The essence of the way of life and the way of being,
A book that examines the impact of two factors on human happiness.

This book, a sequel to To Have or To Be, was created by organizing manuscripts that Fromm had written while writing To Have or To Be that were not included in that book.
This book contains “Steps toward Being” that individuals can take to learn the “art of being.”
Even if it is true that our possessiveness is rooted in the structural realities of today's industrial civilization, overcoming that reality lies in reclaiming human beings' own psychological, intellectual, and physical strengths, and in their ability to make their own decisions.
For this reason, The Art of Being is now being published not as a missing part of To Have or to Be, but as a self-contained “being.”
These “steps to being” serve as a guide to productive awareness.