Introduction: What kind of society do you want to live in?
A society over-reliant on growth
A vicious cycle of acceleration, heat generation, and exhaustion
The promise of modernity has collapsed.
Give me a listening heart
Hearing someone's voice that is very different from yours
Resonance connecting with the world
Translator's Note: A World Where Small Voices Can Reach

A society that consumes people and is at a standstill
Burnout swept through the illusion of growth.

The logic of modern growth promised social progress and a better life for each individual.
The belief that my labor would develop the society I live in and that society would reward me in return was the driving force behind the rapid development of society.
But for now, when we must rely on growth to maintain the status quo, such a belief is nothing more than a deceptive slogan.
The insistence that society must become faster, taller, and more numerous in every field to survive, even when further growth and development are meaningless, creates a social compulsion.
Of course, this has a major impact on the worsening instability of the social structure as the social system itself becomes increasingly inefficient.

The author defines the characteristics of modern society as 'galloping stillness'.
We are running to grow, but on the other hand, society is rigid because it has lost its sense of movement.
The world has already developed beyond what is necessary for survival.
However, continuous growth is necessary to maintain jobs, collect taxes, and maintain welfare systems.
This is because the moment society stagnates, the institutional pressure it receives becomes extreme.
Change and progress have been a constant flow throughout human history, but modern society is the first to require yearly growth simply to maintain the status quo.
Humans, burdened with the burden of acceleration and innovation, cannot help but form an aggressive relationship with the world.
Corporations destroy the environment beyond repair in their quest to increase sales, and individuals are oppressed by precarious employment, ineffective welfare, and conflict with the outside world.

All of these vicious cycles have made extreme selfishness, which only cares about one's own well-being and that of one's group, the dominant attitude in modern society.
Burnout is also a widespread social disease in the same context.
According to the author, who considers a 'good life' to be a 'life without alienation,' our society is currently in a situation where no one can enjoy a good life.
Humans and human society are wandering around, unable to figure out how they should exist and what kind of relationships they should have with other beings.
In the present, where competition continues for individual survival rather than for common interests, the room for understanding or comprehension is bound to become increasingly narrow.

A promise to listen even if you can't believe it
Democracy requires a listening heart.

Democracy cannot function properly in such an aggressive environment.
Democracy promises a society where everyone can express their opinions with their own voice, but if those voices are not listened to, they will only disperse into empty cries.
The divisions that have crept across society have created a gap between people, and groups with different opinions have begun to be defined as enemies.
In Korean society, it is common, if not natural, for the two major political parties to be at odds with each other.
They treat others like criminals without even trying to hear their perspectives.
Even if it is an unreasonable claim, there is bound to be some basis for it, but they simply criticize it without considering the context that led to the different position.
Such conflicts cannot be resolved by completely subduing the other group.
This is a time when we need a 'listening heart' that wants to hear and respond to what others say.

Hartmut Rosa seeks to bridge the gap in dialogue with a republican understanding of democracy.
It sets the premise that mutual contact and communication bring about change, and dreams of a situation where citizens with different opinions come together to speak and listen to each other's opinions.
Of course, conversations that change people are not that simple.
It requires a commitment to allow someone with a different opinion to speak to me, and a commitment to listen to what they have to say.
The author emphasizes the importance of being able to be someone others can talk to, and explains this with the concept of resonance.
Change happens when we connect with another being and resonate with them.


In this book, resonance means relating to the world in a non-aggressive way, and can be described by four characteristics: stimulation, self-efficacy, change, and uncontrollability.
For example, when a family gathers at Christmas and tries to connect with the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph and the sacred message of Christmas, conflict often arises rather than resonating.
A conversation that only reinforces existing opinions does not lead to resonance.
Resonance is hearing a completely different voice that gives you a strange feeling you never thought of before.
Self-efficacy means connection with others, and by connecting with others, humans overcome alienation and feel alive.
When you open yourself to connect with someone, a change occurs, allowing you to see and hear the world differently.
However, resonance cannot be forced.
In modern society, where people want to maximize profits with minimal investment, resonance, which cannot guarantee results, is being ignored as an inefficient means.

“At our root lies a relationship of response.”
Religious rituals are the optimal space for resonance to occur.

Hartmut Rosa invokes religion as a resonant background and place.
The space and characteristics that religion provides do not pose a threat to democracy.
It is therefore interesting to note that, free from the growth-oriented obsession, we can be reminded of the possibility of a different way of relating, and in particular, the closeness of the overall thinking and tradition of religion to resonance and its practice.
Even if we think of prayer alone, religious practice presupposes a promise of a responsive relationship to the very foundation of human existence.
When I call someone, the belief that they will hear me and call me back forms the basis of the relationship.

There are currently differing opinions regarding the social status of religion.
Is religion merely an anachronistic institution that hinders growth in global competition? Or is it merely a superstition, something we can freely follow privately but should be kept as silent as possible in public? Whenever problems within religion are raised, the question of whether religion can guarantee social justice and goodwill continues. However, religion, or at least its religious characteristics, have a positive impact on how people relate to the world.
Hartmut Rosa poses these questions for the development and recovery of modern society.
What would modern society look like without religion? Aside from the crisis facing the churches of this land, if religious characteristics no longer resonate in a democratic society, societal recovery is a distant prospect.
The author finds hope for the restoration of democracy in religious resources and also in resonance.