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Varoluşun Keşfi
"Varlığımızın üstünü örtmekle aslında yaşamda en çok keyif almış olduğumuz şeyleri kaybediyoruz. Zira varlık duygusu en derin, en temel sorularla iç içedir: Sevgi, ölüm, kaygı ve önemsemeye dair sorular..."
Okuyan Us - Psikoloji / Psikiyatri serisinin sevilen yazarlarından Rollo May'den VAROLUŞUN KEŞFİ Türkçe'de.
Rollo May, kitabına bir tespitle başlıyor: "İçinde yaşadığımız çağda bir paradoksla karşı karşıyayız. Radyo, televizyon ve uydulardan âdeta bardaktan boşanırcasına yağan bilginin hiç bu kadarını görmemiş, kendi varlığımıza dair hiç bu kadar büyük bir içsel belirsizlik yaşamamıştık. Nesnel hakikat arttıkça, içsel netliğimiz de o kadar azalmakta."
Varoluşumuza ilişkin algımızın karmaşıklaştığı bu çağda, ona nasıl ulaşacak, anlamını nasıl kavrayacağız? Hümanist psikiyatrinin öncü isimlerinden Rollo May, dikkat çektiği tehlikenin, tam tersini, var olmayı ön plana çıkardığına inanıyor ve ekliyor: "İnsan denilen yaratıklar hâlâ merak eden, bir sonatla kendinden geçen, sembolleri bir araya getirip şiirler oluşturarak yüreklemizi neşelendiren, büyük bir hayranlık ve huşuyla gündoğumunu seyreden bireylerdir. Tüm bunlar var olmanın belirtisi ve okuyacağınız sayfalardaki savların da temelidir."
Varoluşun Keşfi, kaosun içinde yitirdiğimiz ve her zamankinden çok ihtiyaç duyduğumuz varlığımıza ulaşmada yol gösteren, bilimsel, anlaşılır ve zekâ ürünü bir kitap.
"Varlıktan söz açmak çok mu fazla açık vermektir ya da fazla mı samimi, fazla mı derinliklidir? Varlığımızın üstünü örtmekle aslında yaşamda en çok keyif almış olduğumuz şeyleri kaybediyoruz. Zira varlık duygusu en derin, en temel sorularla iç içedir: Sevgi, ölüm, kaygı ve önemsemeye dair sorular..."
Okuyan Us - Psikoloji / Psikiyatri serisinin sevilen yazarlarından Rollo May'den VAROLUŞUN KEŞFİ Türkçe'de.
Rollo May, kitabına bir tespitle başlıyor: "İçinde yaşadığımız çağda bir paradoksla karşı karşıyayız. Radyo, televizyon ve uydulardan âdeta bardaktan boşanırcasına yağan bilginin hiç bu kadarını görmemiş, kendi varlığımıza dair hiç bu kadar büyük bir içsel belirsizlik yaşamamıştık. Nesnel hakikat arttıkça, içsel netliğimiz de o kadar azalmakta."
Varoluşumuza ilişkin algımızın karmaşıklaştığı bu çağda, ona nasıl ulaşacak, anlamını nasıl kavrayacağız? Hümanist psikiyatrinin öncü isimlerinden Rollo May, dikkat çektiği tehlikenin, tam tersini, var olmayı ön plana çıkardığına inanıyor ve ekliyor: "İnsan denilen yaratıklar hâlâ merak eden, bir sonatla kendinden geçen, sembolleri bir araya getirip şiirler oluşturarak yüreklemizi neşelendiren, büyük bir hayranlık ve huşuyla gündoğumunu seyreden bireylerdir. Tüm bunlar var olmanın belirtisi ve okuyacağınız sayfalardaki savların da temelidir."
Varoluşun Keşfi, kaosun içinde yitirdiğimiz ve her zamankinden çok ihtiyaç duyduğumuz varlığımıza ulaşmada yol gösteren, bilimsel, anlaşılır ve zekâ ürünü bir kitap.
"Varlıktan söz açmak çok mu fazla açık vermektir ya da fazla mı samimi, fazla mı derinliklidir? Varlığımızın üstünü örtmekle aslında yaşamda en çok keyif almış olduğumuz şeyleri kaybediyoruz. Zira varlık duygusu en derin, en temel sorularla iç içedir: Sevgi, ölüm, kaygı ve önemsemeye dair sorular..."
228 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1984
135 people are currently reading
3260 people want to read
About the author
Rollo May
86 books842 followersRollo May (April 21, 1909 – October 22, 1994) was an American existential psychologist. He authored the influential book Love and Will during 1969.
Although he is often associated with humanistic psychology, his philosophy was influenced strongly by existentialist philosophy. May was a close friend of the theologian Paul Tillich. His works include Love and Will and The Courage to Create, the latter title honoring Tillich's The Courage to Be.
Biography
May was born in Ada, Ohio in 1909. He experienced a difficult childhood, with his parents divorcing and his sister becoming schizophrenic. His educational career took him to Michigan State College majoring in English and Oberlin College for a bachelor's degree, teaching for a time in Greece, to Union Theological Seminary for a BD during 1938, and finally to Teachers College, Columbia University for a PhD in clinical psychology during 1949. May was a founder and faculty member of Saybrook Graduate School and Research Center in San Francisco.[1]
He spent the final years of his life in Tiburon on San Francisco Bay, where he died in October 1994.
Accomplishments
May was influenced by American humanism, and interested in reconciling existential psychology with other philosophies, especially Freud's.
May considered Otto Rank (1884-1939) to be the most important precursor of existential therapy. Shortly before his death, May wrote the foreword to Robert Kramer's edited collection of Rank’s American lectures. “I have long considered Otto Rank to be the great unacknowledged genius in Freud’s circle,” wrote May (Rank, 1996, p. xi).
May used some traditional existential terms in a slightly different fashion than others, and he invented new words for traditional existentialist concepts. Destiny, for example, could be "thrownness" combined with "fallenness" — the part of our lives that is determined for us, for the purpose of creating our lives. He also used the word "courage" to signify resisting anxiety.
He defined certain "stages" of development:
Innocence – the pre-egoic, pre-self-conscious stage of the infant.
An innocent is only doing what he or she must do. However, an innocent does have a degree of will in the sense of a drive to fulfill needs.
Rebellion – the rebellious person wants freedom, but does not yet have a good understanding of the responsibility that goes with it.
Decision – The person is in a transition stage in their life such that they need to be more independent from their parents and settle into the "ordinary stage". In this stage they must decide what to do with their life, and fulfilling rebellious needs from the rebellious stage.
Ordinary – the normal adult ego learned responsibility, but finds it too demanding, and so seeks refuge in conformity and traditional values.
