Download - Resposta Rogers a May
-
8/15/2019 Resposta Rogers a May
1/6
-
8/15/2019 Resposta Rogers a May
2/6
REPLY T ROLL MAY’S LETTER
T CARLROGERS
CARL
R
ROGERS
Dear
Rollo:
Tom Greening has se nt me your eloquent and scholarly letter dealing
with the problem of evil an d evil behavior. Your thoughtful analyses and
arg um ent s will provoke a lot of good thinking and I appreciate that.
Unfortunately, your m ater ial arriv es on the eve of m y d ep ar tu re for
Europe and by the t ime I re tu rn , the editor’s deadline will be at hand.
Consequently, this must be a hasty reply, which I regret. I cannot
possibly touch on all th e issues t h at you raised.
I would like firs t to deal with a couple of lesser points in your letter,
ones on which m y feelings ar e clear.
W hen you speak of t h e narcissism th at h as been fostered by human-
istic psychology and how m any individuals a re “lost in self-love,” I feel
like speaking u p an d saying, “That’s not true ” Then
I
realize that wh at I
am saying is tha t i t is not tru e in my experience, bu t my experience is
limited to clients and groups dealt with by my particular brand of
hum anistic psychology and philosophy. I n those group s I simply have not
seen th e development of a har m ful narcissism an d certainly not of
an
excessive self-love. If these cha racte ristics have em erged in other
facets
of the human istic movement,
I
have not been in contact with them. 1
realize thi s is quite possible because
I
am not closely in touch with other
aspects of th e hum’anistic movement.
In the groups with which I’ve had contact, the truth is quite the
contrary. Such groups lead to social action of a realistic nature.
Individu als who come in as social fanatics becom e much more socially
realistic, bu t they still w an t t ta ke action. Peoplewho have not been very
aw ar e of social issues become more a w ar e and , again, opt for realistic
Journal ofHumumktu Pqchdogy Vol 22 No. Fall 1982 85-89
982 Association for Humanistic Psychology
85
at UNIV OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA on April 2, 2014 jhp.sagepub.comDownloaded from
http://jhp.sagepub.com/http://jhp.sagepub.com/http://jhp.sagepub.com/http://jhp.sagepub.com/
-
8/15/2019 Resposta Rogers a May
3/6
actions on those issues. We have had plenty of evidence of th is in our
encounter groups and workshops. Irrational anger and violence are
sometimes defused, bu t action of a more realistic sor t increases.
One am using b it of personal evidence on this. When I received the
copy of your open let ter , I was p ut tin g the finishing touches on a very
strong statement about nuclear w ar and w hat might bedone t prevent
it. I am tak ing a stan d ag ain st the policies of our government, which I
feel ar e m aking nuclear w ar more likely. This is bu t one example of th e
fact tha t we agree in
so
many ways i t is difficult to be exactly certain
where we differ.
I
am sur e tha t you an d
I
ar e both a cting
to
do what we
can
t
prevent this monstrous evil of nuclear war.
You speak at leng th of th e fai lu re of people like myself and client-
centered therapy to recognize, accept, an d respond t feelings of ange r,
hostility, and negative feelings in general, perhaps especially those
directed toward the therapist.
I
think tha t to some exten t this was
definitely tr ue of m e in the dis tah t past, although I have also published
exam ples of t he way in which I dealt with bit ter hostility toward me in
therapy.
I
have never
qu i t e
agreed with the opinion of the outside
evaluators in our schizophrenic research, t h at w e as a grou p dodged o r
evaded th e negative o r hostile reactions. I have t recognize th at possibly
th e evaluators were correct. Certainly in recent yea rs I feel th at I have
responded much more adequately to such attitudes. The film, “Carl
Rogers Counsels an IndividuaI: A nger an d Hurt,” of which considerable
portions a r e published in The
Comprehensive
extbook of Pgychiatry/ZZI
1980),
how tha t I was responsive
t
both a nger and
to
the pain t ha t was
discovered
t
be underlying it.
I
believe
I
have learned
t
be
acceptant of
ange r toward m e and toward others. The re may be tru th in wh at you say,
th at client-centered t her api sts have a tendency not t accept or respond
to such feelings. If
so
I regret this as much
as
you.
Now I
would like
to
t u r n ta the m ore fundamental issue.
You
have
never seemed to ca re whether the evil impulses in ma n are genetic and
inherent or whether they are acquired after birth. Fo r you they ar e ust
there. Fo r me their origin m akesagreatdeal of difference ph il m ph ic al -
1s;
I
would like
t
t r y
to
clarify my reasons.
I
feel th at the tendency
toward actualization is inherent, I n this, man is like all othe r organisms.
I can count on i t being present. It may ta ke biza rre an d futile forms. I
have given an examp le of t he
potatoes
n a basement bin, se nding their
feeble white sprouts up w ard in a futile effort to reach the light. I feel
similarly about the deprived ghetto youth whose only path to ego
at UNIV OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA on April 2, 2014 jhp.sagepub.comDownloaded from
http://jhp.sagepub.com/http://jhp.sagepub.com/http://jhp.sagepub.com/http://jhp.sagepub.com/http://jhp.sagepub.com/
-
8/15/2019 Resposta Rogers a May
4/6
arl
R.RoQer8 87
enhancement is to be the best m ugger or the most da rin g bu rgla r in his
gang. My at titu de is sifnilar toward the psychotic in
a
back wa rd w ho is
Jesus Christ. But the' basic, actualizing tendency operates toward
fulfillment.
I find in my experience no such innate tendency toward destructive-
ness, toward evil. I cannot count on the certainty th a t this individual is
str ivi ng consciously or unconsciously to fulfill an evil nature. 1do not
find this in animals either. T he re is, however, one ra re exception which
has s tuck in my m ind.
I
saw
a
television show
of
African wild dogs. Th ere
was one female who was jealous of another. W hen t h e second female was
absen t from her den, the firs t would go nto the den , remove one of the
cubs, and kill it. This went on day after day until the litte r was totally
destroyed.
I
can stiIl rem em ber my shock a t tha t, because it is so
uncharacteristic of anim als. They kill, but normally only in the interest
of actualizing themselves.
I
gath er t ha t you
feel
th e cent ral tendency in
human nature is a dual one, aim ing both toward creative grow th and
destructive evil. With the exception I have jus t mentioned, I don't find
th at describes animal behavior, or plant behavior, or hu m an behavior.
If
the elements making for grow th a re present, th e actualizing tendency
develops in positive ways. I n t he hu m an these elements for growth a re
not only proper nutrition, etc., bu t a clim ate of psychological attitudes .
So, how do I account for th e evil behavior th at issoobviously presen t
in ou r world? In my experience, every person has t he capacity for evil
behavior. I and others, have had murderous and cruel impulses, desires
tohu rt, feelings
of anger
and rag e, desires to mpose ou r wills on others.
I t is well
to
be ar in mind th at I also have
a
capacity
to
vomit, for example.
Whether I , or anyone, will translate these impulses into behavior
depends, it seems to me, on two elements: social conditioning and
voluntary choice. Pe rha ps we c an use Hit ler
as
a n example. H is early
personal life a nd social circumstances certainly made it na tura l th at he
would try to fulfill himself by being a big-shot, a leader full of hatred
tow ard those he perceived
as
esponsible for his humiliation. B ut beyond
tha t, in a cts like the decision to ext erm ina te the Jews, a personal choice
for which he was responsible was also a very re al factor.
I believe that, theoretically at least, every evil behavior is bro ug ht
about by varying degrees of these elements.
I will adm it that there is much I don't understand abou t some evil
behaviors. T he experimen ts by M ilgram and Zimbardo are a shocking
at UNIV OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA on April 2, 2014 jhp.sagepub.comDownloaded from
http://jhp.sagepub.com/http://jhp.sagepub.com/http://jhp.sagepub.com/http://jhp.sagepub.com/http://jhp.sagepub.com/
-
8/15/2019 Resposta Rogers a May
5/6
88
Reply
puzzle t me, as hey were to the experimenters. Certainly Milgram’s
subjects we re influenced by ou r education for conformity and Zim bar-
do’s subjects by ou r-tr ain ing in prejudice. But
I
would agree with you
th at those scarcely seem like ad equa te explanations.
It is interesting that in our decisions about what to do abou t evil
behavior and evil situations, we seem rem arka bly similar . We take th e
best action we can see t oppose evil, to destroy the causes, tot r y to reach
people who are acting in hurtful ways. I am pleased that
I
had the
opportunity t work with groups composed of hostile and feuding
individuals whose evil intentions toward one another w ere very evident.
I n a grou p we worked with from Belfast, which included both Catholic
and Protestant extremists as well
as
moderates. a Protestant young
woman said in one of th e earlysessions, “If awounded IRA man were lying
before m e on the stre et, I would step on him” This was typical of someof
the bitter feelings expressed. Yet in a climte of understanding and
acceptance those people changed
so
much in attitu des in a sho rt sixteen
hours of contact that when they went back
to
BeIfast they worked in
tea m s of two
to
show the film to grou ps in the in te rest of reconciliation.
So I
don’t for one m inute ag ree th at humanistic psychology,
at
least my
kind of humanistic psychology, “cuts the nerve of social action.” It
enhances social action.
You talk
at
some length abou t the transformation th at
I
believe is
coming to our world. H ere I am much influenced by th e thin kin g of men
like Prigogine. T he cu rr en t pertu rbati ons in our society and in our world
do seem
to
m e to pred ict th at the re isa n inevitablesocial transformation
coming. In chem istry, and
I
believe in our cu ltu re, these ex trem es of
perturbation lead toa reorganization, t a high er level of order. As o the
person of tomorrow, I think you qu ite misunderstand m y description of
th at person. I was spea king of the person who wouId be f i t to live in the
transformed world, not the average person, and though
I
believe
a
transformation is inevitable, it certainly will not be a socially construc-
tive transformation unless we
all
give it every effort. Th ere
I
think we
can
agree
Curiously enough ther e is one minor point on which
I
think you a re
much t optimistic. You speak twice of our culture deteriorating or
disin tegra ting like the c ultur es of Greece and Rome. I think that is a
possible scenario, bu t it is not w ha t will happen if we hav ea nuc lear war.
I n th at case, our cu ltu re will be utte rly obliterated.
It
will not simply
dete riora te or disintegrate.
at UNIV OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA on April 2, 2014 jhp.sagepub.comDownloaded from
http://jhp.sagepub.com/http://jhp.sagepub.com/http://jhp.sagepub.com/http://jhp.sagepub.com/
-
8/15/2019 Resposta Rogers a May
6/6
Curl
R.
Roger8
89
Rollo, you have raised many profound points and this is I am well
awa re, a hasty and in g e q u a te reply. Yet
I
hope th at between th e two
documents people will be st irr ed to constructive thought. As1 said in my
earlier published rem ark s abo ut you, you have been a g re at contributor
t
hum anistic psychology and
I
value you very much for that. I hold you
in affectionate regard.
Sincerely,
Carl Rogers
at UNIV OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA on April 2, 2014 jhp.sagepub.comDownloaded from
http://jhp.sagepub.com/http://jhp.sagepub.com/http://jhp.sagepub.com/http://jhp.sagepub.com/