The Courage to Create by Rollo May (PDF)

Description

Extraordinary, wise, and hopeful…nearly poetic meditations. —Boston GlobeWhat if imagination and art are not, as many of us might think, the frosting on life but the fountainhead of human experience? What if our logic and science derive from art forms, rather than the other way around? In this trenchant volume, Rollo May helps all of us find those creative impulses that, once liberated, offer new possibilities for achievement.A renowned therapist and inspiring guide, Dr. May draws on his experience to show how we can break out of old patterns in our lives. His insightful book offers us a way through our fears into a fully realized self.

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐At the center of this book is an attempt to answer the question – “What is it that leads an artist to create a masterpiece?” The result – a rather haphazard list of quips and intelligent examples that seem to form a coherent yet elusive argument that’s structured yet leaves the question unanswered. The book rather answers the question – “what takes place in the mind of a person during the creative process.” Rollo May acknowledges in the preface that over the course of his college and university lectures on creativity, he always hesitated to publish these lectures because they seemed incomplete. This book is that incomplete publication after his realization that the unfinished quality would always remain with mystery of creation still remaining open. Nevertheless, the book achieves more than what a random list of musings would, perhaps because it leaves a lot for the reader to infer. So whether a reader likes this book or not depends on what she/he is able to infer from it.The argument of creativity in the book revolves around three elements – courage, unconscious and encounter. Each of these words assume a new meaning in this book, a meaning orthogonal to dictionary definition of these words, which makes understanding the arguments a bit difficult. What’s required from the reader is a forgetting of the essence of these words and an attempt to look at the arguments with ingenuous eyes; with a novel look the arguments would start to make sense. The reader would then realize what Rollo May means when he says that “A painter paints a picture with the same feelings as that with which a criminal commits a crime,” or that “Creativity is indeed to forge in a smithy in one’s soul the uncreated conscious of the world. It is difficult, perhaps so as the writers call it a battle with the Gods. It’s for this reason it requires courage to triumph into the unknown.” Amid many such quips and intelligent arguments, Rollo May ends his argument without proof or supporting examples with this assertion – “Creativity is yearning for immortality, hence a battle with Gods.” What a reader makes out of it is your prerogative. The quotes above are from the chapter on creativity and the remaining book talks about role of unconscious and encounter in creativity. The element of unconscious is explained by using an example from Henri Poincare’s autobiography. It can be summarized in many ways but is best left for the reader to read in the book. Similar to unconscious, the idea of encounter in creativity is elusive and therefore little attempt is made to define it but only explain it through relevant examples and assume that the reader will for his/her own opinion of the examples. This book although labeled as a text in Psychology may be closer to a text in Philosophy.This book may leave the reader with an uncanny feeling of knowing a few concepts that she/he is not able to explain in clear words either to self or to friends. That shouldn’t come as a surprise as if it was difficult for the author himself to describe what he was trying to communicate, it is not surprising that the reader may be left with the same feeling. No wonder there are few meaningful and detailed reviews on this book.Nevertheless, however much elusive the concepts in the book are, if methodically internalized could help anyone engaged in creativity process understand his/her own thought process.

⭐Such a good flow of words it almost feels like your not reading or learning. Maybe because this was written a few years back but I enjoyed the setting and tone of this book including the authors thoughts. “Creating” is looked at from the perspectives we should consider going about our daily lives so we are more frequently able to hit our flow states whether in material, mental or a spiritual plane those abilities are innate in us all.

⭐”Artists pursue meaninglessness until they can force it to mean.”The Courage To Create is one of the best books I have read this year. Like many of the great books that enter in my life at a particular moment of my individual journey, this book came to me during a timely moment of creation.I am struggling to write #Book3YinYang. The major struggle is not about the creativity itself, it’s to understand the “creative” as the subjective and objective entity.For the first time, when I started writing in the creative zone with #Book1YinYang, I believed what people believe when the fall in love– it will never last.But as a career novelist, Now, I understand that Art is like any long term relationship.It can’t survive on Aha moments alone.It is bound to have those days of agony when getting to work becomes a struggle.But that is the beauty of pursuing the career as an artist.You have to practice Yang– method of creation.You have to practice Yin– the beauty of moments.And only when both of them are applied, the Father and Mother are present, true creativity comes to life.

