FREE ESSAY ON ANXIETY: ROLLO MAY'S DISCOVERY OF BEING

ANXIETY: ROLLO MAY'S DISCOVERY OF BEING

Dr. Maurer
12/9/98
Anxiety: Rollo May's Discovery of Being
It seems as though every Sociologist creates his or her own definition of Anxiety. Each
definition of Anxiety being ghastly different, however, tying back to three common
situations: Fear, Encounters with primary groups, secondary groups, and the public, and
Anxiety towards Self-Growth. In analyzing Rollo May's The Discovery of Being, we find
that May incorporates many different definitions of these situations from other
Sociologists, as well as ties in many of his own thoughts and ideas. Also at times, May
disregards strongly other Sociologist's views on these situations, creating an
interesting and unique view of society and Psychology. In this analysis of The Discovery
of Being, we will examine May's particular definitions and thoughts on Anxiety and Being,
Anxiety and Encounter, and Anxiety and Self-Growth. 
Early in the book, May touches on his views of Anxiety, he discusses Anxiety as being
something that does not arise from a fear of lack of libidinal satisfactions or security,
but rather out of fear of our own powers, and any pertaining conflicts. He discusses this
as a present day problem, which has been significantly influenced by society and present
societal goals. Libidinal satisfactions are so easily encountered in our day that it
becomes hard to avoid them. The prevalent Anxiety is found upon self-reflection and our
own realizations of what we actually can do, but for some reason neglect to do so. Our
constant outlook to go further in society than our neighbor is tied to our Anxiety of
Being and Non-Being.
May looks closely at the concept of Being, and notes at one point that Being is a
participle, also meaning in the process of being something. An individual's Being is
constantly changing throughout life, never reaching a set point. More specifically, May
defines Being as an individual's pattern of potentialities. Anxiety arises when these
potentialities grow harder to obtain or hidden from clear view. In modern society, man no
longer holds his Sense of Being, but is looked at as a mechanism for others to succeed or
save time or enjoy their libidinal satisfactions. A man knows himself not as a man or
self, but as a token seller in the subway, a grocer, a professor, a vice-president of
AT&T, or by whatever his economic function may be. 
The point where Anxiety plays into Being is moreover in the state referred to as
non-being. Non-being traditionally would be looked at as death, of which, even to this
day, causes for much Anxiety. However, in today's society, non-being also refers to the
state of not achieving or not meeting your potentialities. In light of this, people seek
ways of avoiding any confrontation with non-being. Perhaps the most ubiquitous and
ever-present form of the failure to confront non-being in our day is in conformism, the
tendency of the individual to be absorbed in the sea of collective responses and
attitudes,...,with the corresponding loss of his own awareness, potentialities, and
whatever characterizes him as a unique and original being.
The second Anxiety-plagued situation is that of Encounter with another individual. May
sees encounters as a phenomenon where individuals take an extraordinary risk in forming
trust bonds while determining the amount, if any, of self-disclosure the individual is
willing to share. May includes several levels of encounters with which we deal with on a
day-to-day basis. The first level is that of real persons, where our loneliness is
subsided by interactions with nearly anyone. The second level is that of friends, of whom
we trust and of whom listen and understand you. The third is esteem/agape in which you
display an inner-concern for people's welfare. And the final level is simply erotic. 
May describes Anxiety in Encounter as arising out of anticipation and an altering of our
comfortable temporary security as we are opened to another individual. There is a brief
moment when we must decide how to react and interact with this person, which generally
clears the way for Anxiety as to how this person will in turn react to your responses.
Anxiety about the self-image arises, as self-concept begins being questioned. May notes
that it is not possible in an encounter for one person to have a feeling without the
other having it to some degree also. Thus, Anxiety, when felt by one participant of the
encounter, is generally felt by all other remaining participants. 
The final situation in which Anxiety commonly arises is within Self-Growth. May's
describes every human as being centered in themselves, and centered in their respected
lives. Sudden changes throw off the balance of this center and can cause much distress.
However, May states that all existing persons have the need and possibility of going out
from their centeredness to participate in other beings. This is our first glimpse of
Self-Growth. The Anxiety that arises in this attempted Self-Growth is found in the risk
involved in straying from one's center. By no means is the amount that one strays from
his center proportional to the growth that will result, but the more risks taken, or the
more times he strays from the center, the more growth he should experience.
Self-Growth can be viewed as a direct result of May's human awareness or
Self-Consciousness. Anxiety emerges quickly when discussing Self-Consciousness,
especially in the case of high school and college girls. Suddenly, a self-concept is
conceived and every waking hour is spent creating the self-image. Anxiety strikes high
when the image is not upheld or becomes outdated. 
Self-Growth also ties in with May's modern day definition of Being. The modern man who
lacks the sense of being, and is only recognized for his contributions to the societal
machine, leaves little room for self-growth, and yet bears so much Anxiety as a result of
his non-being. In looking at May's ideas of conformity being the catalysts for non-being,
self-growth becomes insignificant, and Anxiety remains fairly low. This is because one's
centeredness also becomes the boundaries, not allowing for one to stray past and take the
added risk involved in seeking self-growth. 
Anxiety is defined in Webster's Dictionary as distress of mind; uneasiness. Although
vague and bland, this definition seems to cover the variety of ways that Anxiety can
creep into one's head. We looked at three different situations where Anxiety commonly
arises, and in each of the situation, we returned with a new entirely unique definition.
An amazing point of May's was that he claimed Anxiety changes and with it, the definition
of Anxiety changes as time passes by. Societal goals change, and thus self-growth
changes; mannerisms and interaction techniques change and encounter changes; personal
power and libidinal satisfactions change, and so once again May's definition of Anxiety
and Being must change as well. Thus, the process of studying Anxiety is a constantly
changing field, yet remains a similar feeling to all who experience it, regardless of the
time period. May's unique writing style and brilliant thoughts made Anxiety a remarkably
easy and interesting topic to read about.