Some wisdom from Adam Phillips

I came across the following quotes from Adam Phillip’ book Monogomy. I think each of these statements are as applicable to business as they are to our personal lives, particularly the idea of promiscuity..who are we loyal to in our work lives? Is it something we demand and expect of people we work with? Do we promise to be faithful to clients? Isn’t the idea of “competition” a way of legitimising promiscuity? Wonderful and interesting stuff…

Profoundly committed to the better life, the promiscuous, like the monogamous, are idealists. Both are deranged by hope, in awe of reassurance, impressed by their pleasures. We should not be too quick to set them against each other. At their best, they are both the enemies of cynicism. It is the cynical who are dispiriting because they are always getting their disappointment in first.

At its best monogamy may be the wish to find someone to die with; at its worst it is a cure for the terrors of aliveness. They are easily confused.

In a society without scapegoats there would be more conflict. People feel too vulnerable without someone else to blame and punish. Similarly, a society without sexual infidelity — or without the promiscuous going their wanton way — could be dangerous. Who would we be fascinated by, who would we persecute?
After all, a couple without a third party are radically unprotected from each other. And when people are unprotected from each other it can go either way.

Via Salon