Creative – the authentic adult, the existential stage, self-actualizing and transcending simple egocentrism.
These are not "stages" in the traditional sense. A child may certainly be innocent, ordinary or creative at times; an adult may be rebellious. The only association with certain ages is in terms of importance: rebelliousness is more important for a two year old or a teenager.
May perceived the sexual mores of the 1960s and 1970s, as well as commercialization of sex and pornography, as having influenced society such that people believed that love and sex are no longer associated directly. According to May, emotion has become separated from reason, making it acceptable socially to seek sexual relationships and avoid the natural drive to relate to another person and create new life. May believed that sexual freedom can cause modern society to neglect more important psychological developments. May suggests that the only way to remedy the cynical ideas that characterize our times is to rediscover the importance of caring for another, which May describes as the opposite of apathy.
His first book, The Meaning of Anxiety, was based on his d
Although he is often associated with humanistic psychology, his philosophy was influenced strongly by existentialist philosophy. May was a close friend of the theologian Paul Tillich. His works include Love and Will and The Courage to Create, the latter title honoring Tillich's The Courage to Be.
Biography
May was born in Ada, Ohio in 1909. He experienced a difficult childhood, with his parents divorcing and his sister becoming schizophrenic. His educational career took him to Michigan State College majoring in English and Oberlin College for a bachelor's degree, teaching for a time in Greece, to Union Theological Seminary for a BD during 1938, and finally to Teachers College, Columbia University for a PhD in clinical psychology during 1949. May was a founder and faculty member of Saybrook Graduate School and Research Center in San Francisco.[1]
He spent the final years of his life in Tiburon on San Francisco Bay, where he died in October 1994.
Accomplishments
May was influenced by American humanism, and interested in reconciling existential psychology with other philosophies, especially Freud's.
May considered Otto Rank (1884-1939) to be the most important precursor of existential therapy. Shortly before his death, May wrote the foreword to Robert Kramer's edited collection of Rank’s American lectures. “I have long considered Otto Rank to be the great unacknowledged genius in Freud’s circle,” wrote May (Rank, 1996, p. xi).
May used some traditional existential terms in a slightly different fashion than others, and he invented new words for traditional existentialist concepts. Destiny, for example, could be "thrownness" combined with "fallenness" — the part of our lives that is determined for us, for the purpose of creating our lives. He also used the word "courage" to signify resisting anxiety.
He defined certain "stages" of development:
Innocence – the pre-egoic, pre-self-conscious stage of the infant.
An innocent is only doing what he or she must do. However, an innocent does have a degree of will in the sense of a drive to fulfill needs.
Rebellion – the rebellious person wants freedom, but does not yet have a good understanding of the responsibility that goes with it.
Decision – The person is in a transition stage in their life such that they need to be more independent from their parents and settle into the "ordinary stage". In this stage they must decide what to do with their life, and fulfilling rebellious needs from the rebellious stage.
Ordinary – the normal adult ego learned responsibility, but finds it too demanding, and so seeks refuge in conformity and traditional values.
Creative – the authentic adult, the existential stage, self-actualizing and transcending simple egocentrism.
These are not "stages" in the traditional sense. A child may certainly be innocent, ordinary or creative at times; an adult may be rebellious. The only association with certain ages is in terms of importance: rebelliousness is more important for a two year old or a teenager.
May perceived the sexual mores of the 1960s and 1970s, as well as commercialization of sex and pornography, as having influenced society such that people believed that love and sex are no longer associated directly. According to May, emotion has become separated from reason, making it acceptable socially to seek sexual relationships and avoid the natural drive to relate to another person and create new life. May believed that sexual freedom can cause modern society to neglect more important psychological developments. May suggests that the only way to remedy the cynical ideas that characterize our times is to rediscover the importance of caring for another, which May describes as the opposite of apathy.
His first book, The Meaning of Anxiety, was based on his d
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 54 reviews
September 6, 2023
Titlul este înșelător. Nu e vorba de ființa abstractă a filosofilor. Un titlu mai puțin distant și mai pe înțelesul nespecialistului (mă refer, desigur, numai și numai la mine) ar fi fost, am impresia, „Descoperirea sinelui”, „Descoperirea de sine”. Sau, și mai banal, „Cunoașterea de sine”.
Rollo Reece May (1909 - 1994), inițiatorul psihoterapiei existențiale, analizează cu strălucire cel puțin două noțiuni fundamentale: refularea și transferul.
Refularea nu e numaidecît o alungare (de mult uitată) a pulsiunilor și agresivității cenzurate (de supra-eu) într-un inconștient mîlos, amenințător, reprobabil. Inconștientul trebuie, așadar, redefinit. Este un loc al posibilităților / al potențialităților. În consecință, se cuvine investigat cu atenție. Și, mai ales, se cuvine folosit. În definitiv, inconștientul este sursa creativității noastre, a intuițiilor obscure, a soluțiilor „imposibile” (d.p.d.v rațional). A se vedea, în acest sens, și The Courage to Create (1975). Nu-i de mirare că mulți scriitori și-au notat minuțios visele în jurnal, Nabokov printre ei.
Citez de la p.21: „Inconştientul nu mai poate fi considerat ca fiind acel izvor de pulsiuni, gînduri, dorinţe inacceptabile cultural. L-aş defini mai curînd ca pe acel set de potenţialităţi de cunoaştere şi de trăire pe care individul nu poate sau nu vrea să le actualizeze”. N-ar fi rău să renunțăm la imaginea „inconștientului-pivniță” (pp.222-223).
În același chip, Rollo May va redefini și noțiunea de transfer. Freud a prezentat-o în termeni strict tehnici, ca relația „deformată” dintre pacient și terapeut. Dar fiecare dintre cei doi protagoniști se prezintă la „ședință” cu întregul lui trecut afectiv. Transferul poate fi înțeles mai bine dacă îl punem în legătură cu evenimentul Întîlnirii. Nu e o relație univocă. Transferul nu implică doar „eros”. Poate fi și o iubire mai blîndă, care ia forma grijei de sine și de ceilalți: „agape”.
În fine, May afirmă pe bună dreptate că psihologii au exagerat nevoia de siguranță a indivizilor. Altfel nu s-ar explica faptul că „omul este acea ființă care poate pune mai presus de plăcere sau chiar de supravieţuire alte tipuri de valori, precum prestigiul, puterea şi tandreţea” (p.20). Asta au susținut și Kierkegaard sau Nietzsche, printre alții.
În concluzie, o carte care se cuvine citită / studiată de orice pasionat de Psihologie.
