Basically, Fromm is saying that a human being’s worth has now come to be evaluated by his/her own ability to sell themselves on the marketplace. For example, in our culure’s eyes, someone who is working is more “valuable” than someone who isn’t working. Someone who has money is more “valuable” than someone who is poor. Someone who has a fancy new car is more respected than someone who has an older one. A grandmother, a stay at home mom or a person who has a chronic disease is less likely to be viewed as ones worthy of the resources needed to live than one who works a conventional job. Another proof is the resistance to the idea of a Universal Basic Income. Is a person not worthy of food, drink, shelter, and safety regardless of what he does? Or is it only for those who have the ability to sell themselves or their abilities to others? What then, does this mean when it comes to our primary motivation and means to relating to each other?

Proper Functioning

The marketing character goal, “proper functioning” under the given circumstances, makes them function in the world mainly cerebrally. (p.25)

Lacey and Sonya comment on how relating to the world mainly cerebrally is hindering. Also, on how society is built with the ultimate goal of its inhabitants “functioning properly.” Functioning properly means following social norms, not questioning authority, and prioritizing work and the machine above all else, regardless of how much it is harmful to living things or denies our human needs.

Manipulative Intelligence

Reason discerns causes and relationships, how they are and why they are that way. Manipulative intelligence is concerned only with how a person can better use things for himself. Reason is specifically human and is effective only insofar as man has freed himself from irrational passions and desires.

His manipulative intelligence, on the other hand, is excited and increased by greediness. The greedy person is sly; the reasonable person is smart; the dependent person becomes stupid; the independent person becomes wiser. Ultimately the distinction between reason and manipulative intelligence issues from a moral problem. The more man wants to have and the more he makes himself dependent on things and is bound to them, the more he will become a prisoner of things.

Stupidity is not a result of deficient innate intelligence, but rather of deficient freedom. Reason develops only in freedom, not only in freedom from external coercive forces, but also from internal coercive forces of confinement in its numerous manifestations. This distinction is easily forgotten in industrial society, where manipulative intelligence is the ruling type of thinking. (p.26)

What a powerful first line in that last paragraph. Deficient freedom is what causes stupidity. Sit with that for a minute. It can absolutely be seen in our current society. We have a lack of autonomy, and it breeds an attitude of disinterest, passivity and depression. It causes a lack of growth, experience and ability to relate to the world from the core of who we are.

The Split Between Affect (Emotion) and Intellect

Why we have developed in a top-heavy way is a very interesting question. Why, within three or four centuries, has all our emphasis shifted more and more to intellect and more and more away from rationality and intensity of affect?

There is not space to discuss this, but it has a great deal to do with our mode of production, with our increasing emphasis on technique, with our necessity to develop intellect for purposes of science and science for the purposes of technique.

We cannot quite separate the society, in which production becomes the paramount purpose, from human development in which intellect becomes the paramount value.

Sometimes one can see in psychoanalysis that a person consciously, on the surface, thinks he is very happy. He loves his wife, he loves his children and he is very happy. If you dig a little deeper, this follows: He makes a good living, he is successful and is respected; therefore, he assumes that he has to feel happy. So his feeling happy is actually an assumption about feeling happy. Then you go a step deeper and you might say to this man: “Look here, I have watched your face now for several sessions and I think you look awfully sad and depressed. What are you sad about?” Then you might find that this person who has said that for twenty years he has never cried, suddenly remembers something from his childhood, something that was always alive in him, and cries uncontrollably. You find that to protect himself from sadness he had to protect himself from feeling, and over this protection from feeling he put an illusion of feeling, something that was nothing but a logical assumption. (p.28)

Fromm writes: “You find that to protect himself from sadness, he had to protect himself from feeling.” Lacey might admit that she has observed the above scenario in her own life. She and Sonya comment on how common it seems to be. It seems that the values we hold as a society keep us from allowing ourselves to be human in the ways that make us fully alive: by feeling, by loving, by being, by experiencing.

