--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: This capacity for living easily and…" description: "\"“This capacity for living easily and familiarly at an extraordinary level of abstraction is the source of modern man's power. With it he has transforme..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3b4/william-barrett-14440_abstraction_this-capacity-for-living-easily-and-fami_1900407.png" --- # This capacity for living easily and familiarly at an… ![“This capacity for living easily and familiarly at an extraordinary level of abstraction is the source of modern man's power. With it he has transformed the planet, annihilated space, and trebled the world's population. But it is also a power which has, like everything human, its negative side, in…” quote by William Barrett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3b4/william-barrett-14440_abstraction_this-capacity-for-living-easily-and-fami_1900407.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3b4/william-barrett-14440_abstraction_this-capacity-for-living-easily-and-fami_1900407.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3b4/william-barrett-14440_abstraction_this-capacity-for-living-easily-and-fami_1900407.png) > ““This capacity for living easily and familiarly at an extraordinary level of abstraction is the source of modern man's power. With it he has transformed the planet, annihilated space, and trebled the world's population. But it is also a power which has, like everything human, its negative side, in the desolating sense of rootlessness, vacuity, and the lack of concrete feeling that assails modern man in his moments of real anxiety.”” [William Barrett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-barrett/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Human abstraction fuels progress but also creates alienation and anxiety. **In simple terms:** Abstraction drives power and emptiness. Key Takeaway Balance innovation with grounded connection. Themes progress alienation technology psychology existentialism Mood reflective critical thoughtful Type philosophical analytical When to use this quote - urban planning - personal development - mental health - philosophical discourse Key Concepts abstract thinking human condition modernity Questions to Reflect On - How can we retain concrete feeling while embracing abstraction? - What practices ground us amid technological advancement? A Different Perspective Abstraction can detach people from tangible experiences, limiting empathy. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Abstraction](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/abstraction/) [Alienation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/alienation/) [Anxiety](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/anxiety/) [Concreteness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/concreteness-36200/) [Control](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/control/) [Feeling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/feeling/) [Homelessness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/homelessness/) [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Man Power](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/man-power/) [Meaning](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/meaning/) [Meaninglessness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/meaninglessness/) [Modern man](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/modern-man/) [Modernity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/modernity/) [Population Power](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/population-power-2801711/) [Power](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/power/) [Power Transformed](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/power-transformed-2801710/) [Progress](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/progress/) ## Related quotes > [This Constitutional Republic called America is an historic aberration. Any honest student of history will note that the prevailing socio-economic system is feudalism, where…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/howard-nemerov/this-constitutional-republic-called-america-is-an-historic-aberration/) [Howard Nemerov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/howard-nemerov/) > [The House of Representatives, which was closer to the population, had much less power. The executive was more or less an administrator, not an…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/noam-chomsky/the-house-of-representatives-which-was-closer-to-the-population-had/) [Noam Chomsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/noam-chomsky/) > [“In any case, it is a mistake to equate concreteness with things. An individual object is the unique phenomenon it is because it is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-eagleton/in-any-case-it-is-a-mistake-to-equate-concreteness-with-things-an/) [Terry Eagleton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-eagleton/) > [For example, in painting the form arises from abstract elements of line and color, while in cinema the material concreteness of the image within…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sergei-eisenstein/for-example-in-painting-the-form-arises-from-abstract-elements-of/) [Sergei Eisenstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sergei-eisenstein/) > [“If you’ve got to teach an idea to a room full of people, and you aren’t certain what they know, concreteness is the only…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chip-heath/if-you-ve-got-to-teach-an-idea-to-a-room-full-of-people-and-you-aren/) [Chip Heath](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chip-heath/) > [“Garrison explains why concreteness empowers illustrations and furthers understanding: “If I were to talk at length about my having been deeply moved by watching…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bryan-chapell/garrison-explains-why-concreteness-empowers-illustrations-and/) [Bryan Chapell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bryan-chapell/) > [Where these reduced (operational - E.W.) concepts govern the analysis of the human reality, individual or social, mental or material, they arrive at a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herbert-marcuse/where-these-reduced-operational-e-w-concepts-govern-the-analysis-of/) [Herbert Marcuse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herbert-marcuse/) > [“Night doesn’t fall for my eyes But my idea of the night is that it falls for my eyes. Beyond my