Rollo Reece May (1909 - 1994), inițiatorul psihoterapiei existențiale, analizează cu strălucire cel puțin două noțiuni fundamentale: refularea și transferul.
Refularea nu e numaidecît o alungare (de mult uitată) a pulsiunilor și agresivității cenzurate (de supra-eu) într-un inconștient mîlos, amenințător, reprobabil. Inconștientul trebuie, așadar, redefinit. Este un loc al posibilităților / al potențialităților. În consecință, se cuvine investigat cu atenție. Și, mai ales, se cuvine folosit. În definitiv, inconștientul este sursa creativității noastre, a intuițiilor obscure, a soluțiilor „imposibile” (d.p.d.v rațional). A se vedea, în acest sens, și The Courage to Create (1975). Nu-i de mirare că mulți scriitori și-au notat minuțios visele în jurnal, Nabokov printre ei.
Citez de la p.21: „Inconştientul nu mai poate fi considerat ca fiind acel izvor de pulsiuni, gînduri, dorinţe inacceptabile cultural. L-aş defini mai curînd ca pe acel set de potenţialităţi de cunoaştere şi de trăire pe care individul nu poate sau nu vrea să le actualizeze”. N-ar fi rău să renunțăm la imaginea „inconștientului-pivniță” (pp.222-223).
În același chip, Rollo May va redefini și noțiunea de transfer. Freud a prezentat-o în termeni strict tehnici, ca relația „deformată” dintre pacient și terapeut. Dar fiecare dintre cei doi protagoniști se prezintă la „ședință” cu întregul lui trecut afectiv. Transferul poate fi înțeles mai bine dacă îl punem în legătură cu evenimentul Întîlnirii. Nu e o relație univocă. Transferul nu implică doar „eros”. Poate fi și o iubire mai blîndă, care ia forma grijei de sine și de ceilalți: „agape”.
În fine, May afirmă pe bună dreptate că psihologii au exagerat nevoia de siguranță a indivizilor. Altfel nu s-ar explica faptul că „omul este acea ființă care poate pune mai presus de plăcere sau chiar de supravieţuire alte tipuri de valori, precum prestigiul, puterea şi tandreţea” (p.20). Asta au susținut și Kierkegaard sau Nietzsche, printre alții.
În concluzie, o carte care se cuvine citită / studiată de orice pasionat de Psihologie.
December 4, 2015
In a word, this book is a tomb. It's right at 200 pages but it is so dense. Existentialism kind of lends itself to books that reads a lot like eating over-cooked pot roast- you just chew and chew and it keeps getting bigger and bigger rather than smaller and smaller. It's written from a pretty intellectual perspective (in the words of my dad: "that Rollo May has read a book or two in his day ..." me: "No joke, dad"), and it leans much more toward discussion of theories of therapy rather than ways to practice. So while this wasn't particularly useful or practical, I really enjoyed reading it in a "let's get deep and talk about abstract ideas and be shamelessly intellectually indulgent" kind of way. If you're into that kinda of thing. And if you are into that kinda thing, this book is basically the dirty porno magazine of intellectual indulgence. He draws in Kierkegaard, Frued, Nietzsche and Hegel to discuss the formation of ideas on anxiety, existence and identity. I was interested in the connection he makes between anxiety and freedom. Basically he says that anxiety is so profoundly connected with the problem of freedom and a primary question in therapy is how a person relates to his freedom. I think this book would be best read in a class or small group to parse out the information and discuss it together. It's not that it's inaccessible but it's the kind of book I wish I had someone to talk to about it while I was reading it.
June 22, 2017
In our daily life, we are in a recurrent discovery process of who we are and what we can become. We are never absolutely complete or static. We are always in the mode of becoming. Perchance, an uncomplicated clarification would be that we are in constant movement; never really there, nevertheless continuously enclosed by the there and comported in our being to this there through which we uncover our there-being [Dasein]. This is my meager attempt to express my individual attitude toward being-as-such.
After discovering Ontology, I have found a relatable subject that not only concurs with my inner thoughts, but also, through the lens of Existentialism, lets me recognize that there exist others who reason similarly. When you combine my love for Ontology qua Philosophy – as seen through my favorite writers viz., Friedrich Nietzsche, Martin Heidegger, William James, and Paul Tillich – with my likewise persistent curiosity of Psychology, and counseling practice, it should be easy to comprehend why I measured this book as one of the best I have ever had the pleasure of reading.
As the introduction unfolds, Rollo May gives one of the most penetrating and detailed explanations of why the Existential attitude is of profound importance to counseling. Though many schools of thought and counseling techniques are acceptable, usable, and quantifiable, May explains that they often fail with respect to establishing the ontological framework in the interaction between practitioner and client. Relationships are important! Understanding how the encounter between these relationships develops is the key to valuing the existential approach. Which question is more important: “How do you feel? Or, “where are you at?” Consider the contrast of those two statements for a moment before continuing.
May grounds the root of existential psychology in the understanding of Heidegger’s concept of Dasein (there-being / being-there). To give a brief explanation of Dasein, in my view, it is the freedom of the being – with the understanding that death is imminent – that attempts to live in three disparate existential plains. The plains (or worlds, properly) are the Umwelt, which is the world around us; viz., all the objects we encounter on a continual basis. The Mitwelt, which is the world of interpersonal relations with other beings as ourselves (interpersonal); and finally, the Eigenwelt, which is our own personal world; the world of our inner self.
When contemplated in this tri-part context, the techniques of other schools of thought suffer from a reductivistic dilemma that attempts to subjugate the being to the objectively determined understanding available in the Umwelt. Hence, the being is now a number to be counted, a “tool” to be used; a machine to be worked, etc. Yet, is not the being that is human so much more than this?!
If we are to move past the subjugating of humanity to an object, we must consider the being as irreducible; as grounded in experience; as transcendental. Perhaps we need to transpose the old Cartesian formula of “I Think, therefore, I am!” The new model of understanding might be “I am, therefore, I think!” This is what we can learn from May. Perhaps, this is what we can learn from each other.
In closing, I would like to share my interpretive understanding of May's stance from this book:
A peculiar contradiction challenges humanity at the present. We are steadily subjected to an ever-increasing flow of information. This information is represented on a spectrum of likelihoods and never certainties. The more we are subjected to the likelihoods of something, the more the probabilities appear as facts, as truths, as certainties. With this increase in external information that we perceive as certainties, we neglect to realize the diminishing consequences it has on our inner certainties, our inner truths, and our inner facts. We have mastered the outward projection of power in the form of information dissemination, yet we are woefully negligent of the responsibility and control necessary to ensure critical thinking and dialogue.
