Customer Reviews

Courage to Create

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Rollo May was personally very familiar with the creative process: he was not only a pioneering psychotherapist, philosopher, prolific and poetic author, and sought after teacher and lecturer, but also a gifted watercolorist with great appreciation for art and music. So, in these hundred-or-so pithy and entertaining pages, he shares with readers some core truths about creativity and its psychology. Courage, as the book's apt title implies, is at the very heart of creativity, since to be creative requires us to risk seeing reality anew, and to try (typically not wholly successfully) to express our experiences in creative work, despite the anxiety such soul-searching and self-revealing endeavors inevitably engender. Creativity always requires taking a chance on one's self-- meeting one's unconscious, or shadow, or what May called the daimonic--and moving ahead despite self-doubts, discouragement and anxiety. Courage, as May makes clear, is not the absence of insecurity, fear, anxiety or despair, but resides in the decision to move through these feelings as constructively or creatively as possible. For anyone struggling with the creative process, this classic meditation on creativity can provide welcome encouragement.

I have taught a Psychology of Creativity course for over 13 years now and this has been the only book I have ordered for every single course. Not only does May describe the creative process (e.g., the encounter), blocks (fear of life/death), environment (history, mythology) but he DOES offer real-life practical solutions in terms of self-questioning. A Humanistic, Transpersonal, Existential psychologist, May expounds on the "life is a journey" worldview: it is what we make it, yes, but not the "it is what "I" make it. WE, not "I". Laid out like a recipe, May discusses at least two paradoxes of creativity that other psychological theories might refer to as indicative of error. First, his definition of courage is the willingness to take action DESPITE despair. I interpret this not that creativity derives from despair but that it is better measured within the context of despair, for example John Nash "A Brilliant Mind." Secondly he defines creativity as the willingness to be fully committed while keeping in mind we might be wrong (which brings to mind the cognitive concept of functional fixedness). Tolerance for ambiguity is a key characteristic of creative personalities. A willingness to move beyond the "ok" solution in preference for the "original idea".
Physical, Moral, Social and Creative courage are each discussed in practical terms. Unlike many books which incorporate "creativity" in the title, this book truly focuses one possible reason creativity continues to elude empirical measurement, not unlike Heisenberg's "uncertainty principle." We can know about the world/nature-at-large but it depends on what we ask. Perhaps there is another side to what it means "to know." If this question intrigues you then read, and re-read The Courage to Create. It is a guidebook for lifetime existential quest that doesn't kick aside practical application. Tolerance for ambiguity--that's the key.

Some books age like vintage wines, gathering a film of dust that
disuse protects until that happy "discovery" by an old
friend. Rollo May's "The Courage to Create" was written in
1975 - in a time when the presence of the atom bomb created an anxiety
that prevented people to create for a future that was unsure, at best.
Now in 2000, twenty five years of cosmic angst have intensified to a
fear of the limits of even a glimpse of a future and it is reaffirming
to return to Rollo May to regain the courage to "rage against the
dying of the light." In eloquent but inordinately accessible
language May surveys the entire concept of Creativity with terse, well
selected passages from Plato and the ancients to Cezanne to Tillich
and Kierkegard and Thomas Wolfe. This is not a "How To" book
or self-help rapid- read to solve superficial problems. This little
book, when read slowly and thoughtfully, guides us through concepts
that allow us to regain a state of positive thinking in a time when it
is far more popular to dwell on our day to day foibles and transient
misjudgements. The discovery of the self is his most important
driver, yet he doesn't stop there. Taking that newly discovered self
and building the courage to acknowledge encounters, engagements,
epiphanies, and a usable acceptance of limits - this sounds so simple
in a review, but when May has your complete attention, more happens to
us than just learning about creativity: we learn about really
living. ....

This book, while being a psychology book, is not for psychologists. Its essentially for everyone else; for all those whom deem themselves creative but dont know how to create. The title 'Courage to Create' epitomizes the core understanding of what is true creativity. In a nutshell, author Rollo May explains that to have courage is to move forward "in spite of despair." This is where creativity is borne out of: out of despair. May then cites many examples of artists, mathematicians, musicians, and other forms where creative thought can be applied. He does not give the read a step by step process in how one can apply techniques, but empowers the reader with an attitude. The attitude of perseverance, encounter relationship, and expression of the deepest levels of our psyche. To be in constant search of ourselves is to be, in one sense, in despair and yet, to challenge that deparity is to have the courage. And by expressing that challenge, one begins to understand creativity. When we have worked and overworked ourselves, then frustration ensues where we leave our work. In this silence, our unconscious is still at work. Then we look bright-eyed and say 'Aha!'. We have created. Author May also includes other aspects that will be helpful to the reader in gaining more awareness and insight to anxiety levels and what the artist may be suppressing emotionally or cognitively. A wonderful book I highly reccomend that will challenge your limitations.

