Chapter 11 May: Existential Psychology 329existence takes precedence over essence. Existence means to emerge or to become;
essence implies a static immutable substance. Existence suggests process; essence
refers to a product. Existence is associated with growth and change; essence signi-
fies stagnation and finality. Western civilization, and particularly Western science,
has traditionally valued essence over existence. It has sought to understand the
essential composition of things, including humans. By contrast, existentialists
affirm that people’s essence is their power to continually redefine themselves
through the choices they make.
Second, existentialism opposes the split between subject and object. Accord-
ing to Kierkegaard, people are more than mere cogs in the machinery of an indus-
trialized society, but they are also more than subjective thinking beings living
passively through armchair speculation. Instead, people are both subjective and
objective and must search for truth by living active and authentic lives.
Third, people search for some meaning to their lives. They ask (though not
always consciously) the important questions concerning their being: Who am I? Is
life worth living? Does it have a meaning? How can I realize my humanity?
Fourth, existentialists hold that ultimately each of us is responsible for who
we are and what we become. We cannot blame parents, teachers, employers, God,
or circumstances. As Sartre (1957) said, “Man is nothing else but what he makes
of himself. Such is the first principle of existentialism” (p. 15). Although we may
associate with others in productive and healthy relationships, in the end, we are
each alone. We can choose to become what we can be or we can choose to avoid
commitment and choice, but ultimately, it is our choice.
Fifth, existentialists are basically antitheoretical. To them, theories further
dehumanize people and render them as objects. As we mentioned in Chapter 1,
theories are constructed in part to explain phenomena. Existentialists are generally
opposed to this approach. Authentic experience takes precedence over artificial
explanations. When experiences are molded into some preexisting theoretical
model, they lose their authenticity and become divorced from the individual who
experienced them.
Basic Concepts
Before proceeding to Rollo May’s view of humanity, we pause to look at two basic
concepts of existentialism, namely, being-in-the-world and nonbeing.
Being-in-the-World
Existentialists adopt a phenomenological approach to understanding humanity. To
them, we exist in a world that can be best understood from our own perspective.
When scientists study people from an external frame of reference, they violate both
the subjects and their existential world. The basic unity of person and environment
is expressed in the German word Dasein, meaning to exist there. Hence, Dasein
literally means to exist in the world and is generally written as being-in-the-world.
The hyphens in this term imply a oneness of subject and object, of person and world.
Many people suffer from anxiety and despair brought on by their alienation
from themselves or from their world. They either have no clear image of them-
selves or they feel isolated from a world that seems distant and foreign. They have