Perhaps Nietzsche was extraordinarily visionary in his proclamation that,
“We live in the Atomic [Information] Age, or rather in the Atomic [Information] chaos…Everything nowadays is directed by the fools and the knaves, the selfishness of the money-makers and the brute forces of militarism…And we shall yet feel the consequences…The revolution, the atomist [information] revolution, is inevitable; but what are those smallest indivisible elements of human society? Who will set up again the image of Man, when men in their selfishness and terror see nothing but the trail of the serpent or the cur in them, and have fallen from their high estate to that of the brute or the automaton?” (Writings of Nietzsche: Volume III, p. 340).
Can we not comprehend the magnitude of this? How can mankind ever find meaning, find purpose, when it is continuously besieged by ever creative ways of darkening the perception of being. Do we not complain incessantly of that “younger generation” that seem to have no drive, no sense of commitment, no gusto?!
It should never be a question of the reason why mankind is plagued by the question of whether life has any meaning. It is the universal feeling of emptiness that only leads further to despair. It is a festering angst that reveals itself in the destruction of being. Have we not learned the lessons of history? Humanity needs freedom. The proper mode of being is freedom.
As we now confront some of the harshest threats we have known to humanity, we must find the possibilities in being. We must make freedom, as the proper mode of being, the distinction that solves the contradiction to humanity. As beings, humankind can still smell the petrichor released before the rain falls; hear the sound made during a rainfall; see the children playing in the puddles gifted by the rain; taste the sweetness of the rain; and, above all, to touch the rain and know that it is real. For humans are still the creature that can wonder, and live in wonder; live in experience and wonder we must! This is our eccentric temperament of being, and these are our challenges!
Happy Reading!
December 4, 2008
It was great to get a better appreciation and understanding of Existential Therapy as I learned next to nothing about it in school. I was much more interested in the clinical applications of the conceptualizations rather than the origins of the theory, albeit important as well. I would have liked to read more case examples to substantiate the theory. It isn't the easiest of reads but definitely do-able, however to fully absorb it I would recommend reading it in small segments.
March 7, 2023
Not the easiest read, that's for sure, but revealing in so many ways. I am sure that I have to reread it to understand it better, to make sense of the concepts presented, to be more aware of how could I use this experience in my life and in my work with people. And that I have to read Nietzsche in order to understand life better. Briefly, the author manages to create an interesting mix of philosophical concepts and existential psychology, and gives hints of how to apply them experientially.
"The full meaning of the term human being will be clearer if the reader will keep in mind that being is a participle, a verb form implying that someone is in the process of being some-thing.It is
unfortunate that, when used as a general noun in English, the term being
connotes a static substance, and when used as a particular noun such as being, it is usually assumed to refer to an entity,say such as a soldier to be counted as a unit. Rather, being should be understood, when used as a general noun, to mean potentia the source of potentiality; being is the potentiality by which the acorn becomes the oak or each of us becomes what he truly is. And when used in a particular sense, such as human being, it always has the dynamic connotation of someone in process, the person being something. Perhaps, therefore, becoming connotes more accurately the meaning of the term in this country, despite the difficulties with the term we have mentioned earlier. We can understand another human being only as we see what he is moving toward, what he is becoming; and we can know ourselves only as we project our potentia in action. The
significant tense for human beings is thus the future-that is to say the critical question is what I am pointing toward, what I will be in the immediate future. Thus, being in the human sense is not given once and for all. It does not unfold automatically as the oak tree does from the acorn. For an intrinsic and inseparable element in being human is self-consciousness. Man (or Dasein is
the particular being who has to be aware of himself, be responsible for himself, if he is to become himself. He also is that particular being who knows that at some future moment he will not be; he is the being who is always in a dialectical relation with nonbeing,death. And he not only knows he will sometime not be, but he can, in his own choices, slough off and forfeit his being."
"The full meaning of the term human being will be clearer if the reader will keep in mind that being is a participle, a verb form implying that someone is in the process of being some-thing.It is
unfortunate that, when used as a general noun in English, the term being
connotes a static substance, and when used as a particular noun such as being, it is usually assumed to refer to an entity,say such as a soldier to be counted as a unit. Rather, being should be understood, when used as a general noun, to mean potentia the source of potentiality; being is the potentiality by which the acorn becomes the oak or each of us becomes what he truly is. And when used in a particular sense, such as human being, it always has the dynamic connotation of someone in process, the person being something. Perhaps, therefore, becoming connotes more accurately the meaning of the term in this country, despite the difficulties with the term we have mentioned earlier. We can understand another human being only as we see what he is moving toward, what he is becoming; and we can know ourselves only as we project our potentia in action. The
significant tense for human beings is thus the future-that is to say the critical question is what I am pointing toward, what I will be in the immediate future. Thus, being in the human sense is not given once and for all. It does not unfold automatically as the oak tree does from the acorn. For an intrinsic and inseparable element in being human is self-consciousness. Man (or Dasein is
the particular being who has to be aware of himself, be responsible for himself, if he is to become himself. He also is that particular being who knows that at some future moment he will not be; he is the being who is always in a dialectical relation with nonbeing,death. And he not only knows he will sometime not be, but he can, in his own choices, slough off and forfeit his being."
March 11, 2020
Rollo May is one of the pioneers of existential psychotherapy. Great insights in the subject in this book, coupled with a simple style that can be understood without any background expertise.
May 2, 2024
bravo. i read irvin yalom and became aware of death and self actualization but got bored of his patient stories. i read jung because of a sense of the unconscious and a desire to dive in deep but felt a missing piece of subjectivity and personal narrative. this book was the missing puzzle piece to bridge these 2 views of the human consciousness and also bridged in existential philosphers like kierkegaard, nietszche and also gave a tangible framework that explained why i liked "strangers to ourselves" so damn much. the feeling of "this is a good explanation for something i havent had the exact words for but believe" was pervasive throughout.
January 8, 2020
Well-written introduction to existential psychotherapy. Easy to read and a lot to digest.
January 29, 2018
Rollo May bu kitapta varoluşçuluğun psikiyatriyle ilgisini kuruyor. Bunu yaparken kimi zaman edebiyattan da destek alıyor. Kierkegaard, Nietzsche ve Freud başucu referansları. Kitap varoluşçuluğu ve kaynaklarını anlamak açısından tatlı bir sohbet gibi ilerliyor.
Varoluşçu terapi insanı bağlamı içinde değerlendiren, bir teknikten ziyade insanı anlamanın bir yolu. Kitabın en etkilendiğim vurgusu ise “insanın bulunduğu durumu aşma, dünyanın kendini şekillendirmesine izin verme kapasitesi onun özgürlüğünün de temeli” olduğuna dair satırlar.