Drawing on sources like Paul Tillich, May writes ably about the psychology of creativity--but not in hugs-and-rainbows fashion, for as Stephen Diamond has emphasized in his own writings, creativity always carries what I think of as a dangerous edge to it, the breath of the daimonic. Read this book to see why creativity is so central to the human experience. (Dunno if I'm allowed to do this in a review, but (see below) what's the deal with letting people post reviews in which they admit they haven't even read the book? )

First of all, who the hell writes a book review without ever reading it? Moving on, I would give limited praise for this book. In terms of May's other work, it does not surpass something like "the cry for myth." I should like to bring to your attention that the book is a collection of lectures and vary in their quality when transformed into essays. A few are thought provoking and a few are irrelevant and the rest are in between. It's worth reading if you enjoy existential psychology and are curious about creativity. If you just want to know about existential psychology, choose a better book.

Two things really shine in this slim but rich volume: Rollo May's insight as a psychologist, and his basic decency & empathy as a human being. His exploration of the sources of creativity is one of complete engagement with subject & reader -- for all his obvious education & experience, he never succumbs to a detached & superior academic tone. He speaks to each reader as one human being to another.

Be warned: this is not a how-to or self-help book. (But it's likely to help you far more than an entire shelf of self-help books.) What May delves into is the nature of creativity -- what drives it, why it's a necessity to both the individual & society as a whole, and the complex, delicate balance of powerful psychological forces it must negotiate.

May explains how creativity enriches & enlarges our lives ... but it's not always easy, as it demands working in uncertainty, a kind of pregnant, hopeful doubt. We never know if what we're creating is actually worthwhile, or merely fairy gold that turns to ashes at dawn. Yet the heroism of it is that we work on through that doubt & despair to produce our work. And of course this not only applies to creative work, but the work of life itself. And perhaps the two are not so far apart?

Formatted in a few short chapters, each of which is a complete essay in itself, this remains the single best book on creativity I've ever read. It's one I return to on a regular basis, considering it a work of art itself. It won't give you any simple step-by-step instructions -- but it'll make you think, and contemplate, and deepen your understanding. And in the long run, that'll do much more to awaken & nurture the creative spirit.

Most highly recommended!

Courage to Create has been on my to-read pile for quite some time. Strongly recommended by several friends, I was very curious to read it. This despite an admitted suspicion of books that address creativity from a psychological perspective.

I found the book interesting and relatively clearly written. May resisted the temptation to pad out the work, and its 140 pages are perfectly adequate to make its point. The book is divided into seven sections; they run from "The Courage to Create" to "A Passion for Form".

I found the sections relevant to creativity and the unconscious the least interesting parts of the book. This may be, in part, because the book was early enough (1975) that many of the concepts in those chapters feel a little bit like open doors. Courage to Create has been a very influential book and over the years a number of its themes have been picked up and expanded on-- sometimes in a more complete way. I was quite interested in May's thoughts linking form to creativity. Again, they weren't new ideas, but I found he articulated them clearly and with some perspectives that I hadn't considered until reading the book.

Despite my reservations I would still recommend the book to readers interested in the roots of creation and creative ability. It isn't a lengthy read, and requires more time for consideration than it does for the actual reading.

Have you ever wondered how people have creative ideas? This books tells you step by step how. Using anecdote after anecdote from the past and the present May builds a montage portrait of creativity that convinces. Even the prophetesses at the Oracle of Delphi turn out to be relevant.

How exactly can we be more creative? The first step is to spend an extended period of time concentrating on the ins and outs of your problem. The next time you have a difficulty to solve spend all morning on it 'hot-housing' the question.

This book is probably May's most readable and entertaining work. It is ideal for students, academics, and managers. It will also suit those with every day living problems that never seem to get solved.

Rollo May was personally very familiar with the creative process: he was not only a pioneering psychotherapist, philosopher, prolific and poetic author, and sought after teacher and lecturer, but also a gifted watercolorist with great appreciation for art and music. So, in these hundred-or-so pithy and entertaining pages, he shares with readers some core truths about creativity and its psychology. Courage, as the book's apt title implies, is at the very heart of creativity, since to be creative requires us to risk seeing reality anew, and to try (typically not wholly successfully) to express our experiences in creative work, despite the anxiety such soul-searching and self-revealing endeavors inevitably engender. Creativity always requires taking a chance on one's self-- meeting one's unconscious, or shadow, or what May called the daimonic--and moving ahead despite self-doubts, discouragement and anxiety. Courage, as May makes clear, is not the absence of insecurity, fear, anxiety or despair, but resides in the decision to move through these feelings as constructively or creatively as possible. For anyone struggling with the creative process, this classic meditation on creativity can provide welcome encouragement.