abundance

Abundance means an „overflowing,“ yet it has acquired an altogether positive meaning in our language. An abundant land provides us with more than just the basic necessities. (…) But if we want to suggest the negative aspects of an „overflowing,“ the word that comes to mind is „superfluous.“ (…) Here the overflow is seen in a strictly negative light. It is pointless, wasteful. If you say to someone, „Your presence here is superfluous,“ you’re really saying, „Why don’t you go away?“ You are not saying, „How nice that you’re here,“ which is what you do mean, more or less, if you speak of wine being present in abundance. So whenever we speak of affluence, we have to ask ourselves whether we mean a positive, enlivening abundance or a negative, deadening superfluity. ― (1983b [1971]: Affluence and Ennui in Our Society, in: E. Fromm, For the Love of Life, New York he Free Press, Macmillan) 1986, p. 2.)