Love is generally confused with dependence; but in point of fact, you can love only in proportion to your capacity for independence.
Rollo MayRead
Freedom always deals with 'the possible'; this gives freedom its great flexibility, its fascination, and its dangers.
Interpretation
Freedom allows for endless possibilities but carries inherent risks.
In this quote, Rollo May emphasizes that true freedom is not just about the absence of constraints but encompasses the potential and choices that come with it. This flexibility opens up a realm of opportunities that can be both alluring and perilous, as the freedom to choose also encompasses the risk of making unwise decisions.
In practice
In a discussion about the importance of personal choices in life.
Love is generally confused with dependence; but in point of fact, you can love only in proportion to your capacity for independence.
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
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.
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.
Beauty is the experience that gives us a sense of joy and a sense of peace simultaneously.
The poet, like the lover, is a menace on the assembly line.
Nothing is miserable unless you think it so; and on the other hand, nothing brings happiness unless you are content with it.
Many introverts feel there's something wrong with them, and try to pass as extroverts. But whenever you try to pass as something you're not, you lose a part of yourself along the way. You especially lose a sense of how to spend your time.
What makes a nation great is not primarily its great men, but the stature of its innumerable mediocre ones.
There is no escape - we pay for the violence of our ancestors.
Part of me suspects that I'm a loser, and the other part of me thinks I'm God Almighty.
'Smart growth' destroys the environment. 'Dumb growth' destroys the environment. The only difference is that 'smart growth' does it with good taste. It's like booking passage on the Titanic. Whether you go first-class or steerage, the result is the same.
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