I am currently reading the classics of existential psychology as part of my Ph D on existential social work, and Rollo May is a good place to start as he is considered as the person who introduced existential psychology into the USA with his book “Existence” in 1958.He is interviewed about this book Here : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cT6qBtYJ-90 You can read or print the full transcript of this interview called the Human dilemma Here:http://www.intuition.org/txt/may.htm
I started my reading of May with a small book he wrote in 1973 called Paulus, which is about his mentor and teacher, philosopher and theologian Paul Tillich. In this book I found some interesting insights into the process of creative discovery.
On Pg 21 of the book, May writes about how he wrote his first book “The Art of Counselling” at the age of 27 years based on Alfred Adler’s ideas. To write the book he had to forego other duties and immerse himself in this task but he was surprised to find that it did not affect his other studies, in fact he thrived. Tillich commented to him: “when you become creative in any field your creativity is released in all other fields at the same time”.
I have often wondered about this principle of creativity. It explains why programs that teach Aboriginal kids about horsemanship and stockmen skills on outback stations are successful, why sail training in tall ships can change lives.
Tillich was a hard task master on May for his Ph D, which resulted eventually in his classic book ” The Meaning of Anxiety“. Tillich insisted May read everything ever written on the subject from the ancient times to the present. I took May 9 years to complete his Ph D on Anxiety but interestingly this association affected Tillich as well resulting in him writing his classic ‘The Courage to Be“.
The courage to be reminds me of this attitude of the existential thinkers in wanting us to look squarely at life and say “yes”. This is the courage required in spite of all of our frustrations and anxieties. I am reminded how deeply immersed in European thought existentialism is. Rollo May stressed the debt and deep respect the first generation of Existential thinkers had for Freud, Jung, Rank, and Adler in expanding our understanding of the mind through their work on the unconscious. He thought this understanding of the classics was essential to good practice in psychotherapy and railed against the superficial use of technique.
See the following clip from May: http://www.videosurf.com/video/rollo-may-on-modern-therapy-1353621551 I think this applies to social work as well. Social Work’s history has been neglected in current courses. It’s almost like social work from 1920-1970 ( the years of dominance in psychoanalytic approaches ) have been wiped from the memory.
It’s also interesting to see Rollo May argue for the maintenance of mystery for creativity in his comments on the swedish welfare nanny state in the following video clip. At a time when conservative winds are dismantling the welfare state everywhere, it makes for interesting viewing today. The Swedish Prime Minister argues for social/economic rights as well as individual rights against his conservative opponents and says “its hard to feel free when you are unemployed”. May, the psychoanalyst, argues against a social engineering approach in a simplistic way and this is where he lacks any social theory in his existential approach. Of course his points in favour of the individual over the collective approach are still pertinent but so is Marx’s comment that men make history but not in circumstances of their own making. It’s hard to be creative if you are starving. http://www.videosurf.com/video/psychoanalyst-rollo-may-being-interviewed-in-swedish-documentary-sagolandet-from-1988-1293599758
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