Monday, November 15, 2010

What Rollo May Said

·         The opposite of courage in our society is not cowardice, it is conformity. 

·         Courage is not the absence of despair; it is, rather, the capacity to move ahead in spite of despair.  

·         The relationship between commitment and doubt is by no means an antagonistic one. Commitment is healthiest when it's not without doubt but in spite of doubt. 

·         Joy, rather than happiness, is the goal of life, for joy is the emotion which accompanies our fulfilling our natures as human beings. It is based on the experience of one's identity as a being of worth and dignity

·         It requires greater courage to preserve inner freedom, to move on in one's inward journey into new realms, than to stand defiantly for outer freedom. It is often easier to play the martyr, as it is to be rash in battle.  

·         Freedom is man's capacity to take a hand in his own development. It is our capacity to mold ourselves.  

·         Human freedom involves our capacity to pause, to choose the one response toward which we wish to throw our weight. 

·         If you do not express your own original ideas, if you do not listen to your own being, you will have betrayed yourself.  

·         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. 

·         Care is a state in which something does matter; it is the source of human tenderness. 

·         Communication leads to community, that is, to understanding, intimacy and mutual valuing. 

·         Depression is the inability to construct a future. 

·         Hate is not the opposite of love; apathy is. 

·         It is an ironic habit of human beings to run faster when we have lost our way. 

·         Life comes from physical survival; but the good life comes from what we care about. 

·         One does not become fully human painlessly. 


Rollo May is one of my all-time favorite writers. My father got me interested in reading his books. For more information about him, go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rollo_May

The world we live in

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