thinking and having…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alberto-caeiro/night-doesn-t-fall-for-my-eyes-but-my-idea-of-the-night-is-that-it/) [Alberto Caeiro](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alberto-caeiro/) > [Since the Greeks, Western man has believed that Being, all Being, is intelligible, that there is a reason for everythingand that the cosmos is,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-barrett/since-the-greeks-western-man-has-believed-that-being-all-being-is/) [William Barrett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-barrett/) > [“A society coming apart at top and bottom, or passing over into another form, contains just as many possibilities for revelation as a society…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-barrett/a-society-coming-apart-at-top-and-bottom-or-passing-over-into-another/) [William Barrett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-barrett/) > [“What emerges from these separate strands of (modern) history is an image of man himself that bears a new, stark, more nearly naked, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-barrett/what-emerges-from-these-separate-strands-of-modern-history-is-an/) [William Barrett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-barrett/) > [“The more severely he struggles to hold on to the primal face-to-face relation with God, the more tenuous this becomes, until in the end…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-barrett/the-more-severely-he-struggles-to-hold-on-to-the-primal-face-to-face/) [William Barrett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-barrett/) > [“Man's feeling of homelessness, of alienation has been intensified in the midst of a bureaucratized, impersonal mass society. He has come to feel himself…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-barrett/man-s-feeling-of-homelessness-of-alienation-has-been-intensified-in/) [William Barrett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-barrett/) > [Love is an active power in man; a power which breaks through the walls which separate man from his fellow men, which unite him…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erich-fromm/love-is-an-active-power-in-man-a-power-which-breaks-through-the-walls/) [Erich Fromm](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erich-fromm/) > [“This path will lead right down into the deepest situation of human powerlessness. The follower becomes a laughingstock, scorned and taken for a fool,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-metaxes/this-path-will-lead-right-down-into-the-deepest-situation-of-human/) [Eric Metaxes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-metaxes/) ## More by William Barrett > [“David Hume, in a moment of acute skepticism, felt panicky in the solitude of his study and had to go out and join his…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-barrett/david-hume-in-a-moment-of-acute-skepticism-felt-panicky-in-the/) [William Barrett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-barrett/) > [We must be free for the truth; and conversely, to be able to be open toward the truth may be our deepest freedom as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-barrett/we-must-be-free-for-the-truth-and-conversely-to-be-able-to-be-open/) [William Barrett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-barrett/) > [Anxiety is not fear, being afraid of this or that definite object, but the uncanny feeling of being afraid of nothing at all. It…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-barrett/anxiety-is-not-fear-being-afraid-of-this-or-that-definite-object-but/) [William Barrett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-barrett/) > [“When faith is full, it dares to express its anger, for faith is the openness of the whole man toward his God, and therefore…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-barrett/when-faith-is-full-it-dares-to-express-its-anger-for-faith-is-the/) [William Barrett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-barrett/) > [Much like tobacco companies want to keep smokers dependent on their deadly product, the oil industry wants to keep California dependent on oil –…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-barrett/much-like-tobacco-companies-want-to-keep-smokers-dependent-on-their/) [William Barrett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-barrett/) > [“The more severely he struggles to hold on to the primal face-to-face relation with God, the more tenuous this becomes, until in the end…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-barrett/the-more-severely-he-struggles-to-hold-on-to-the-primal-face-to-face/) [William Barrett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-barrett/) > [“If science could comprehend all phenomena so that eventually in a thoroughly rational society human beings became as predictable as cogs in a machine,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-barrett/if-science-could-comprehend-all-phenomena-so-that-eventually-in-a/) [William Barrett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-barrett/) > [“To be rational is not the same as to be reasonable.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-barrett/to-be-rational-is-not-the-same-as-to-be-reasonable/) [William Barrett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-barrett/) > [“Certainly, we can no longer look upon the canon of Western art - Greco-Roman as revived, extended, and graced by the Renaissance - as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-barrett/certainly-we-can-no-longer-look-upon-the-canon-of-western-art-greco/) [William Barrett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-barrett/) > [Hunger is not the worst feature of unemployment; idleness is.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-barrett/hunger-is-not-the-worst-feature-of-unemployment-idleness-is/) [William Barrett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-barrett/) > [“We cannot define ourselves without negating the alternatives that we do not become.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-barrett/we-cannot-define-ourselves-without-negating-the-alternatives-that-we/) [William Barrett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-barrett/) > [“We have to be who we are, however we may seek eventually to transform ourselves.