Anoop Nayak's Key Ideas from Man's Search for Himself
by Rollo May

The baby becomes a physical individual when the umbilical cord is severed at his birth, but unless the psychological umbilical cord is also in due time cut, he remains like a toddler tied to a stake in his parents’ front yard. He can go no farther than the length of his rope. His development is blocked, and the surrendered freedom for growth turns inward and festers in resentment and anger.

They have been taught that happiness and success would follow their “being good,” the latter generally interpreted as being obedient. By being obedient to external requirements over a long period of time, he loses his real powers of ethical, responsible choice. Strange as it sounds, the powers to achieve goodness and the joy which goes with it are diminished. And since happiness is not the reward of virtue, but virtue itself, the person who surrenders his ethical autonomy has relinquished to the same degree his power to attain virtue and happiness. No wonder he feels resentful.

"Memory is not just the imprint of the past time upon us; it is the keeper of what is meaningful for our deepest hopes and fears. As such, memory is another evidence that we have a flexible and creative relation to time, the guiding principle being not the clock but the qualitative significance of our experiences." The experiences that we remember tells us about our character, and how we interact with upcoming situations in time.

When Socrates was describing the ideal way of life and the ideal society, Glaucon countered: “Socrates, I do not believe that there is such a City of God anywhere on earth.” Socrates answered, “Whether such a city exists in heaven or ever will exist on earth, the wise man will live after the manner of that city, having nothing to do with any other, and in so looking upon it, will set his own house in order.”