The Cry for Myth

It happens almost daily in a therapist's office. A patient, recalling a person, an event, an emotion, quite unexpectedly supplies a link from the present to one of the durable myths of our culture. In this moment, the myth reveals to the patient source of disturbance and pain in a pattern of behaviour that often stretches over a year. The healing process begins. The myth, "eternity breaking into time" in Rollo May's works, becomes the focal point of recovery. Through tracing myths - whether from classical Greece and Dante's Middle Ages, European legend (Faust and the prototype of Sleeping Beauty), or contemporary life (Jay Gatsby) - and relating them to the dreams and associations he encounters in his own practice, Dr May provides meaning and structure for all who seek direction in a morally confusing world.