“The Courage to Create” by Rollo May Essay

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Imagination and art are the frosting on human lives and the sources of human experiences. Rollo May helps his readers to find answers to life’s most crucial questions. He offers new and creative ideas for human achievements and possibilities in extracting the maximum from life. Indeed Dr. May is a celebrated therapist and in drawing upon his personal experiences of life has shown in his book The Courage to Create, how one can find creative impulses in liberating oneself and creating a new life.

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Rollo May in his book “The Courage to Create” conveys that society is in the process of change and change makes us experience a sense of being alienated and without purpose. Under the circumstances there are very limited choices and one has to either panic and withdraw or instil the courage in creating better standards for the society. In making the second choice one has to display genuine creativity and courage. Courage implies moving ahead even if doing so appears to be hopeless initially. Courage must be present inherently since it pertains to our convictions in being the underlying force for different values and virtues.

It is not possible to renovate ourselves or society unless we have courage. May has said about courage that “courage is not the absence of despair; it is, rather, the capacity to move ahead in spite of despair” (Rollo May, 1994). According to May there are four kinds of courage. Physical courage does not concern the strength of the physical state of the body but the body’s capability in taming sympathy and empathy. Moral courage implies standing against violent practices whether they are psychological, spiritual, moral or physical. According to May, a person is a coward if he makes statements such as, “I did not want to become involved” (Rollo May, 1994). Social courage requires a person to have the wisdom to cultivate meaningful and intimate relationships by investing energy, emotions and time. Creative courage includes the ability to discover and appreciate new symbols, patterns, ideas and forms by reaching beyond death by way of being engaged in creative acts.

May is clear in saying that creativity does not mean that one should engage in creating pretty and decorative things. The real artist is one who creates new and original realities. He demonstrates what he believes for and is able to convincingly express the meaning of human awareness and perceptions. The methods of using creativity are not of much importance; what counts is that creativity lies in actions, not necessarily in the person. Such artistic people are nourishing and self actualize on their own in displaying their creativity. In effect the creative process becomes an encounter amongst ideas and inner visions of people. The creative process is psychologically associated with the flight and fight syndrome which causes the artist to experience heightened consciousness and happiness in the achievement of his full potential. The extent of the encounters can be ascertained from the degree and strength of captivation as felt by the creator.

Creativity breaks the pattern of beliefs that are already held by the artist and everything around such thinkers becomes more vivid and clear when the breakthrough comes. But this breakthrough comes only when the thinker is fully in commitment to the problems. Essentially it will come at the time of changeover between working and relaxing because it is at such times that our earlier belief system is the weakest. May is clear in his description of commitment when he writes, “the relationship between commitment and doubt is by no means an antagonistic one. Commitment is healthiest when it is not without doubt but in spite of doubt” (Rollo May, 1994). As learnt from the therapy it is clear that there are several steps to the creative process. The problem has to be stated, the insight has to be experienced in usual practice by way of an image, and decisions have to be made on the basis of the new insight. The new decisions become arbitrary since they are in the nature of being a living owing to the new world which is shaped by the insight. Harmony and meaning in life is achieved through the struggle against breakdown and towards creating a new being (Charles Cave, 2009).

Works Cited

Charles Cave, , Web.

Rollo May, The Courage to Create, 1994, W.W. Norton & Co.

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IvyPanda. 2021. ""The Courage to Create" by Rollo May." November 4, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-courage-to-create-by-rollo-may/.

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