Varoluşçu terapi insanı bağlamı içinde değerlendiren, bir teknikten ziyade insanı anlamanın bir yolu. Kitabın en etkilendiğim vurgusu ise “insanın bulunduğu durumu aşma, dünyanın kendini şekillendirmesine izin verme kapasitesi onun özgürlüğünün de temeli” olduğuna dair satırlar.
February 21, 2018
Varoluşçu psikoterapiye giriş kitabı gibi olmuş. İlk birkaç bölüm çok etkileyiciyken zamanla ders kitabına evrilmesini çok sevmedim. Psikoterapi Kuramları dersinde ek kitap olarak okunsa güzel, onun dışında varoluşçuların şu anda bir iki nokta dışında çok uyum sağladığım bir akım olduğunu düşünmüyorum. Tabii bu durum umurlarındaysa.
August 8, 2012
A lesson in the existentialist philosophy of psychology, written by a brilliant thinker. May identifies what he terms “six essential characteristics which constitute existing persons,” and goes on to describe them as follows: (1) Every existing person is centered in his/herself; (2) Every existing person has the character of self-affirmation and the need to preserve his/her centeredness; (3) All existing persons have the need and possibility of going out from their centeredness to participate in other beings; (4) The subjective side of centeredness is awareness;(5) The uniquely human form of awareness is self-consciousness, and(6) Anxiety is the state of the human being in the struggle against what would destroy his or her being.
Existentialism can be thought of in part as a reaction against the behaviorism put forth by B.F. Skinner. Rollo May and others, through existential thought and the practice of psychology, seek to unite the person with their experiences of being in the world. An important source to consider in the examination of what constitutes an authentic life.
Existentialism can be thought of in part as a reaction against the behaviorism put forth by B.F. Skinner. Rollo May and others, through existential thought and the practice of psychology, seek to unite the person with their experiences of being in the world. An important source to consider in the examination of what constitutes an authentic life.
October 30, 2018
بیان نگرش روانشناسی وجودی که به گونه ای تلاشی است برای پر کردن شکاف بین عینیت و ذهنیت که در طول چند قرن گذشته در غرب ایجاد شده و باعث از هم گسیختگی شخصیت و زندگی درونی و همچنین ارتباط بیرونی انسان ها میشود. این دیدگاه به کلی نگری شرقی و وحدت وجود تاکید دارد.و قایل به این است که درک شخصیت هر انسان(در اینجا بیمار) به عنوان یک فرد و موجود که میبایست به دنیای وی وارد شد ،او را درک کرد و ارتباطی کامل با وی برقرار کرد(نه صرفا با پیشداوری های از پیش تعیین شده و روش های تکنیکی معمول) با اضطراب هایش روبرو شد و سپس به وسیله ی تکنیک موانع را از سر راه وی برداشت و اجازه داد تا خود فرد زندگی خویش را تجربه کند.
یک نقل قول از پیام فروید برای من خیلی دل نشین بود:
"پیامی که فروید در پاسخ به نامه ی سال نو بینز وانگر نوشت: برخلاف بسیاری دیگر ،شما نگذاشته اید پیشرفت فکری تات -که شما را هر چه بیشتر از نفوذ من دو کرده است- رابطه ی دوستانه مان را از بین ببرد، و شما نمیدانید چقدر خوب است که انسان چنین لطفی در حق دیگری کند."
کتاب فارسی این اثر سرشار از اشتباه های نگارشی و املایی است و بعضی مواقع دارای ترجمه ای گنگ.
یک نقل قول از پیام فروید برای من خیلی دل نشین بود:
"پیامی که فروید در پاسخ به نامه ی سال نو بینز وانگر نوشت: برخلاف بسیاری دیگر ،شما نگذاشته اید پیشرفت فکری تات -که شما را هر چه بیشتر از نفوذ من دو کرده است- رابطه ی دوستانه مان را از بین ببرد، و شما نمیدانید چقدر خوب است که انسان چنین لطفی در حق دیگری کند."
کتاب فارسی این اثر سرشار از اشتباه های نگارشی و املایی است و بعضی مواقع دارای ترجمه ای گنگ.
September 14, 2017
کتابی مختصر و مفید که خاستگاه ها و کلیات مسایلی که روانشناسی وجودی باهاشون سر و کار داره رو معرفی میکنه...همچنین پیش فرض ها و تصورات غلطی که افراد از این نوع فلسفه و روانشناسی دارن رو تصحیح میکنه. برای کسانی که پیش زمینه ی فلسفی ندارن و با تاریخ فلسفه خصوصا آرای نیچه، کیرکگارد و هایدگر آشنا نیستن میتونه یه مقدار سخت و گیج کننده باشه.در کل مقدمه ی خوبی میتونه باشه برای آمادگی واسه خوندن روادرمانی اگزیستانسیال اروین یالوم که به شدت توصیه میکنم بعداز خوندن این کتاب حتما یهنگاهی بهش بندازین.
ترجمه توسط مهین میلانی انجام شده بود که نسبتا خوب بود ولی بعضی جاها ضعیف و گنگ بود. کتاب سرشار از غلط های تایپی و دستوری بود که اعصاب آدم رو خورد میکرد .
ترجمه توسط مهین میلانی انجام شده بود که نسبتا خوب بود ولی بعضی جاها ضعیف و گنگ بود. کتاب سرشار از غلط های تایپی و دستوری بود که اعصاب آدم رو خورد میکرد .
March 22, 2020
This was one of the most enlightening books I ever read! As someone who read Freud extensively and who recently took a fascination toward Nietzsche and Kierkegaard, this book masterfully webs them and others together to give a full and fundamental understanding of the individual as a composite of many influences, yet who is at the center of his universe constantly deciding how he will interpret and act on his experiences. This book is a must read for anyone hoping to practice therapy or gain further insight in the process of self-awareness.
March 20, 2018
Varoluş kavramının oluşumunun tartışmalarını ele alan okuru bu tartışmaların içinde kaybolma hissiyatını yaşatabilen bir kitap. Kitabın ilk kısmı okuru ele geçirirken sonlara doğru okura "Ben ne biliyorum?, "Şimdi ne anladım?" sorularını oluşturmasına sebep olabiliyor. Netlikten ziyade daha belirsizliğe sürükleyici bir yapıya sahip. Varoluşçuluk ile ilgili daha net ve anlaşılır bilgiler edinmek isteyen kişilere kesinlikle Irvin D. Yalom'un kitaplarını okumalarını öneririm.
