Love is generally confused with dependence; but in point of fact, you can love only in proportion to your capacity for independence.
Rollo MayRead
Our age is one of transition, in which the normal channels for utilizing the daimonic are denied; and such ages tend to be times when the daimonic is expressed in its most destructive form.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote reflects on the challenges of a transitional age where innate human motivations are often suppressed, leading to potential destruction.
Rollo May highlights the struggles of individuals in a time of transition, where conventional ways of expressing one's deep innate urges, or 'daimonic' aspects, are obstructed. In such periods, these suppressed urges may surface in harmful and destructive ways, suggesting that the failure to channel our deeper motivations healthily can lead to societal turmoil and personal distress.
Themes
TransitionDaimonicDestructionExpressionHuman Nature
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a discussion about mental health during societal changes.
More from Rollo May
All quotes →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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Terrorism and the whole drug scene are vivid examples of the fact that what persons abhor most of all in life is the possibility that they will not matter.
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Humor is the healthy way of feeling "distance" between one's self and the problem, a way of standing off and looking at one's problem with perspective.
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Beauty is the experience that gives us a sense of joy and a sense of peace simultaneously.
Rollo MayRead
The poet, like the lover, is a menace on the assembly line.
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