Create

Rollo May, The Courage to Create

. . . the creative act arises out of the struggle of human beings with and against that which limits them.

. . . transcending can occur only to those who accept the fact of their limitation . . .

Form is not a mere lopping off of meaning that you don't have room to put in your poem; it is an aid to finding new meaning, a stimulus to condensing, to discovering on a more universal dimension the essence you wish to express.

As imagination gives vitality to form, form keeps imagination from driving us into psychosis. This is the ultimate necessity of limits.

Artists are the ones who have the capacity to see original visions . . . We can surely tolerate their special dependencies and harmless idiosyncracies. For we will be better prepared for the future if we can listen seriously to them.

Comments

[Kimberly]

May's 'Love and Will' was one of my favorite books when I was a psychology student. I haven't read this book, but perhaps it's time.

[Kate S.]

Those are some sobering, deeply profound words. The Courage To Create sounds awfully familiar ... but I don't recognize the name. I agree, reading this book now feels very timely. I think it's that time of winter when cabin fever starts to creep in, filling some of us with self-doubt, and expressing our creativity is the only thing that keeps us from succumbing to this seasonal psychosis.

Unless you're flush enough to take a quick side trip to Hawaii or somewhere the sun still shines with heat.

[jenni russell]

These are great aphorisms. I'm going to have to look up this book. Thanks for posting them. I especially love and can identify with these two:

. . . the creative act arises out of the struggle of human beings with and against that which limits them.

. . . transcending can occur only to those who accept the fact of their limitation . . .