An Overview to His Theory
After many years of his hardships in conducting clinical research, May was able to postulate a new way of looking at human beings. With such newly evolved point of view, May saw people as living in the world of present experiences and ultimately being responsible for who they become.
Many people, he believed, lack the courage to face their destiny, and in the process of fleeing from it, they give up much of their freedom. Having negated their freedom, they likewise run away from their responsibility. Not being willing to make choices, they lose sight of who they are and develop a sense of insignificance and alienation. In contrast, healthy people challenge their destiny, cherish their freedom, and live authentically with other people and with themselves. They recognize the inevitability of death and have the courage to live life in the present.
These thoughts of Rollo May, I believe, had caught my interest to further elaborate the essence of his theory through my own way of explaining. With these, I will be going to set aside all of the other theories. To be bias at this time, I believe will be of good help in further expressing my appreciation so as to justify the reasons behind why I like his theory of personality.
At a first glance, I was quite intrigued with the way he was able to come up with his explanation of the personality. And through my first reading, Rollo May’s ideas made me realize that my outlook in life can be somehow reflected to his theories.
Existentialism:
A Reflection of My Life
Rollo May’s view of people was highly influenced by the writings of Søren Kierkegaard who opposed attempts in seeing people merely as objects, but at the same time, he opposed the view that subjective perceptions are one’s only reality. What Kierkegaard was mainly concerned of is that both the experiencing person and the person’s experience contribute in understanding human beings. In