“Human beings had two basic orientations: HAVING and BEING
HAVING: seeks to acquire, posses things even people
BEING: focuses on the experience; exchanging, engaging, sharing with other people”
Help us to complete the source, original and additional information
Erich Fromm 119
German social psychologist and psychoanalyst 1900–1980Related quotes

This is attributed to Pierre Teilhard de Chardin in The Joy of Kindness (1993), by Robert J. Furey, p. 138; but it is attributed to G. I. Gurdjieff in Beyond Prophecies and Predictions: Everyone's Guide To The Coming Changes (1993) by Moira Timms, p. 62; neither cite a source. It was widely popularized by Wayne Dyer, who often quotes it in his presentations, crediting it to Chardin, as does Stephen Covey in Living the 7 Habits : Stories of Courage and Inspiration (2000), p. 47. Such statements could be considered paraphrases of Hegel's dictum that matter is spirit fallen into a state of self-otherness. Or any number of thousands of similarly vague quotes by hundreds of predecessors.
Disputed
Variant: We are not human beings on a spiritual journey. We are spiritual beings on a human journey.
Variant: We are not human beings having a spiritual experience; we are spiritual beings having a human experience.

Black Lives Matter Was Always Designed to Be a Global Movement, Vice] (7 July 2020)
Source: The Heritage Universe, Summertide (1990), Chapter 5, “Summertide Minus Thirty” (p. 61)

“You can't measure the mutual affection of two human beings by the number of words they exchange.”
Identity (1998), p. 78

Vanessa Williams reflects on motherhood, struggle and stardom (May 9, 2012)