SUFFERING

ONE DOES NOT BECOME FULLY HUMAN PAINLESSLY.

The psychologist Rollo May (1909 - 1994) viewed life as a spectrum of human experience, including suffering as a normal part of life, not a sign of pathology. It is self-evident that as human beings, we tend to seek experiences that allow us to be comfortable. We enjoy our familiar environments, and favour experiences that keep the mental and physical senses in a state of balance and ease. This tendency, however, leads us to judge and label experiences as "good" or "bad", depending  only on the level of pleasure or discomfort they may bring. Rollo May says that in doing so, we do ourselves a disservice, as we are fighting against processes that lead to immense growth and development if we can accept them as a natural part of life.

Rollo May  proposes an approach to life that echoes Christian thought, where we accept all forms of experience equally, (as coming from God),  rather than shunning or denying those we judge to be uncomfortable  or unpleasant. We also need to accept our "negative" feelings, rather than avoid or repress them. Suffering and sadness are not  pathological issues to be "fixed"; they are natural and essential parts of living a human life, and are also important because they lead to psychological growth (The Meaning of Anxiety,1950).

Note: Rollo May is referred to as the father of the existential psychology. The notions of free will, personal responsibility, and how we interpret our experience were all of interest to the existentialists, who wanted to ask what it means, fundamentally, for a human to exist. 

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