Having, buying, consuming, producing, collecting: the obsessive desire for things is drowning out the ability to be and to feel. And that is eroding our relationships and our well being.

Farewell

We end the episode by thanking our listeners for being with us, reminding them to check us out on Substack and to be on the lookout for the next bonus episode, which will drop next week.

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Our mental health is suffering. Self medication is the status quo whether through alcohol, drugs, shopping, social media or whatever addiction powerful enough to distract us from the pain. 

Our sense of purpose is frequently tied to our jobs, leaving little space for the human autonomy we need to thrive. We don't know how to find our worth outside of the workplace. The domination of work causes the deterioration of our relationships, robbing us of one of the most needed experiences in life: love.

The United States rates 16th in the world on the happiness scale, along with having one of the highest rates of anxiety, depression and child poverty in the developed world. 

We live in a rich highly developed country, and are struggling with the basics. We aren’t alone in our condition; other countries suffer from similar problems but struggle to find solutions.

There was a social philosopher in the 1950’s by the name of Erich Fromm who wrote extensively on these very issues. His message resonates with us and is timely: We are living in a world predominated by machines. Humans aren’t valued unless they’re producing and consuming. We are slaves to things, dead inanimate things (our homes, cars, toys, etc.) We live to keep the economy humming by continuing to buy and consume even at the expense of lives without authenticity, value or purpose. 

As obvious as it is to some, many are not aware of this truth.

We, Lacey and Sonya, find it important to share the realities we’re seeing, and discuss ideas that can lead us to a better quality of life. Our podcast dives into current events, history, and Fromm’s writings. We interview authors, thinkers and anyone that can add to these meaningful discussions.

We met through a philosophy Meetup group in the Atlanta area in 2018. We had similar values and both loved reading books that explored living conscientiously and purposefully. Our friendship grew as our conversation centered on how to improve the quality of life in today’s modern culture.

Rethinking Humanity podcast initiated in the hopes of sharing our conversations with others and to continue the dialogue that is so urgently needed today.

If you haven’t heard an episode yet, we recommend starting with episode 24 titled “Are We Sane?” 

If you have, thank you!  We are so glad to have you as a listener and hopefully now, as a part of our Substack community.

We moved to the Substack platform in July of 2022, after two years of doing the podcast. We saw it as the most viable and ethical way to monetize, grow our podcast and build a community of folks with similar values. Substack is a platform where we can share the podcast and other content, and at the same time, interact with you.

Here’s what happens if you become a paid subscriber

If you choose to support us at any level you will get access to bonus content along with our episodes. Bonus content includes bonus episodes on a bi-weekly basis, where we share more openly and personally than we do on a regular podcast episode. Lacey will be sharing her journey in learning to paint with paid subscribers, including the art itself. We are developing more cool bonus content as we grow!

Becoming a paid subscriber enables us to keep making content. It empowers others to see how we can rethink the way we do life by shifting the values of our society to accommodate our humanity. 

Subscribe now

Can’t Pay for a Subscription? You still get a lot with a free one

You can interact in our Substack community, get access to our podcast episodes and written content. You are notified via email when we post something new.

For either subscription, please be sure to add our email address (rethinkinghumanity@substack.com) to your contacts list or address book so that the emails come directly to your inbox. If you are having trouble finding the emails, check your spam or the promotions tab.

Are you going to send me a shit ton of emails?

No! You, your time, and attention, are way too valuable for that! As a subscriber, paid or unpaid, you will receive an email when:

1. A new podcast episode posts 

2. Bonus content drops 

3. Written content posts

That means an average of one email per week, as our typical rhythm will be to post an episode every other week and share bonus content the weeks in between. We don’t plan to write posts often, but when we do, they will come in the form of an email.  And that’s it!

Thanks again for joining us on the ‘stack. :)

With love and humanity,

Lacey & Sonya

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