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On Becoming Carl Rogers
"The life and work of America's distinguished psychologist, educator and author of On Becoming a Person." from the front cover
444 pages, Hardcover
Published January 1, 1979
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
April 3, 2020
What I really want to read now are about the dark edges around Carl Rogers--things I've read in other dubiously sourced publications, the relationships with encounter group participants significantly his junior, the drinking, the ways in which he does not triumph over his Midwesterness. And I wish this book were less interested in expressing awe at the then still-living Rogers, at defending him against critics, and building his legends (some of the best parts of the books are these anecdotes of Rogers being incorrigible, winning the day via strange gentle Midwestern methods, "You believe that this is your duck": familiar to the genre of hagiography, praise of the converted toward the object of veneration.) And there is some serious space for concern about his indifference to real difficulties, or his absolute faith that any difficulty is I guess primarily mental: if we can just feel ourselves in control, we can be enough in control to navigate our lives. I mean: it is easy for him to say this. If I could write essays I would want to write a long essay comparing and contrasting Carl Rogers and Jean-Luc Picard: two Vanishing Good Boys who have to sneak up on love, to outstrategize it, whose ways of navigating difficulty entirely depend on them being captains of a massive Federation flagship with unquestioned military superiority over all challengers (probably metaphorically in one case.)
But I think right now I more want to sit with gratitude toward Carl Rogers than I do want to highlight the spaces where I did not vibe with this book. I want to feel that gratitude more than I want to feel that separation, that need to condemn or reduce or whatever. What I feel grateful for: the simplicity of his techniques, his absolute faith and consistency in their application, and his whole weird war against the cold: this wizard of the Midwest, who used the methods of the Midwest, but with the absolute goal of dismantling the Midwest, allowing something new and hot and free to grow in its place. I want to believe in that very much, that there is a way out of this murderous, cold politeness, this doubleness. And I admire CR's commitment to walking this road, and I want to accept him for being human rather than angel/saint, even if it is hard.
The passage quoted about the strange plants growing in strange dark place: I hope he got to see himself that way too.
But I think right now I more want to sit with gratitude toward Carl Rogers than I do want to highlight the spaces where I did not vibe with this book. I want to feel that gratitude more than I want to feel that separation, that need to condemn or reduce or whatever. What I feel grateful for: the simplicity of his techniques, his absolute faith and consistency in their application, and his whole weird war against the cold: this wizard of the Midwest, who used the methods of the Midwest, but with the absolute goal of dismantling the Midwest, allowing something new and hot and free to grow in its place. I want to believe in that very much, that there is a way out of this murderous, cold politeness, this doubleness. And I admire CR's commitment to walking this road, and I want to accept him for being human rather than angel/saint, even if it is hard.
The passage quoted about the strange plants growing in strange dark place: I hope he got to see himself that way too.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews