Carl Rogers

Carl Rogers died more than ten years ago. His was a great life. I am grateful for it.

I met him in the La Jolla Program in August of 1968. I was chosen to be in a demonstration encounter group. A man, who was a priest, next to me, asked me if he could take my place, because it was very important to him to be in a group with Carl Rogers. I said "yes". I wondered at the intensity of the man's request.

I had heard of Carl Rogers in 1961, while I was working as a head counselor in a treatment center for delinquent boys. My boss, who was influential to me, spoke of Carl and his work. Before that I had heard of him in some psychology classes. I was surprised that he was still alive. Again, I became aware of the intensity of the priest's request.

Later I found that a lot of people, responded in that way to Carl. People sought his approval, even people who worked closely with him. It seemed to me that he did not like this. Occasionally, he would rebuke people for their adulation, but not often. As I got to know him, I began to understand people's reaction to him. He was way beyond the rest of us in his theory and practice of the Person Centered Approach, a general model for relationships. He had developed PCA through the vehicle of counseling and therapy.

At the Center for Studies of the Person, we were learning about client-centered therapy and Carl had moved beyond this to the arenas of international relations and world peace. This was a mighty leap. I don't believe any of us are ready yet, ten years later, to take the leap he took then. There is much to be done in relationships at large, in families, in communities, at work , in our coupling relationships and in the educational process before we will be ready for world peace. His success was phenomenal. He did important work in the Soviet Union, and other places behind the iron curtain. He held the first interracial groups in South Africa. Carl was among the first Americans to be invited to visit China after the defeat of Chiang. He conducted groups there. He worked with the various factions in Northern Ireland. After Camp David accords, he was preparing to work with the Egyptians and Israelis.

Carl Rogers was described as the most influential psychologist of all time and the Person Centered Approach, as the most influential psychological system at large in the world.

PCA spread throughout the world on its own without the support of any foundation or institution--governmental, educational or religious. It met people where they were. It forecast the current massive and swift changes happening in the world today which are based on people talking to people. Governments are getting smaller because people are talking to people. Corporations are getting smaller because people are talking to people. Business has become the dominant institution in our civilization because people are talking to people. The future of PCA will be to raise the quality of people talking to people.

Thank you Carl. Thank you for your life.