by May, Rollo
ritual vs., 38–39,50-51, 290
science as critique of, 25
of Sisyphus, 39, 144-147
societal interpretations of, 254
of success, 115, 117–119, 131, 132
for women, 289, 290
myth(s), American:
of change, 101-106
community asserted through, 45-46
of freedom, 95
of frontier, 93-98, 127
heroes of, 54-56
of individualism, 108–110
loneliness in, 96–101
loss of, 122, 141–142
of New World, 91-93
paucity of, 48, 59, 99
radical transition in, 126, 127
of success, 115–119
see also American culture
Myth of the Birth of the Hero (Rank), 38
“My Wild Irish Rose,” 206
Nagasaki, bombing of, 218–219, 271
names, of slaves, 47
narcissism, American psychotherapy and, 69
narcissistic personality, 112-114, 177
in Peer Gynt, 177, 190
Narcissus, myth of, 110–111
narcotics, 23
National Institutes for Mental Health, 121
Navajos, women’s initiation rituals among, 290
Nazism, 40, 41, 55n, 265
negation:
creativity vs., 274, 275
in psychotherapy, 32-34
Satan as symbol of, 32, 33, 271, 274
unconscious mind and, 251
Neoplatonism, 293
neurosis:
cause of, 226
lying and, 182
rage linked to, 204
sexual disturbances linked to, 155
social responsibility and, 69
Tillich’s definition of, 202
new, myth of, 101-104
New Age, 101, 103
New England, community squares in, 51
Newsweek, 120
New Testament, 261
New World, discovery of, 91-93
New York Times, 22n, 302
Nietzsche, Friedrich:
alienation decried by, 207
Beckett vs., 42
brothels visited by, 258, 259
contemporaries of, 170
daimonic factor recognized by, 190
Freud vs., 74
on heroes, 57
on hunger for myth, 11, 45, 47
Mann’s Doctor Faustus and, 258, 259, 260
Melville vs., 284
on need for roots, 11, 49
willpower rejected by, 74
Nin, Anais, 290n
Noah, 143
non-being, 33,77, 185, 202
North, Oliver, 56, 124
nuclear warfare:
devastation of, 271
Western Faustianism and, 218–219, 269, 271
world community and, 301
Nunn, Clyde Z., 24n
Nutcracker legend, 210
Ode to Joy (Beethoven), 262
Odysseus, myth of:
American frontiersmen vs., 94
in underworld, 99
Odyssey (Homer), 104–105
hell visited in, 166, 273
immortality relinquished in, 295-297
Proteus described in, 104-105
Oedipus complex, 74-75
Oedipus in Colonus (Sophocles):
Oedipus Rex vs., 82, 85, 86
responsibility theme of, 73
story of, 81-86
Oedipus myth:
archetypal patterns found in, 37, 43, 75,184
basic story of, 78n
birth in, 38
development of, 28
healing aspects of, 81, 82, 84–86
identity and, 28, 30
Peer Gynt vs., 180–181
reinterpretations of, 72–73
Oedipus Rex (Sophocles):
Briar Rose vs., 205
early childhood crisis symbolized in, 38
Oedipus in Colonus vs., 82, 85, 86
psychoanalytic theory and, 82, 86
Roots vs., 48
search for identity in, 48, 78–81
story of, 78–81
Old Testament, 47
see also specific books of Old Testament
Olympus, divine conflicts on, 278, 283
On Memory and Childhood Amnesia (Schactel), 68
opportunism, 160–161
Ordinary People, 152
Oresteia, The (Aeschylus):
adolescent independence dramatized in, 39,40
Athena’s role in, 36, 284
Flies vs., 40–41
Orestes, myth of, 39, 40
organization man, 115
Origen, 255, 272
originality, 274, 275
original sin, 34n, 135
orphans, 53
Ortega y Gasset, José, 241
