334 Part III Humanistic/Existential Theories
proportionate to the threat. But anxiety can become neurotic or sick. May (1967)
defined neurotic anxiety as “a reaction which is disproportionate to the threat,
involves repression and other forms of intrapsychic conflict, and is managed by
various kinds of blocking-off of activity and awareness” (p. 80).
Whereas normal anxiety is felt whenever values are threatened, neurotic
anxiety is experienced whenever values become transformed into dogma. To be
absolutely right in one’s beliefs provides temporary security, but it is security
“bought at the price of surrendering [one’s] opportunity for fresh learning and new
growth” (May, 1967, p. 80).
Philip’s neurotic anxiety was evident in his attachment to unpredictable and
“crazy” women, an attachment that began in early childhood. During the first
2 years of his life, his world was inhabited primarily by just two other people—his
mother and a sister two years older than Philip. His mother was a borderline
schizophrenic whose behavior toward Philip alternated between tenderness and
cruelty. His sister was definitely schizophrenic and later spent some time in a
mental hospital. So Philip learned early that he had to attach himself to women
but also that he had to rescue them as well. “Life, then, for Philip would under-
standably not be free, but rather would require that he be continuously on guard
or on duty” (May, 1981, p. 30).
Philip’s neurotic anxiety blocked any new and successful ways of behaving
toward Nicole. His approach seemed to be a recapitulation of childhood behaviors
toward his mother and sister.Guilt
Anxiety arises when people are faced with the problem of fulfilling their poten-
tialities. Guilt arises when people deny their potentialities, fail to accurately
perceive the needs of fellow humans, or remain oblivious to their dependence on
the natural world (May, 1958a). Just as May used the term “anxiety” to refer to
large issues dealing with one’s being-in-the-world, so too did he employ the
concept of guilt. In this sense, both anxiety and guilt are ontological; that is,
they refer to the nature of being and not to feelings arising from specific situa-
tions or transgressions.
In all, May (1958a) recognized three forms of ontological guilt, each cor-
responding to one of the three modes of being-in-the-world, that is, Umwelt,
Mitwelt, and Eigenwelt. To understand the form of guilt that corresponds to
Umwelt, recall that ontological guilt need not stem from one’s own actions or
failures to act; it can arise from a lack of awareness of one’s being-in-the-world.
As civilization advances technologically, people become more and more removed
from nature, that is, from Umwelt. This alienation leads to a form of ontological
guilt that is especially prevalent in “advanced” societies where people live in
heated or cooled dwellings, use motorized means of transportation, and consume
food gathered and prepared by others. People’s undiscerning reliance on others
for these and other needs contributes to one’s first form of ontological guilt.
Because this type of guilt is a result of our separation from nature, May (1958a)
also referred to it as separation guilt, a concept similar to Fromm’s notion of the
human dilemma (see Chapter 8).