God Representation and Its Psychological Reflections in Rollo May

Year 2019, Volume: 18 Issue: 35, 171 - 186, 30.06.2019

Özer Çetin

https://doi.org/10.14395/hititilahiyat.479395

Abstract

Abstract

The aim of this study is to reveal Rollo May’s views from his God Representation by means of findings obtained by archival scanning method. According to Rollo May, the basic motivation of man is to resemble the God he imagined. For this reason, the accuracy of the God representation must be constantly questioned. According to May, the God representation is mutually related with man's development. While God representation develops man’s inner visions, pure inner visions develop the God representation. Rollo May argues that God only as a source of love, helps those who are good, who constantly protects the human beings, an authority that needs to be obeyed and human serving representations prevent the man's development. He believes that God representation, which strengthens man's freedom, responsibility and self-consciousness, contributes to human development. Rollo May benefited from the Old Testament, mythology and existential philosophy about God representation. The influence of the Old Testament and mythology led him to the development of anthropomorphic God representation. May has an anthropomorphic God representation that will not allow man to be like Himself, His God representation is one who struggles with man and who has difficulties in control of human. This is a paradox in May, because transcendental God representation contributes to human’s development more than anthropomorphic God representation. 

Summary

The aim of this research is to examine the views of Rollo May about God representation and to contribute to the studies of God representation. The findings of the study are obtained by archival scanning method. One of the prerequisites for achieving healthy results in scientific research is to choose the appropriate methods for subject matter. In this context, the archive scanning method is selected because it will be the most appropriate one. In the study, firstly, the definition of God representation, factors affecting its formation and theories developed about the God representation are mentioned. Later, Rollo May's ideas about God representation were examined. The findings are obtained from Rollo May’s work and the studies made about him. In this study, the relationship between Rollo May's biography and theories of God representation was established and the factors affecting the formation of May's God representation were determined. Growing up in a religious family, May had a difficult childhood. His post-graduate education in theology, the priest in the church for a while and an existential psychologist make his approaches to the God representation important. God representation is defined as an individual's way of understanding and shaping God from early age through his mental development, knowledge and experience, upbringing and thinking style, and the principles of faith. God representation is formed by the interaction of human interest, expectation and subjective experiences with the concept of God learned from human culture. For this reason, God representation is a mental representation developed by person, not true God. There are some factors to influence the formation of God representation in man’s mind. Scientific studies show that the relationships with the parent, self-esteem, thoughts about religious issues, individual experiences related with God representation, cultural environment where he was raised, sacred books and gender are effective in the development of God representation. Human develops God representations to experience God in his inner world. Because human does not experience God directly. There is a relationship between God representation and mental health. While forgiving, helping, etc. healthy God representation affects human psychology positively, in response threatening, punishment, etc. unhealthy God representation affects human psychology negatively. According to Rollo May, the basic motivation of man is God representation. Therefore, he wants to resemble the God he represents. The healthy God representation contributes to development and mental health of human. There is an interaction between the inner visions of man and the healthy God representation. While the healthy God representation purifies the insights of man, the deepening of the insights and the deepening of the visions lead to the development of God representation. On the other hand, the unhealthy God representation prevents human development and mental health. According to May, man must continually question to test the validity of his God representation. Because man wants to resemble the God he imagines, it is important to test whether the representation he developed is healthy or not. May, evaluates the God representation which strengthens freedom, responsibility and self-consciousness, as positive for contributing to human development, but he finds some God representations negative for development of human. According to him the God representation which is always in the presence of the righteous and the God who will always representations protect human, are not healthy. Because this God representation leads to some expectation such as a guarantee of protection by God in some people and, when not realized, turns into negative feelings and thoughts. Another God representation that May finds unhealthy is the God representation to serve man. According to him, this representation prevents the development of man and passivates him. Man should struggle against difficulties by using potential powers instead of developing the God representation which will help him help him and fulfills his wishes. Another God representation that May finds negative in terms of human development is the authoritarian God representation. He sees that God is conceived as an authority that must be obeyed and this is used as an instrument of obedience. Morality is inconvenient for human development. Rollo May has negative approaches to God's representation as well as some positive ones. One of the reasons for this is the use of Greek mythology and the Old Testament as a source for God representation. The fact that the Greek mythology and especially the information about God in the pre-Moses period told the Old Testament had anthropomorphic features was negatively reflected in May's God representation. While, May stipulates that man should develop God representation for his own development, he emphasizes the significance of the anthropomorphic God representation. The God that May imagined is warned by man, fighting with man, does not want to be like man himself and has difficulties to prevent man. In this case, the God representation with anthropomorphic features will adversely affect the motivation of the man who May claimed to resemble God. In the history of mankind, monotheistic religions with abstract God understanding contributed to the development of human consciousness more than polytheistic religions with anthropomorphic gods. In addition, Rollo May's God representation does not seem to be emotionally relevant for human development. Because in his approach, he draws attention to the representations of a God whose emotional dimension is weak, who struggles with man, whose assistance is unwanted.

Keywords

Rollo May, God Representation, Freedom, Anthropomorphism

Rollo May ’de Tanrı Tasavvuru ve Psikolojik Yansımaları

Abstract

Bu araştırmanın amacı, arşiv tarama yöntemini kullanarak Rollo May’in Tanrı tasavvuruna dair görüşlerini incelemektir. Rollo May’e göre, insanın temel motivasyonu, tasavvur ettiği Tanrı’ya benzemektir. Bu nedenle Tanrı tasavvurunun doğruluğu sürekli sorgulanmalıdır. Ona göre Tanrı tasavvuru ile insanın gelişimi arasında karşılıklı bir ilişki vardır. Tanrı tasavvuru insanın vizyonları ve iç görülerini geliştirirken; saf vizyon ve iç görüler de Tanrı tasavvurunu geliştirmektedir. Rollo May, Tanrı’nın yalnızca sevgi kaynağı, iyilere yardım eden, insanı sürekli koruyan, insana hizmet eden ve itaat edilmesi gereken bir otorite olarak tasavvur edilmesinin insanın gelişimini engellediğini savunmaktadır. Ona göre özgürlük, sorumluluk ve benlik bilincini güçlendiren Tanrı tasavvuru, insanın gelişimine katkı sağlamaktadır. Rollo May, Tanrı tasavvuru konusunda Eski Ahit, mitoloji ve varoluşçu felsefeden yararlanmıştır. Onun Eski Ahit ve mitolojiden etkilenmesi, antropomorfik bir Tanrı tasavvuru geliştirmesine neden olmuştur. May, insanın kendisi gibi olmasını istemeyen, insanla mücadele eden ve insanı kontrolde zorlanan antropomorfik bir Tanrı tasavvuruna sahiptir. Bu şekildeki bir Tanrı tasavvurunun insanın gelişimine katkısı tartışmalıdır. Çünkü soyut Tanrı tasavvuru antropomorfik Tanrı tasavvuruna göre insanın gelişimine daha çok katkı sağlamaktadır. 

Keywords

Rollo May, Tanrı Tasavvuru, Özgürlük, Antropomorfizm

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