ostracism, 81, 95, 96
“Our Faustian Bargain” (Weinberg), 219
outlaws, 95
out-of-body experiences, 23, 260
Paracelsus, 151
Paradise Lost (Milton), 34, 274
paradox, human, 76, 77, 105
parental seduction, Freudian theory of, 75
passivity, transformation through, 198–199
Passover, 50
patriarchal power, 239, 246–247, 250
patriotism, 30–31
Paul, Saint, 155, 157
Paulus (May), 54
Peer Gynt (Ibsen), 168–193
Briar Rose vs., 196, 197
date of, 168n, 170
Eros principle manifested in, 76
female power depicted in, 164–165, 175, 181, 287
individualism in, 175–177
integration process depicted in, 188–192
negative emotions shown in, 185–186, 211
Oedipal pattern and, 180–181
Peer’s relationship with women in, 172–175, 178–181, 182, 189, 192–193, 196, 287
self-destructive pattern shown in, 211
sin in, 161, 189–190
Solveig in, 76, 172–173, 178–179, 192–193, 287
story of, 171–176, 181–192
strange traveler in, 117, 188, 193
trolls in, 175–178, 190–191
universality of, 169–170
Peloponnesian War, 46
penis envy, 289
Pequod, 278, 283
Pericles, 46
Perkins, Maxwell, 128–129
Perls, Fritz, 177
personal identity, see identity
“Personality and Career of Satan, The” (Murray), 271–272
Peter Pan, 210
“phantasy,” “fantasy” vs., 65n
photography, 130–140, 300
Pilgrims, 45
Plato, 16, 28
Platoon, 27
Plymouth Rock, 45, 101
Poe, Edgar Allan, 275–276
poets:
cultural role of, 106
perceptive faculties of, 37–38
Poincaré, Jules-Henri, 166
politics, American, 102, 126
pornography, 242
Pound, Ezra, 162
power:
of evil, 279
patriarchal, 239, 246–247, 250
sexuality and, 242
presence:
adolescent relationships and, 214
in Briar Rose, 207–208
defined, 85, 193
therapist’s role as, 156–157
pride, 232, 272
Prince, The (Machiavelli), 52
problems, feminine approach to, 291
progress:
Goethe’s belief in, 255
of industrialism, 235
in medicine, 260–261
modern striving mistaken for, 239
Sisyphus myth as denial of, 144
technological vs. spiritual, 218
as theme in Goethe’s Faust, 247, 250, 154, 255
Prohibition, 100, 125
projectio
n, 79–80
Prometheus, 146, 284
Protestantism, masculine values of, 220, 288
Proteus, myth of, 104–107, 129
Psyche, 39
psychic situations, 43
psychoanalysis:
development of, 9, 16, 182–183
Oedipus Rex vs., 79–80, 86
personal myth sought through, 49
as sickness vs. cure, 266–267
psychologists, Mann on, 260, 266
psychotherapy:
in America vs. Europe, 101–102, 114, 122
Briar Rose and, 197–199, 202, 210–214, 291
confessional aspect of, 151, 155
cure vs. coping ability gained in, 161, 165
Divine Comedy vs., 153, 155–164, 165, 167, 193
empathy and, 157
Faustian aspects of, 266–269
Goethe’s Faust and, 237–238, 240, 243, 245, 267
initial emotions in, 186
limits of, 162–165
loneliness and, 98
Mann’s Doctor Faustus and, 267
Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus and, 267, 268, 269
myth making recognized in, 18–21
narcissistic personality in, 112–113
negative impulses acknowledged in, 32–34
patient’s expectations in, 103, 267–269
patient’s responsibility in, 35–37
problem-centered vs. person-centered, 114
rationalism in, 19, 32
religion vs., 269
resistances evoked through, 152
sexual patterns affected by, 180
