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Anxiety is essential to the human condition. The confrontation with anxiety can relieve us from boredom, sharpen the sensitivity and assure the presence of tension that is necessary to preserve human existence.
Rollo May
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Rollo May
Age: 85 †
Born: 1909
Born: April 21
Died: 1994
Died: October 22
Psychologist
Psychotherapist
Writer
Conditions
Boredom
Worry
Tension
Sharpen
Existence
Condition
Relieve
Human
Presence
Assure
Humans
Essential
Confrontation
Anxiety
Sensitivity
Essentials
Preserve
Necessary
Preserves
More quotes by Rollo May
Reason works better when emotions are present the person sees sharper and more accurately when his emotions are engaged.
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Care is a state in which something does matter care is the opposite of apathy. Care is the necessary source of eros, the source of human tenderness.
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The purpose of psychotherapy is to set people free.
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Creativity is neither the product of neurosis nor simple talent, but an intense courageous encounter with the Gods.
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In religion, it is not the sycophants or those who cling most faithfully to the status quo who are ultimately praised. It is the insurgents.
Rollo May
To love means to open ourselves to the negative as well as the positive - to grief, sorrow, and disappointment as well as to joy, fulfillment, and an intensity of consciousness we did not know was possible before
Rollo May
Ecstasy is the accurate term for the intensity of consciousness that occurs in the creative act.
Rollo May
The amazing thing about love is that it is the best way to get to know ourselves.
Rollo May
Many people suffer from the fear of finding oneself alone, and so they don't find themselves at all.
Rollo May
Deeds of violence in our society are performed largely by those trying to establish their self-esteem, to defend their self-image, and to demonstrate that they, too, are significant.
Rollo May
The creative act arises out of the struggle of human beings with and against that which limits them.
Rollo May
If we admit our depression openly and freely, those around us get from it an experience of freedom rather than the depression itself.
Rollo May
It is dangerous to know, but it is more dangerous not to know.
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Courage is necessary to make being and becoming possible.
Rollo May
When you are completely absorbed or caught up in something, you become oblivious to things around you, or to the passage of time. It is this absorption in what you are doing that frees your unconscious and releases your creative imagination.
Rollo May
Courage is not a virtue of value among other personal values like love or fidelity. It is the foundation that underlies and gives reality to all other virtues and personal values. Without courage our love pales into mere dependency. Without courage our fidelity becomes conformism.
Rollo May
Many people feel they are powerless to do anything effective with their lives. It takes courage to break out of the settled mold, but most find conformity more comfortable. This is why the opposite of courage in our society is not cowardice, it's conformity.
Rollo May
There can be no stronger proof of the impoverishment of our contemporary culture than the popular - though profoundly mistaken - definition of myth as falsehood.
Rollo May
It is interesting to note how many of the great scientific discoveries begin as myths.
Rollo May
Now, I believe in life, and I believe in the joy of human existence, but these things cannot be experienced except as we also face the despair, also face the anxiety that every human being has to face if he lives with any creativity at all.
Rollo May