lucyinthesky said – Tue, 04 Nov 2008 22:12:20 -0000 ( Link )
A book I am currently reading, thanks to the recommendation of my friend May, is called “Love and Will” by Rollo May.
Rollo May was an existential psychologist. This book is probably the most fascinating book I have read on the way humans behave and deal with issues such as love. He examines it from a very interesting perspective, through psychology, through history and even through literature. It is funny how literature can capture the essence of a generation or a certain type of person. He examines our society’s culture about love and how its nature has changed in civilization.
I would highly recommend this book to anyone. If you’ve read it, have you got any comments on it? Do you know of any other books similar to this that you would like to recommend?
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lucyinthesky said – Mon, 26 Jan 2009 02:02:38 -0000 ( Flag Edit Link )
Awesome! I’m so glad to know that someone else has read it too. Also, check out May’s Psychologist Profile on him!!
It is sad to read how he explains the manner in which the modern man has failed to understand the “real meanings of love and will, their sources and interrelations”. But in doing so we see how we can bring a deeper understanding and approach to love. Here are some good quotes by him:
“Hate is not the opposite of love. Apathy is.” (p.29)
“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.” (p. 100)
“In a world where numbers inexorably take over as our means of identification, like flowing lava threatening to suffocate and fosilize all breathing life in its path; in a world where ‘normality’ is defined as keeping your cool; where sex is so available that the only way to preserve any inner center is to have intercourse without committing yourself—in such a schizoid world, which young people experience more directly since they have not had time to build up the defenses which dull the senses of their elders, it is not surprising that will and love have become increasingly problematic and even, as some people believe, impossible of achievement.” (p. 21)
“Depression is the inability to construct a future.” (p.243)
“Our patients are the ones who express and live out the subconscious and unconscious tendencies in the culture. The neurotic, or person suffering from what we now call character disorder, is characterized by the fact that the usual defenses of the culture do not work for him—a generally painful situation of which he is more or less aware..” (p. 20)