The Emerging Human
In his excellent book, On Becoming a Person, Dr. Carl Rogers spelled out some of the characteristics of the new, powerful person who is emerging in our culture today...and the vital, different set of values he both maintains and lives. "I stressed," he writes, "his hatred of phoniness, his opposition to all rigidly structured institutions, his desire for intimacy, closeness and community, his willingness to live by new and relatively moral and ethical standards, his searching quality, his openness to his own and others' feelings, his spontaneity, his activism and his determination to translate his ideals into reality. I am talking," he wrote, "about a relatively small number of people. But I believe that these people constitute the change agents of the future. When some part of a culture is decayed at the core, a small group with new views, new convictions, and a willingness to live in new ways, is a ferment that cannot be stopped."
Let's take a look at that new person emerging in our culture.
First - his hatred of phoniness. Our new powerful person sees through facades and tinsel...outmoded and ridiculous customs and beliefs. Free of the tyranny of things and the opinions of others, he and his family...she and her family...live in a kind of solid serenity where true values count; where the verities, things like truth and justice, the family and work, take on real meaning. It is in the avoidance of phoniness that real freedom may be found...and one can drop off the rat race with a great sigh of relief. There are no inner circles to which these people need apply for membership; they are the centers of their own circles.
This person is opposed to all rigidly structured, closed institutions. Such institutions are saying, by the fact that they are rigidly structured and closed, "We have the answers...we need look no further...this is it." The new, powerful person knows that at this early stage of our development, such thinking is infantile. We do not have all the answers...about anything. And just as the maturing person is in a stage of growth, of becoming - so is a vital institution. It uses what it has and what it knows as springboards into the future...and assiduously avoids becoming closed and rigidly structured. A good and viable institution, like a self-actualizing person, is always in a state of growth..of becoming.
He has a desire for intimacy...closeness and community, and a willingness to live by new and relatively moral and ethical standards. This person has a searching quality and an openness to his own and others' feelings. He is spontaneous, unafraid of what others will say of his enthusiasms and ideas...and is determined to translate his ideas and ideals into reality.
Of course these people must constitute a relatively small number of people...a true inner circle, the most important and influential club of human beings on earth. The qualifications for membership are tough: To meet them takes work, thought and study...a willingness to find oneself and be oneself. But the perquisites of membership are great indeed! One of them is freedom...another is joy.
Earl Nightingale
Let's take a look at that new person emerging in our culture.
First - his hatred of phoniness. Our new powerful person sees through facades and tinsel...outmoded and ridiculous customs and beliefs. Free of the tyranny of things and the opinions of others, he and his family...she and her family...live in a kind of solid serenity where true values count; where the verities, things like truth and justice, the family and work, take on real meaning. It is in the avoidance of phoniness that real freedom may be found...and one can drop off the rat race with a great sigh of relief. There are no inner circles to which these people need apply for membership; they are the centers of their own circles.
This person is opposed to all rigidly structured, closed institutions. Such institutions are saying, by the fact that they are rigidly structured and closed, "We have the answers...we need look no further...this is it." The new, powerful person knows that at this early stage of our development, such thinking is infantile. We do not have all the answers...about anything. And just as the maturing person is in a stage of growth, of becoming - so is a vital institution. It uses what it has and what it knows as springboards into the future...and assiduously avoids becoming closed and rigidly structured. A good and viable institution, like a self-actualizing person, is always in a state of growth..of becoming.
He has a desire for intimacy...closeness and community, and a willingness to live by new and relatively moral and ethical standards. This person has a searching quality and an openness to his own and others' feelings. He is spontaneous, unafraid of what others will say of his enthusiasms and ideas...and is determined to translate his ideas and ideals into reality.
Of course these people must constitute a relatively small number of people...a true inner circle, the most important and influential club of human beings on earth. The qualifications for membership are tough: To meet them takes work, thought and study...a willingness to find oneself and be oneself. But the perquisites of membership are great indeed! One of them is freedom...another is joy.
Earl Nightingale
posted by Gary O'Connor at 3:23 PM
1 Comments:
An insightful and important look at the changing nature of modern human beings--what Yeshua would have called "a fully realized human being." Thanks, Gary.
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