Love and Will

I first read Rollo May's _Love and Will_ about 30 years ago and the wisdom of his writing has stayed with me since. May wrote before the time that "self help" became a heading on the shelves of a bookstore, in a time when analytical psychotherapy was still popular. Bearing that in mind, the reader will find that what May had to say then is all too true today. Whereas in the past love and will solved the problems of relationship to others, they have now become the problem. In our schizoid world real communication is rare. (The reader might think that May wrote after the advent of the personal computer.)Now, there are a couple of reasons why I do not offer May's final analysis of the problem. One is that with the advent of "self help" we have shifted from an analytical to a behavioral form of psychotherapy. More than one writer says just do these ten things and you will be happy. The second reason is that the reader might miss May's concept of the daimonic. In it's simplest terms, it means that a person has to have something going on in his/her life.Read the book. Learn the lesson. Set your own course of actions.

Find out here why love and will are so psychologically intertwined....and why a dearth in one means a dearth of the other. In a culture in which deterministic explanations and excuse-making have largely replaced a recognition of personal responsibility and the power of the will, it's no wonder love itself is impoverished. May also offers alternatives to this state of affairs. An excellent book.

LOVE AND WILL is probably Rollo May's best book, his magnum opus. It was published in 1969, when May--by then one of the most prominent psychologists on the American scene--was sixty-years old. And, despite its intelligence and psychological sophistication, it became a best-seller. Central to this praiseworthy work are chapters 5 & 6, in which Dr. May introduces (presaging James Hillman) his radical concept of "the daimonic." Any person concerned with the so-called senseless violence so prevalent at the close of the millennium would do well to have a look at these stunning, seminal chapters. Also of interest, especially to psychotherapists, is May's erudite discussion of "intentionality" a little later on. Though May's treatment of some subjects might be slightly dated, there is much here to be strongly recommended, especially for students and other readers who appreciate substantial books such as Ernest Becker's THE DENIAL OF DEATH.

Simply stated, this is the most intelligent book I have ever read. Rollo May goes to extrordinary lengths to dissect the misunderstood concept of love. He traces love from the Greeks to modern day. Each page challenges the reader to rethink his/her superficial understanding of love. The author's case studies from his own psychoanalytic practice provide relevant examples of how the values of modern society have reduced love to a physical act of gratification. Anyone interested in improving themselves as a human being must read this very challenging and thought provoking book.

Rollo May merges psychology with philosophy to put contemporary views on love, sex and happiness in perspective. With insight that draws upon centuries of great thinkers, May points out some subtle paradoxes that being in love creates. He examines how our intentions often have to be redirected in order to get what we desire, and by that time, we forget what it was that we were after. Love and Will is no self-help book with fluffy answers or advice. It is an attempt to reconcile our emotions with our actions, ambitious as it is illuminating