Homo Consumens versus Homo Patiens (The Dilemmas of Postmodern Reality)

Abstract

The contemporary „homo consumens” does not want to accept that his ontic status is still best defined by the words „homo patiens”. Today’s attempts to eliminate suffering through constantly stimulated consumption may be considered as an act of the „degradation” of humans and humanity who by rejecting the truth about their nature as suffering creatures, paradoxically also lose the meaning of their life. If one denies suffering, then – at the same time – one closes oneself before life. For the escape from suffering is anything but the escape from life, at least the one that is experienced in a conscious and sensible way.