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-barrett/we-have-to-be-who-we-are-however-we-may-seek-eventually-to-transform/) [William Barrett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-barrett/) > [The bond that attaches us to the life outside ourselves is the same bond that holds us to our own life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-barrett/the-bond-that-attaches-us-to-the-life-outside-ourselves-is-the-same/) [William Barrett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-barrett/) > [“The Greek word for “I know,” oida, is the perfect of the verb “to see” and means “I have seen.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-barrett/the-greek-word-for-i-know-oida-is-the-perfect-of-the-verb-to-see-and/) [William Barrett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-barrett/) > [“To the other person, who looks at me from the outside, I seem an object, a thing; my subjectivity with its inner freedom escapes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-barrett/to-the-other-person-who-looks-at-me-from-the-outside-i-seem-an-object/) [William Barrett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-barrett/) [Explore all 46 William Barrett quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-barrett/) ## More Abstraction quotes > [Everything in dancing is style, allusion, the essence of many thoughts and feelings. The abstraction of many moments.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alvin-ailey/everything-in-dancing-is-style-allusion-the-essence-of-many-thoughts/) [Alvin Ailey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alvin-ailey/) > [The premises from which we begin are not arbitrary ones, not dogmas, but real premises from which abstraction can only be made in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/melchor-lim/the-premises-from-which-we-begin-are-not-arbitrary-ones-not-dogmas/) [Melchor Lim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/melchor-lim/) > [Two elements are needed to form a truth - a fact and an abstraction](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/remy-de-gourmont/two-elements-are-needed-to-form-a-truth-a-fact-and-an-abstraction/) [Remy de Gourmont](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/remy-de-gourmont/) > [But we must not underestimate the potency of the mathematical process of abstraction. A surprising variety of things happen to have both magnitude and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/banesh-hoffmann/but-we-must-not-underestimate-the-potency-of-the-mathematical-process/) [Banesh Hoffmann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/banesh-hoffmann/) > [Sometimes I start in a very realistic fashion, and as I go on from one painting to another of the same kind, it becomes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georgia-o-keeffe/sometimes-i-start-in-a-very-realistic-fashion-and-as-i-go-on-from-one/) [Georgia O'Keeffe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/georgia-o-keeffe/) > [I like residing in abstraction.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sufjan-stevens/i-like-residing-in-abstraction/) [Sufjan Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sufjan-stevens/) > [Cancer begins and ends with people. In the midst of scientific abstraction, it is sometimes possible to forget this one basic fact. Doctors treat…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/june-goodfield/cancer-begins-and-ends-with-people-in-the-midst-of-scientific/) [June Goodfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/june-goodfield/) > [Yes, there was an element of abstraction and unreality in misfortune. But when an abstraction starts to kill you, you have to get to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-camus/yes-there-was-an-element-of-abstraction-and-unreality-in-misfortune/) [Albert Camus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-camus/) > [Computer Science is a science of abstraction -creating the right model for a problem and devising the appropriate mechanizable techniques to solve it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfred-aho/computer-science-is-a-science-of-abstraction-creating-the-right-model/) [Alfred Aho](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfred-aho/) > [In 'Self Comes to Mind' I pay a lot of attention to simple creatures without brains or minds, because those 'cartooned abstractions of who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/antonio-damasio/in-self-comes-to-mind-i-pay-a-lot-of-attention-to-simple-creatures/) [Antonio Damasio](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/antonio-damasio/) > [Don't get stuck on the level of words. A word is no more than a means to an end. It's an abstraction. Not unlike…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eckhart-tolle/don-t-get-stuck-on-the-level-of-words-a-word-is-no-more-than-a-means/) [Eckhart Tolle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eckhart-tolle/) > [Holidays are in no sense an alternative to the congestion and bustle of the cities and work. Quite the contrary. People look to escape…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-baudrillard/holidays-are-in-no-sense-an-alternative-to-the-congestion-and-bustle/) [Jean Baudrillard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-baudrillard/) > [The pragmatist turns away from abstraction and insufficiency, from verbal solutions, from bad a priori reasons, from fixed principles, closed systems, and pretended absolutes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-james/the-pragmatist-turns-away-from-abstraction-and-insufficiency-from/) [William James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-james/) > [ I'd say that \[Louis\] Brandeis practiced a kind of a "living originalism," to use the title of Jack Balkin's great book. He said you… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeffrey-rosen/i-d-say-that-louis-brandeis-practiced-a-kind-of-a-living-originalism/) [Jeffrey Rosen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeffrey-rosen/) > [When novels deal in abstractions, they generally go off the rails.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philipp-meyer/when-novels-deal-in-abstractions-they-generally-go-off-the-rails/) [Philipp Meyer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philipp-meyer/) [Browse all 562 Abstraction quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/abstraction/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“This capacity for living easily and familiarly at an extraordinary level of abstraction is the source of modern man's power. With it he has transformed the planet, annihilated space, and trebled the world's population. 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