"Creativity is not merely the innocent spontaneity of our youth and childhood; it must also be married to the passion of the adult human being, which is a passion to live beyond one's death."
—Rollo May

[NewsScan Daily 2/2/04]

HONORARY SUBSCRIBER: ROLLO MAY

Today's Honorary Subscriber is the American psychologist Rollo May (1909-1994), who was a leading figure in the human growth movement that flourished among psychotherapists beginning in the 1960s.

May promoted a humanistic version of existentialism that expressed strong belief in modern man's capacity to deal with life's problems and to accept anxiety as a normal reaction to the search for self-fulfillment. He wrote a number of well-received books to popularize his psychotherapeutic theory and practice. Most influential among these were: "Love and Will" (1969), "Power and Innocence" (1972), and "The Courage to Create" (1975).

May was born in Ada, Ohio. He received his bachelor's degree from Oberlin College, and then spent three years in Greece teaching English at Anatolia College. Upon his return to the United States, he became a student at New York's Union Theological Seminary, taking courses from the existentialist theologian Paul Tillich, who along with Alfred Adler and the writings of S�ren Kierkegard became important sources for May's ideas. May received his Bachelor of Divinity degree in 1938 and then worked as a Congregational minister for two years before deciding to become a psychologist. He studied psychoanalysis at White Institute, where he associated with eminent personages such as Harry Stack Sullivan and Erich Fromm. He then earned the first doctorate in clinical psychology awarded by Columbia University, later publishing his dissertation under the title "The Meaning of Anxiety."

Through his book writing and the various teaching posts he held over the years, May became a well-known voice in familiarizing Americans with the ideas of European existentialists. As summed up by one of his followers, May's message was: "When we avoid the painful parts of our life we become alienated from the world, others and ourselves—and as a consequence of our avoidance feel pain, anxiety and depression. In other words, facing life may involve short-term costs but long-term benefits."

In his later years May lived in Tiburon, California, where he died in October of 1994.

See http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0393312402/ newsscancom/ref=nosim for Rollo May's "The Discovery of Being: Writings in Existentialist Psychology"—or look for it in your favorite library. (We donate all revenue from our book recommendations to adult literacy programs.)