On the border and beyond

The great freedom of the holiday

On the border and beyond/13 - There is more to life than just work and much more than consumption by Luigino Bruni published in Avvenire on 16/04/2017 "Live!  Live the wonderful life that is in you! Let nothing be lost upon you. Be always searching for new sensations. Be afraid of nothing.... A new...

The infinite temple of care

On the border and beyond/12 – The time of a different rhythm and relationships that can change life by Luigino Bruni published in Avvenire on 09/04/2017 'When you were coming down from the quarry this afternoon with the loaded donkey cart, weren't you approached by a stranger? Didn't you give him a ...

The devouring utility of the futile

On the border and beyond/11 - Rites that consume life and the meaning of work by Luigino Bruni published in Avvenire on 02/04/2017 "Generosity, nobility have disappeared, and with them the spectacular counterpart that the rich reciprocated to the miserable." Georges Bataille, The Notion of Dépense T...

The Era of Partial Gifts

On the border and beyond/10 - Trust to find the language of reciprocity again by Luigino Bruni published in Avvenire on 26/03/2017 "The obligation of reciprocity in the exchange is not a response to specific powers linked to the objects, but a cosmic conception which presupposes an eternal circulati...

Let us violate the big taboo

On the border and beyond/9 - For a market also directed by the "invisible hand": the gift by Luigino Bruni published in Avvenire on 19/03/2017 "Even if the world we live in is less violent than any world of the past, this is only one aspect. The other aspect shows exactly the opposite: a frightening...

But the future is "without merit"

On the border and beyond/8 - Sociability at a good price will run wild and betray us by Luigino Bruni published in Avvenire on 12/03/2017 "To seek, not the fruit of benefits, but the mere doing of them... - this is the mark of a soul that is truly great and good." Seneca, De Beneficiis (English tra...

Money is Omnipotent

On the border and beyond/7 - The sacred tool that can buy anything. But how long? by Luigino Bruni published in Avvenire on 05/03/2017 «In a world where money can buy anything, money becomes everything.» Giacomo Becattini, From a Private Conversation From the dawn of civilization, money has always h...

The Easy Gods of the Markets

On the border and beyond/6 - The "catchy tunes" of spiritual illiteracy by Luigino Bruni published in Avvenire on 26/02/2017 «My words are too difficult for you, that's why they sound too easy.» Yehudah ha-Levi, Kuzari The golden rule of mutual benefit is the basis of much good life for human beings...

Salvation is not a company

by Luigino Bruni published in Avvenire on 19/02/2017 "Workplace spirituality seems to be a significant new management paradigm that business executives can use to improve their organizations by increasing, among others, the levels of organizational commitment, satisfaction and performance of their e...

The Sad Empires of Merit

On the border and beyond/4 - A "famine of gratitude" fills the world of the damned by Luigino Bruni published in Avvenire on 12/02/2017 "Affliction is by its nature inarticulate. The afflicted silently beseech to be given the words to express themselves. There are times when they are given none..." ...

The idols are never satiated

On the border and beyond/3 - This market devours life and provides just a little money in return by Luigino Bruni published in Avvenire on 05/02/2017 "(C)apitalism is a pure religious cult, perhaps the most extreme there ever was. Within it, everything only has meaning in direct relation to the cult...

Resisting the Pied Piper

On the borders and beyond/2 - While the individualistic market triumphs and shakes by Luigino Bruni published in Avvenire on 29/01/2017 "All passions have a phase when they are merely disastrous, when they drag down their victim with the weight of stupidity — and a later, very much later phase when ...

Break away from creative destruction

On the border and beyond/1 - Between market and gratuitousness, finding new ways by Luigino Bruni published in Avvenire on 22/01/2017 "We can love nothing but what agrees with us, and we can only follow our taste or our pleasure when we prefer our friends to ourselves; nevertheless it is only by tha...