April 22, 2019
SELF HELP BOOKS ARE AT THEIR BEST WHEN THEY SPEAK TO THE READER IN HIS OWN WORLD. THIS SPOKE TO ME VERY LITTLE BECAUSE IT ASKED ME TO WALK INTO A WHOLE NEW CULTURE, ONE AT THIS TIME IN MY LIFE AN AM LITTLE EXCITED ABOUT STARTING SUCH A VOYAGE.
March 5, 2016
One of the most influential books I have read. A concise and easy to read introduction to existential psychotherapy and what it means for those seeking deeper meaning in life. Prior to this book I've only been aware of existential philosophy through passing quotes and discussion but now am set on a course for more research.
May 16, 2012
Rollo May is one of the most exceptional existential therapists, and in this book he helps us to understand the writings of Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, and others. This was a great read to better understand the foundational principles of existential therapy.
December 11, 2017
"Anxiety is the state of the human being in the struggle against what would destroy his being."
February 9, 2019
Son 20 sayfa çok çarpıcıydı benim için genelini okumakta çok zorlandım özellikle ilk bölümündeki karşılaştırmaları. Ama rolo may sonucu çok güzel bağlamış. Bir kere daha okuyabilirim .
July 22, 2025
What is it like to be fully present with oneself or another person, and why is it so hard for most of us? This introductory text to existential psychology is dense but not impenetrable. Ironically, it requires a lot of presence in order to digest. Small bits at a time, and leave lots of room for reflection.
Rollo May argues that, in a therapeutic context, the therapist’s complete and total presence is a major catalyst for change in a client. Effective therapy is not one in which a patient is “analyzed out” to the point of changing behavior but where the client is able to accept their existence as is and in doing so, find the freedom to choose new paths and take part in their becoming.
I enjoyed the cultural critiques, often pulled from Marx, that elaborate on the way modern industrialized western societies objectify and mechanize people and processes. The existential pains resulting from this separation of “being” (loneliness, isolation, alienation) are made vulnerable to profit-driven psychiatric and mental health models which value conformist behavior-modification, further alienating and isolating individuals from their unique being-ness.
One of the most interesting ideas for me was the concept of neurosis as a coping mechanism to preserve a false sense of self, a method used to preserve one’s center, a “center” which is culturally expected and accepted. Exploring the person behind these coping mechanisms can be greatly anxiety inducing but is also fertile ground for growth, or even “transcendence”.
Even though this text is quite emotionally barren, love and tenderness are tangible because of its humanizing approach to living beings. Existential psychology is inherently anti-carceral and anti-diagnostic, and thank god.
There is real psychological and material danger in being oneself, and Rollo May begins to explore how a therapist can delicately and compassionately guide a client towards their becoming, leading to deeper life satisfaction. The last chapter states that this text isn’t a manual or model for existential therapy but rather a theoretical starting point. This surely leaves room for a lot of misapplication, so I can imagine that this book is best read in tandem with professors, mentors, and/or other more explicit texts.
The chapter “Anxiety and Guilt as Ontological” was perhaps my favorite as it provoked a fascinating change of perspective for me. The concept that spoke to me the most is this: That the separateness inherent in all relationships, particularly as we fail to understand and meet each other’s needs, is a source of much grief and guilt, but when accepted and worked with, can be a great source of humility and forgiveness toward fellow men.
In addition, the exploration of guilt as it relates to the “forfeiting of one’s being and potentialities” gave me a new perspective on my own ontological guilt. I wish I read this with a book club so that I could hear other’s reactions to this chapter and how ontological guilt shows up in their thinking and reacting. This chapter provoked more questions than answers, as philosophy tends to do, and I look forward to the coming months of small awakenings as I continue to digest these ideas and recognize themes in myself and the world around me.
There’s a lot more I could say about how this book changed my way of thinking but there really is so much to digest, so I will leave it here for now.
Rollo May argues that, in a therapeutic context, the therapist’s complete and total presence is a major catalyst for change in a client. Effective therapy is not one in which a patient is “analyzed out” to the point of changing behavior but where the client is able to accept their existence as is and in doing so, find the freedom to choose new paths and take part in their becoming.
I enjoyed the cultural critiques, often pulled from Marx, that elaborate on the way modern industrialized western societies objectify and mechanize people and processes. The existential pains resulting from this separation of “being” (loneliness, isolation, alienation) are made vulnerable to profit-driven psychiatric and mental health models which value conformist behavior-modification, further alienating and isolating individuals from their unique being-ness.
One of the most interesting ideas for me was the concept of neurosis as a coping mechanism to preserve a false sense of self, a method used to preserve one’s center, a “center” which is culturally expected and accepted. Exploring the person behind these coping mechanisms can be greatly anxiety inducing but is also fertile ground for growth, or even “transcendence”.
Even though this text is quite emotionally barren, love and tenderness are tangible because of its humanizing approach to living beings. Existential psychology is inherently anti-carceral and anti-diagnostic, and thank god.
There is real psychological and material danger in being oneself, and Rollo May begins to explore how a therapist can delicately and compassionately guide a client towards their becoming, leading to deeper life satisfaction. The last chapter states that this text isn’t a manual or model for existential therapy but rather a theoretical starting point. This surely leaves room for a lot of misapplication, so I can imagine that this book is best read in tandem with professors, mentors, and/or other more explicit texts.
The chapter “Anxiety and Guilt as Ontological” was perhaps my favorite as it provoked a fascinating change of perspective for me. The concept that spoke to me the most is this: That the separateness inherent in all relationships, particularly as we fail to understand and meet each other’s needs, is a source of much grief and guilt, but when accepted and worked with, can be a great source of humility and forgiveness toward fellow men.
In addition, the exploration of guilt as it relates to the “forfeiting of one’s being and potentialities” gave me a new perspective on my own ontological guilt. I wish I read this with a book club so that I could hear other’s reactions to this chapter and how ontological guilt shows up in their thinking and reacting. This chapter provoked more questions than answers, as philosophy tends to do, and I look forward to the coming months of small awakenings as I continue to digest these ideas and recognize themes in myself and the world around me.
There’s a lot more I could say about how this book changed my way of thinking but there really is so much to digest, so I will leave it here for now.
December 7, 2020
The Discovery of Being is an existential therapy book written by Rollo May published in 1983.