⭐From the prologue to the very last page this book speaks to the moment. It addresses the possibilities of change in an evolutionary context. As a student of creativity this is a Rosetta Stone. Where Koestler offers a panorama of creativity and de Bono provides a software of creativity and Edward Wilson describes the why of creativity, Rollo May captures the soul of creativity.I lack the words to do it justice! Read it!

⭐I am a fan of Rollo May–he has an amazing breadth of knowledge that he brings to bear on the subject of creativity. Although he and many others who investigate the nature of creativity focus on the truly transformational works of art and artists who create them, he does speak to what I think of as the working creative–someone who has the habit of creation. The book is written so that one can hear the underlying lectures that led to this book. Because of that, the text can feel a little academic in tone–but I found the book provided an insightful and widely informed perspective to a complicated subject.

⭐This was just difficult for the average person to read. Very wordy. I would have not chosen this book if I had known this.

⭐Pretty good, I had to buy it for a gen ed art theory class. Almost 100% of art theory is made up junk that people go along with because it’s fabricated so that you can’t argue against it. The book is good, don’t like the subject matter.

⭐This book will encourage you, the “want a be” artist to jump in and test your creativity, challenge yourself and old beliefs as to who is artistic, and inspire you be the artist that is waiting to be born.

⭐The person I got this book for had this to say about it:”The book, even though it dates from the 70’s, still seems quite current in how it portrays people and the world around us. Some parts of reality are a bit different now, but overall the main discussion throughout the book sounds valid and is very well thought through. Even though on the back it is classed as being on the subject of ‘Psychology’, I would personally have classed this book as being more along the lines of ‘Philosophy’.There were only a few parts in the book that I considered dated or odd, but these parts ended up leading to interesting points anyway, so I cannot fault them. I read the book in about a week, reading 10-20 pages at a time, the book having about 140 pages, at least in the edition I received.Although I am an artist, I did find the author’s psychoanalytic background to be very refreshing, not to mention the content was written plainly and with clarifications, so I would definitely recommend this book to other artists, regardless of what media they use, because the way the author approaches creativity as a whole is very methodical and may help us better understand our own processes of creative activity.I think what will really stick with me, is the fact that this book acted as a confirmation of sorts for certain pre-conscious concepts I already had, bringing them to the front of my mind and giving me a chance to integrate these thoughts more fully into how I personally view art, the artist and the people who are not artists but nonetheless appreciate the arts.I am not familiar with the author’s other works yet, but after reading this, my interest for them has certainly been piqued.”

⭐Fantastic read,author connecting existential philosophy and psychology.

⭐Great book regarding the Unconscious reality of the individual, Rollo May at his finest!

⭐This review is not regarding the content of the book, but of the quality of the product. Straight to the point, this is one of the worst quality I have encountered ever. This literally feel like a cheap carbon copy of the actual book; it is so clumsy and feels like it will fall apart anytime. Although, this doesn’t affect my reading of the book in anyway, I’m writing this review so that the authorities concerned may be made aware of this problem and can consequently avoid the aforementioned issue with future customers for whom the quality of book is a crucial factor.

⭐This is the second book I read authored by Rollo May. Since the first time I read his work (A Man’s Search for Himself), my experience in life bring my thoughts back to his work again and again. I am more than excited to read The Courage to Create and I am sure it will be another unique experience.

Keywords

Free Download The Courage to Create in PDF format
The Courage to Create PDF Free Download
Download The Courage to Create 1994 PDF Free
The Courage to Create 1994 PDF Free Download
Download The Courage to Create PDF
Free Download Ebook The Courage to Create