“The cultural past is rigidly deterministic to the extent that the individual is unaware of it. An analogy, of course, is found in any psychoanalytic treatment: the patient is rigidly determined by past experiences and previously developed patterns to the extent that he is unaware of these experiences and patterns.”

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.