Becoming Human is an Art

• Four Etudes
• Rob Riemen

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Becoming human is an art. Not a science. If it were a science, then there would be established definitions, proven theories, unambiguous answers, protocols and manuals for life. There are none. Becoming human is an art. An art that every individual – with all the desires, uncertainties, doubts, fears and failures that are inherent in our existence – must find its own way to achieve the humanity that must enable us to live in truth, to create beauty, to be compassionate and just.

As variations on a theme, Rob Riemen offers four études in the art of becoming human. An étude that looks at war as a school of life; an étude in conquering stupidity and lies; an étude in courage and compassion; and lastly an étude in the redemption from anxiety through creative power and true love. Four études that are intended as a helping hand to all those who concern themselves with Socrates’s two great questions: „Tell me, what is the right way to live? And what is a good society?“

* * *

As it happens in life, at the very moment when the weight of an accident or tragedy that befell you overwhelms you, wherever you look, the question about the meaning of your life stares at you. You can't escape it. And just when you think you can see it, that you know what that meaning is, what the meaning of your life is, it seems too far away, you can't reach it – that's what you think. But then it's as if an invisible voice is heard from somewhere, addressing you and saying: „Is that it? Is that all of your life? Does it have to end like that? No? Then get up and go! Change your life!“

* * *

Humanity has alienated itself from mother nature and is consciously destroying it, and is not restrained by any value system. Humanity, once the crown of God's creation, has turned into a wandering, soulless, demon-possessed mass. What remains is a society full of boredom and sensationalism because of the senselessness it cultivates; a society full of ignorance because of the heartlessness it cultivates; and a society full of conformity because of the ideology of utility it cultivates.

Rob Riemen

• ISBN: 978-953-369-046-9
• Dimensions: 125x200 mm
• Number of pages: 220
• Cover: paperback
• Year of the edition: 2024
• Original title: Mens worden is een kunst. Vier etudes
• Original language: Dutch
• Translation: Svetlana Grubić Samaržija