social vs. egocentric views of, 69
therapist’s role in, 70, 151, 165, 193
types of, 102
psychotherapy, case histories from:
Adrienne, 63–65, 67
Charles, 31–34, 69, 271
Deborah, 17–21, 46, 51, 98
Sylvia, 197–199, 202, 210–214
Ursula, 35–37
puberty rituals, 38–39
Puritanism, 125–126, 283
Pursuit of Loneliness, The (Slater), 99n
Pyramids of Sacrifice (Berger), 26
Radachristian, 22n
radiation, 301–302
Rajneesh, 22n
Rank, Otto, 38, 50, 289–290
rationalism:
goals of, 22
intuition vs., 163
language and, 26
as left-brain activity, 288
overemphasis on, 28
in psychotherapy, 19, 32
reason vs., 162
science vs., 25
“Raven, The” (Poe), 275–276
reaction-formation, 98
Reagan, Ronald, 56, 118–119, 124
reason, 162,163, 237
Reavey, George, 168n
Reformation, masculine values emphasized in, 220, 288
Reich, Wilhelm, 69
Reik, Theodore, 214, 215–216
relationship:
courage of, 205
presence as, 157
religion:
cults and, 22–24, 122, 126, 274
fundamentalist, 27, 122, 270n
individualism and, 109–110
psychotherapy vs., 269
rituals of, 50–51
Renaissance:
Faust legend and, 219–221, 226, 227
humanism of, 227
knowledge as power in, 231
New World development and, 92
patriarchal values of, 228
repetition, 97, 144, 145
repression, 74, 267n, 268
resistance, 79–80
Resistance, French, 41
responsibility:
divine vs. human, 40
freedom linked with, 291
guilt vs., 82–83
in Oedipus in Colonus, 73, 82
Return of She, The (Haggard), 165
Return of the Jedi, The, 18
revelation, 163
revivalism, 109–110
Reynolds, Mary T., 154n
Riesman, David, 97n
right brain, 26
Rights of Man, 254
Rilke, Rainer Maria, 261n, 274
rituals:
as active myths, 290
of puberty, 38–39
religious, 50–51
Road to Success (Carnegie), 117
Robertson, James Oliver, 46, 92n, 115
Robin Hood, 95
role models, 54, 124
Roman mythology, Christian attack on, 24–25
Romans, St. Paul’s Epistle to, 155
Roosevelt, Eleanor, 55 Roosevelt, Theodore, 95
rootlessness, 48–49, 99, 137
Roots (Haley), 30,47–49
Rosen, John, 157
roses, symbolic use of, 195, 205, 206
“Sad to Say It Never Has Been So” (Brecht and Weill), 207
Sagan, Carl, 22n
Saint Joan (Shaw), 284
Salem, witch burnings in, 274, 283
salesmanship, 43–44, 126, 140–141
San Francisco 49ers, 46, 51
Sartre, Jean Paul:
adolescent independence themes and, 39
Flies, 40–41
on hell, 225
on meaning of existence, 15
on myth, 66
Satan:
American outlaw heroes and, 95
betrayal or duping of, 255
biblical description of, 271–272
as Captain Ahab, 34, 277–281, 282, 283, 284
contemporary books on, 271
goodness seen in work of, 235, 255
as Lucifer, 32, 34, 139, 223, 272–273, 380
in Mann’s Doctor Faustus, 259–263, 267
mythic development of, 34
negation represented by, 32, 33, 271, 274
pride of, 272
pseudonyms for, 34
as rebel, 32, 271
temptations timed by, 202
see also devil; Mephistopheles
Schactel, Ernest, 68
Schelling, Friedrich, 236
Schiller, Friedrich von, 234
schizophrenia:
disintegration of self-world relationship in, 185
mythic creation and, 17–20
therapeutic process and, 157
Schopenhauer, Arthur, 74, 236
Schwartz, Delmore, 61
Schweickart, Russell, 298–300, 302
Schweitzer, Albert, 58
science:
mental attitude required for, 287