Rollo May opens 'The Discovery Of Being' with; "We in our age are faced with a strange paradox. Never before have we had so much information in bits and pieces flooded upon us by radio and television and satellite, yet never before have we had so little inner certainty about our own being." One might think that Rollo May was talking about this fact during 2020; but this was a symptom even in his time. Accordingly, "According to the A.C. Nielsen Co., the average American watches more than 4 hours of TV each day (or 28 hours/week, or 2 months of nonstop TV-watching per year). In a 65-year life, that person will have spent 9 years glued to the tube."https://www.csun.edu/science/health/d... This is truly a sad fact of existence. People would rather watch TV for five hours a day, then to exist in the modern world. However, sometimes, I might fall into this trap. Not with TV but with cellphones. You might see me conforming the crowd: when everyone at the dinner table pulls out their phone, it is expected that you ought to as well. Moreover; "The average US adult spends 38 minutes per day on Facebook. 16-24-year-olds spend a median of 3 hours a day on social media. Internet users spend an average of 2 hours and 22 minutes per day on social networking in 2019. The average daily time spent on social in 2018 was 142 minutes a day." https://review42.com/how-much-time-do....
The average US adult spends 38 minutes per day on Facebook. 16 to 24 year old spend a median of 3 hours a day on social media. Internet users spend an average of 2 hours and 22 minutes per day on social networking in 2019. Man no longer wants to be. Existence is to sad of a nature to be viewed at, rather than confronting/contemplating or meditating we seek to avoid contemplation and fill our eyes with a blue screen.
In the earlier portions of the book, Rollo May analyzes the thoughts of Kierkegaard, Nietzsche and Freud. At the end of the book he talks about time and its relation to the individual. I find the later portion of the book rather uninteresting save for this specific park, however the entire book is very profound.
Overall, this was a great read.
Rollo May opens 'The Discovery Of Being' with; "We in our age are faced with a strange paradox. Never before have we had so much information in bits and pieces flooded upon us by radio and television and satellite, yet never before have we had so little inner certainty about our own being." One might think that Rollo May was talking about this fact during 2020; but this was a symptom even in his time. Accordingly, "According to the A.C. Nielsen Co., the average American watches more than 4 hours of TV each day (or 28 hours/week, or 2 months of nonstop TV-watching per year). In a 65-year life, that person will have spent 9 years glued to the tube."https://www.csun.edu/science/health/d... This is truly a sad fact of existence. People would rather watch TV for five hours a day, then to exist in the modern world. However, sometimes, I might fall into this trap. Not with TV but with cellphones. You might see me conforming the crowd: when everyone at the dinner table pulls out their phone, it is expected that you ought to as well. Moreover; "The average US adult spends 38 minutes per day on Facebook. 16-24-year-olds spend a median of 3 hours a day on social media. Internet users spend an average of 2 hours and 22 minutes per day on social networking in 2019. The average daily time spent on social in 2018 was 142 minutes a day." https://review42.com/how-much-time-do....
The average US adult spends 38 minutes per day on Facebook. 16 to 24 year old spend a median of 3 hours a day on social media. Internet users spend an average of 2 hours and 22 minutes per day on social networking in 2019. Man no longer wants to be. Existence is to sad of a nature to be viewed at, rather than confronting/contemplating or meditating we seek to avoid contemplation and fill our eyes with a blue screen.
In the earlier portions of the book, Rollo May analyzes the thoughts of Kierkegaard, Nietzsche and Freud. At the end of the book he talks about time and its relation to the individual. I find the later portion of the book rather uninteresting save for this specific park, however the entire book is very profound.
Overall, this was a great read.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 22, 2021
Was drawn to this book because of some frustrations reading Frankl's "Man's Search for Meaning". Couldn't quite explain it, but that book made me feel like shit all the way through. I went online looking for answers as to why that might be. Descended into a rabbit hole trying to understand the bigger picture of existential therapy. Unlike Freudian or Jungian analysis, it is a diffuse field that links together many therapists and their approaches which arose somewhat spontaneously. I had read some of Irvin Yalom's stuff, and I had a hard time reconciling his approach with Frankl's logotherapy.
In an effort to get an aerial view of the field, I turned to Rollo May here. His extremely philosophical work somehow manages to bring it all together towards the end, using the individual instruments introduced in earlier chapters to conduct an orchestra. My brain was sweaty. Never have I read so slowly and felt so small. The experience for me was similar to reading my first book on Buddhism. I don't think I got it all, but I got enough to make some more headway in understanding. I expect to read more about existential therapy. I mean, I have another of May's books sitting here right now, but I also want to expand my horizon since no one author can be expected to illuminate every aspect. I expect to learn more about the field's philosophical underpinnings, and that project is underway too. All that to say, I expect to read this book again someday after few more upward spirals of understanding, and I expect to get even more out of it.
As an aside, it was wild to find an intellectual giant who had sprouted from the plains of NW Ohio, only a couple towns over from half of my lineage. I thought that fact alone was enough to warrant some explanation into what May would say - figured his ideology had germinated in a way of thinking that I somewhat understood. Very excited to hear what Rollo and the other existential folks have to say, and excited to not feel so DUMB. I joke, I just mean to say that this book is very humbling.
In an effort to get an aerial view of the field, I turned to Rollo May here. His extremely philosophical work somehow manages to bring it all together towards the end, using the individual instruments introduced in earlier chapters to conduct an orchestra. My brain was sweaty. Never have I read so slowly and felt so small. The experience for me was similar to reading my first book on Buddhism. I don't think I got it all, but I got enough to make some more headway in understanding. I expect to read more about existential therapy. I mean, I have another of May's books sitting here right now, but I also want to expand my horizon since no one author can be expected to illuminate every aspect. I expect to learn more about the field's philosophical underpinnings, and that project is underway too. All that to say, I expect to read this book again someday after few more upward spirals of understanding, and I expect to get even more out of it.
As an aside, it was wild to find an intellectual giant who had sprouted from the plains of NW Ohio, only a couple towns over from half of my lineage. I thought that fact alone was enough to warrant some explanation into what May would say - figured his ideology had germinated in a way of thinking that I somewhat understood. Very excited to hear what Rollo and the other existential folks have to say, and excited to not feel so DUMB. I joke, I just mean to say that this book is very humbling.
June 3, 2023
This book is like a preliminary map of existential therapy. It contained philosophical ideas conceptualize by Nietzsche, Kierkegaard and others that was used to form basic existential ideas. Those philosophers believed that man is the only creature “who makes certain values, prestige, power, tenderness, more important than pleasure, and even more important than survival itself”
In addition man’s ability to bind with time, past, present and future, as Bergson said “Time is the heart of existence”. He is in consistent change, developing through time, and always in the process of becoming.
.
May showed appreciation for Freud’s techniques and contribution to psychotherapy, but also noted to his radicalism in using these techniques on specified bases while neglecting the rest. For human being is not over- powered by sexual needs and the subconscious. And Existential therapy believe that man is a creature of awareness, courage, freedom and will.
.
The trinity of being is made of three relations:
(1) man in relation to the world around him.
(2) man in relation to his fellow men.
(3) man in relation to himself.
