Feist−Feist: Theories of
Personality, Seventh
EditionIII. Humanistic/Existential
Theories- May: Existential
Psychology
© The McGraw−Hill^363
Companies, 2009Chapter 12 May: Existential Psychology 357Freedom and Destiny
A blend of the four forms of love requires both self-assertion and an affirmation of
the other person. It also requires an assertion of one’s freedomand a confrontation
with one’s destiny. Healthy individuals are able both to assume their freedom and to
face their destiny.
Freedom Defined
In an early definition, May (1967) said that “freedom is the individual’s capacity to
know that he is the determined one” (p. 175). The word “determined” in this defini-
tion is synonymous with what May (1981) would later call destiny. Freedom, then,
comes from an understanding of our destiny: an understanding that death is a possi-
bility at any moment, that we are male or female, that we have inherent weaknesses,
that early childhood experiences dispose us toward certain patterns of behavior.
Freedom is the possibility of changing, although we may not know what those
changes might be. Freedom “entails being able to harbor different possibilities in
one’s mind even though it is not clear at the moment which way one must act” (May,
1981, pp. 10–11). This condition often leads to increases in anxiety, but it is normal
anxiety, the kind that healthy people welcome and are able to manage.
Forms of Freedom
May (1981) recognized two forms of freedom—freedom of doing and freedom of
being. The first he called existential freedom;the latter, essential freedom.
Existential Freedom
Existential freedomshould not be identified with existential philosophy. It is the
freedom of action—the freedom of doing. Most middle-class adult Americans enjoy
large measures of existential freedom. They are free to travel across state lines, to
choose their associates, to vote for their representatives in government, and so on.
On a more trivial scale, they are free to push their shopping carts through a super-
market and select from among thousands of items. Existential freedom, then, is the
freedom to act on the choices that one makes.
Essential Freedom
Freedom to act, to move around does not ensure essential freedom:that is, freedom
of being. In fact, existential freedom often makes essential freedom more difficult.
For example, prisoners and inmates in concentration camps often speak enthusiasti-
cally of their “inner freedom,” despite experiencing very limited existential freedom.
Thus, physical confinement or the denial of liberty seems to allow people to face
their destiny and to gain their freedom of being. In 1981, May (1981, p. 60) asked:
“Do we get to essential freedom only when our everyday existence is interrupted?”
May’s own answer was “no.” One need not be imprisoned to attain essential freedom,
that is, freedom of being. Destiny itself is our prison—our concentration camp that