Therapeutic philosophy/philosophical therapy: a series of
persuasive popular essays on the old paradox that fate without
freedom and freedom without fate are equally meaningless. May
starts out from the Romantic-existential premise that freedom is
the source of all values. But the only real freedom comes from
facing destiny (what Freud would have called Ananke) and enduring
the anxiety and despair it gives rise to. In this context May views
psychoanalysis as a tool fox liberation and a weapon against the
narcissism and self-deception of contemporary American culture. At
the same time he admits that psychoanalysis is also a symptom of
our narcissistic condition, and he lashes out against the
mushy-mindedness epitomized by the "growth center" (a booming
industry in and around Marin County, where he lives). Such centers
promote escapism and egocentric complacency. They fiddle with the
psychic thermostats of individuals while ignoring the often
frightful social climate outside. May also finds evidence of
pseudo-freedom in the cult of promiscuous sex without intimacy
("Sleep with a stranger tonight"), which he damns as just another
way of trying to evade human limits, and hence sick. On the other
side of the fence May attacks the determinists, especially B. F.
Skinner (a friend of his). May labels Skinner a modern-day Grand
Inquisitor, except that Skinner outdoes Dostoyevsky's tragic
character: he thinks freedom is not just dangerous but nonexistent.
This, May argues, is yet another flight from the pain of freedom,
but into rigid dogmatism instead of aimless egotism. May could have
made his case more briefly, but as a literate humanistic
psychologist he's a rare bird on the American scene and definitely
worth listening to. Solid, as usual. (Kirkus Reviews)
The popular psychoanalyst examines the continuing tension in our lives between the possibilities that freedom offers and the various limitations imposed upon us by our particular fate or destiny.
"May is an existential analyst who deservedly enjoys a reputation among both general and critical readers as an accessible and insightful social and psychological theorist. . . . Freedom's characteristics, fruits, and problems; destiny's reality; death; and therapy's place in the confrontation between freedom and destiny are examined. . . . Poets, social critics, artists, and other thinkers are invoked appropriately to support May's theory of freedom and destiny's interdependence."—Library Journal
"Especially instructive, even stunning, is Dr. May's willingness to respect mystery. . . .There is, too, at work throughout the book a disciplined yet relaxed clinical mind, inclined to celebrate . . . what Flannery O'Connor called 'mystery and manners,' and to do so in a tactful, meditative manner."—Robert Coles, America
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