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 MAYWhen people feel their insignificance as individual persons, they also suffer an undermining of their sense of human responsibility.
More Rollo May Quotes
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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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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
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Creativity is the process of bringing something new into being. Creativity requires passion and commitment. It brings to our awareness what was previously hidden and points to new life. The experience is one of heightened consciousness: ecstasy.
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Religion is whatever the individual takes to be his ultimate concern. One’s religious attitude is to be found at that point where he has a conviction that there are values in human existence worth living and dying for.
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This is what makes heroism so important: it reflects our own sense of identity and from this our own heroism is molded.
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Courage is not the absence of despair; it is, rather, the capacity to move ahead in spite of despair.
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Freedom does not come automatically; it is achieved. And it is not gained in a single bound; it must be achieved each day.
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All people are struggling to be creative in some way, and the artist is the one who has succeeded in this task of life.
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Mass communication–wonder as it may be technologically and something to be appreciated and valued–presents us wit a serious daner, the danger of conformism, due to the fact that we all view the same things at the same time in all the cities of the country. (p. 73)
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All our feelings, like the artist’s paints and brush, are ways of communicating and sharing something meaningful from us to the world.
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A mien which seems to say, “You are looking at somebody now.” For this inner sense of worth that comes with being in love does not seem to depend essentially on whether the love is returned or not.
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Finding the center of strength within ourselves is in the long run the best contribution we can make to our fellow men. … One person with indigenous inner strength exercises a great calming effect on panic among people around him.
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Creativity is not merely the innocent spontaneity of our youth and childhood; it must also be married to the passion of the adult human being, which is a passion to live beyond one’s death.
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So courage makes possible all the psychological virtues. Without courage other values wither away into mere facsimiles of virtue.
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It is an ironic habit of human beings to run faster when we have lost our way.
ROLLO MAY