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Any block in these will lead to “non being” that could result in neuroses; a defense mechanism to preserve being. And any passivity in these three results in “Ontological guilt”
.
The book also distinguished between: awareness and vigilance, between fear and anxiety.
.
The last chapter was more of a message to his colleagues in the field of existential psychotherapy, which contained guidelines of his own experiences on the therapist and patient relationship.
In addition man’s ability to bind with time, past, present and future, as Bergson said “Time is the heart of existence”. He is in consistent change, developing through time, and always in the process of becoming.
.
May showed appreciation for Freud’s techniques and contribution to psychotherapy, but also noted to his radicalism in using these techniques on specified bases while neglecting the rest. For human being is not over- powered by sexual needs and the subconscious. And Existential therapy believe that man is a creature of awareness, courage, freedom and will.
.
The trinity of being is made of three relations:
(1) man in relation to the world around him.
(2) man in relation to his fellow men.
(3) man in relation to himself.
.
Any block in these will lead to “non being” that could result in neuroses; a defense mechanism to preserve being. And any passivity in these three results in “Ontological guilt”
.
The book also distinguished between: awareness and vigilance, between fear and anxiety.
.
The last chapter was more of a message to his colleagues in the field of existential psychotherapy, which contained guidelines of his own experiences on the therapist and patient relationship.
July 27, 2025
I am committed to existential psychology, and the author's first work in Hungarian translation (which was an incredibly long time coming) was the result of a translation by my teacher in Budapest, former university colleagues and friends, so I started with great enthusiasm and drive, and the book did not disappoint. I went slowly, making notes in the margins and saving the references for later reading, but it was well worth the time. Speaking of time, one of the most memorable parts for me was the chapter on time, which is about how anxiety and depression empty the future and how self-exploration, although begins with the past and needs constant updating in the present, must also extend to the future. Only by projecting oneself into the future can a person understand the self. This approach is also very important in my own psychological practice, which builds on the goal-orientedness of Adlerian individual psychology, but I am glad that this book has given me further confirmation of its importance. Otherwise, it is just a small thing the book is full of real philosophical and practical insights.
June 16, 2019
Varoluşun Keşfi, May'in varoluşcu felsefenin temelleri ve varoluşcu analizi incelediği bir kitap. İçsel netliği aramak için yol gösteren terapinin ve terapi yöntemlerinin bireyin kültürün bir aracı haline gelmesine ve bireyselliği parçalamaya hizmet etmekten öteye geçmesi için nesnel hakikatin ve bireyin nesne olarak değerlendirilmesinin ötesine geçilmesine gerektiği vurgusu ile başlayan kitap, varoluşcu bakış açısına ihtiyacın ortaya çıktığı kültürel zemini edebi ve felsefi eserlerden birbirini tamamlayan aktarımlarla açıklıyor, Freud, Kierkegaard ve Nietzsche üzerinden Batıda bireyin ve bilincin nasıl şekillendiğine değiniyor ve insanın kendisiyle kurduğu ilişkideki sorunları tartışarak, varoluşcu analizin temellerini ve varoluşcu analizin nasıl yapılması gerektiğini anlatıyor. Kitaptan ufkumu gözden geçirme adına istifade ettim, kitabı May'in referanslarını da okuma imkanı bulduktan sonra tekrar okumak isterim. Varoluşcu felsefe ve varoluşcu analize ilgi duyanlar için kitabı öneririm.
September 30, 2023
Rollo May, "insanın kendi varlığını deneyimlemesinin ne anlama geldiğini" açıklıyor.
Varoluş bireyin cesaretine bağlı ve "irade olmasaydı dilekler tüm gücüyle kendilerini ortaya koyamazlardı."
Peki varoluşlarını yaşamlarını sonlandırma iradesini göstererek ifa edenler? "Varoluşun sadece candan feragat ederek varolduğu yerdeki varoluş, trajik bir varoluştur."
May ile birlikte el ele, Kierkegaard'dan Zen Budizmi'ne, oradan Nietzsche'ye, Sartre'a ve daha pek çok düşünüre uğradık, ölümlülüğümüzle yüzleşip varoluşla sarhoş olduk.
Bu kitaptan sonra Rollo May'in bendeki yeri Engin Geçtan'ın yanıdır.
Varoluş bireyin cesaretine bağlı ve "irade olmasaydı dilekler tüm gücüyle kendilerini ortaya koyamazlardı."
Peki varoluşlarını yaşamlarını sonlandırma iradesini göstererek ifa edenler? "Varoluşun sadece candan feragat ederek varolduğu yerdeki varoluş, trajik bir varoluştur."
May ile birlikte el ele, Kierkegaard'dan Zen Budizmi'ne, oradan Nietzsche'ye, Sartre'a ve daha pek çok düşünüre uğradık, ölümlülüğümüzle yüzleşip varoluşla sarhoş olduk.
Bu kitaptan sonra Rollo May'in bendeki yeri Engin Geçtan'ın yanıdır.
October 16, 2025
Used this as I started to scratch the surface around Existential Psychology and Existential approaches to psychotherapy. It is lovely to have that experience of reading about "techniques" (specifically for me, in a field I am currently studying to enter) and finding so much familiar resonance, but in more specific language.
The idea of engaging therapy around issues (and anxieties) to do with one's essential elements of being is profoundly meaningful.
Here is a nice selection of essays that feel dense in their content but not unnecessarily academic or aloof. I'm happy to continue to journey with May for several more, I'm sure.
The idea of engaging therapy around issues (and anxieties) to do with one's essential elements of being is profoundly meaningful.
Here is a nice selection of essays that feel dense in their content but not unnecessarily academic or aloof. I'm happy to continue to journey with May for several more, I'm sure.
June 11, 2021
A great little book largely about the historical development of existential ideas and the context in which the main characters wrote.
There’s a great couple of lines toward the end I found helpful “There are only two things anyone needs to grasp.
1. That one day I will be dead
2. That I am not dead now
The only question is what I will do between these two points. The core of the existential approach is taking existence seriously”.
There’s a great couple of lines toward the end I found helpful “There are only two things anyone needs to grasp.
1. That one day I will be dead
2. That I am not dead now
The only question is what I will do between these two points. The core of the existential approach is taking existence seriously”.
August 6, 2019
A great introduction to existential psychology, including a brief (but to the point) review of related concepts in Kierkegaard, Nietzsche and Freud.
If you have not read much about existentialism or Heidegger's Being and Time, this could be a good way to be introduced to those discussions through the lenses of psychology and psychotherapy.
If you have not read much about existentialism or Heidegger's Being and Time, this could be a good way to be introduced to those discussions through the lenses of psychology and psychotherapy.
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