myths vs., 25
rationalism vs., 25
Scott, Dave, 299
self-consciousness, 74
see also consciousness
self-expressionism, 267n, 268
self-realization, 289
Seligman, Martin, 121–123
sexism, 288–289
sexuality, power and, 242
sexual relationships:
conscious mind vs. unconscious impulse in, 225
as escape, 238n
Faust legend and, 226, 228–230, 242
premature, 214
women’s choice in, 195
“shadows,” 27, 271
Shakespeare, William:
birth of, 222
Hamlet, 78n
King Lear, 23
Macbeth, 152, 282
tragic view of, 161
Shaw, George Bernard, 169, 284
She (Haggard), 165
Shelley, Percy Bysshe, 284
Sicari, Stephen, 70n
Simpson, Elizabeth, 66n
sin(s):
in Great Gatsby, 129, 134, 135
of hubris, 231–232
necessary recognition of, 161–162
original, 34n, 135
in Peer Gynt, 161, 189–190
of society, 264–265
Sisyphus, myth of, 39, 144–147
Slater, Philip, 99n
slavery, 47, 48, 291
sleep, 198
“Sleeping B
eauty,” 194–195
see also Briar Rose
Smiles, Samuel, 250
Smith, Henry Nash, 94n, 109n, 127n
social interest, 30–31, 69
Socrates, 231, 284
Solveig, 76, 172–173, 178–179, 192–193, 287
“Song of Myself” (Whitman), 109
Sontag, Susan, 130–140
Sophocles:
classical myths and, 16
Oedipus myth enlarged by, 28
tragic view of, 161
see also Oedipus in Colonus; Oedipus Rex
sorge, 134–135
space exploration, 298–300, 302
Spengler, Oswald, 217, 218–219, 260, 261
Spirit of St. Louis, 55
spite, 185–186, 202, 211, 212
Spitz, Rene, 53
spoiled child syndrome, 181
Stanford University, 21
Statue of Liberty, 94, 96
steam engine, 235
Steinbeck, John, 276–277, 291–292
Steppenwolf (Hesse), 261
stock market, 119, 126
straight line, as Faustian symbol, 218
strangers:
compassion for, 52
as literary figures, 117
“Struggling Upward or Luke Larkin’s Luck,” see “Luke Larkin’s Luck”
students:
memory skills of, 68
value systems of, 56–57
success, myth of:
in Great Gatsby, 131–132
Horatio Alger and, 115, 117–119
suffering, necessity of, 166–167
Sufi, 293
suicide:
cult behavior and, 23, 274
threats of, 63
of young people, 21, 121
Sullivan, Harry Stack, 34, 47, 68–69
Super Bowl, 46, 51
superstition, 22
Swaggart, Jimmy, 27, 225n
Sweden, nineteenth-century emigration from, 48
Sylvia (case history), 197–199, 202, 210–214
takeovers, 119
Teapot Dome scandal, 126
technology:
ascendancy of, 57
spiritual progress vs., 218
television:
ethical emptiness and, 21
Roots shown on, 48
stereotypical happiness depicted on, 99n, 113
violence shown on, 21, 100
Temple of Zeus, 297
Teresa, Mother, 58
Thanatos, 76–77
see also death
Thatcher, Margaret, 291
theater, 43
therapists, see psychotherapy
Theseus, 83–84
Thomas Aquinas, Saint, 34n
Threepenny Opera, The (Brecht and Weill), 207
Tillich, Hannah, 257
Tillich, Paul:
on acceptance, 157, 187
on art as cultural criterion, 261
on courage to be, 205
on desert imagery, 95
on fear of death, 294
“hero” made of, 54
on kairos, 92n
Mann vs., 257
non-being concept of, 33, 77, 185, 202
in World War II, 257
time, 203, 205–206
mortality and, 294, 297
Tiresias, 75, 79, 80, 85
Tocqueville, Alexis de, 48, 99, 102, 108, 114, 115
Tragical History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus, The (Marlowe), 222–232