“Indeed, compulsive and rigid moralism arises in given persons precisely as the result of a lack of sense of being. Rigid moralism is a compensatory mechanism by which the individual persuades himself to take over the external sanctions because he has no fundamental assurance that his own choices have any sanction of their own”

American existential psychologist and author

Rollo Reece May was an American existential psychologist and author. He lived from 1909 to 1994 and is best known for Love and Will, published in 1969. He is closely associated with humanistic psychology and existentialist thought, and he was a major advocate of existential psychotherapy alongside Viktor Frankl. His work was shaped in part by his friendship with the philosopher and theologian Paul Tillich, whose influence he acknowledged in his writing.