Carl Rogers
Carl Rogers was a highly influential psychologist specializing in the field of humanism. His work led to many important contributions and he changed the way we view the world and people in a drastic way. His person-centered approach, specifically, has significant meaning for me, as someone who wants to be a counselor. In his study of personalities and how we interrelate to one another, he discovered some techniques that work well in counseling. Because of this, this theory has had wide spread success and application in many domains of psychotherapy. He worked in client-centered therapy, education, and for other groups and organizations to help people. He received many awards in his lifetime, including the Noble Peace Prize for his work in conflict resolution in South Africa as well as Northern Ireland. So what do his ideals have to teach us today? For starters, I want to comment on how much I respect and admire Rogers for work. Many of the ideas he formulated match up with my ideas, too. He focused on the individual and how we all interrelate in a web of relationships. I think it’s important to look not just at the person you are speaking to but who and where they come from. People feel an innate desire to be needed and loved, and Rogers recognized that. This is a form of redemption because it sheds light on our internal desires and provides ways to address and work towards fixing them.
Rachel Easley on Galton: The Fall
10:09 pm, 10.21.13
Haley, I greatly enjoyed your blog post and found myself aligning with many of your view points. I think it is very true and noteworthy for us to include science in the discussions about who we are but I also think, and I believe you would agree, that it is much more complicated than that. Who we are is made up of much more than our DNA. This was powerful, poignant and well-spoken. I particularly loved the line you concluded with, “Racial cleansing, infanticide, and prejudice are all fallen outcomes of this purely scientific view of man.”
Rachel Easley on Darwinism - Creation
10:06 pm, 10.21.13
DJ, I enjoyed your thoughts on this difficult subject matter. It is true that this is a complicated issue and I too find myself being on the fence in many ways as well. I loved the line where you said the limiting of our abilities limits the God we serve. It’s true that Darwin did open our eyes to plenty of wonderful things, but it’s also important for faith to fuel this discussion as well.
Rachel Easley on Kant and the Fall
1:33 pm, 10.04.13
Jessica- you are so wise and your writing is always fabulous. I enjoyed the view and contrast you made with Christian theology and Kant so much. The line where you wrote, “…the internal world that Kant emphasized and the external world that Kant recognized.” brilliantly summarized who and what he believed in and how that influenced his spin on philosophy. I love the settlement you made at the end of your post, tying in his ideas and making them get in line with biblical truth: immorality exists and is the result of the Fall. Maybe it is true that he is on track but approaching life from a different place.
Rachel Easley on Kant
1:30 pm, 10.04.13
Caroline- I always enjoy your writing so much. You are such a beautiful person with beautiful thoughts and words. I also wrote about Kant and thought it was interesting that you said that Kant’s ideas have many parallels to Christian theology because I took the view from the opposite perspective. I agree fully though that his view of God’s role in our lives, and our perception of reality almost directly contradict with what Kant would say. The quote you started with was also very true and I certainly felt stretched to think after reading some of his ideas.
Rachel Easley on Man as Machine? Animal?
1:27 pm, 10.04.13
Hey Irene 🙂 I enjoyed the simple, readable language of your blog post. You are so honest and real. I also liked your point that there are plenty of people in countries in Africa who conduct their lives and affairs differently but they are equally human and equally valuable as human beings. Just because we do things differently does not make you less of a person. I also think it is very true that our nature is constantly waging war within us. Some days I want to be selfless and loving, while other days I fight my calling and purpose and seek to only please myself. Insightful and heartfelt- you are a joy!
Rachel Easley on "To be is the be perceived" -- Berkeley and Creation
10:12 pm, 09.21.13
Hey Jess! I really enjoyed reading your well put together and intelligent blog post. Berkeley certainly has an interesting perspective on mankind and our existence on this planet. By rejecting the idea that there is no external reality and that our perceptions alone are valid, we are left relying on ourselves and our thoughts. I personally wouldn’t agree with this view on life because I would love to believe a greater, more coherent power was in charge and governing truth in a consistent way. I have learned enough about myself to learn I can’t trust myself in certain regards.
Rachel Easley on Luther and the Fall
10:05 pm, 09.21.13
Hey Hillary! I really enjoyed your blog post and the way it related to personal, saving faith and how that tied and, in many ways, contradicted with Luther. It is depressing to think of how far deviated we are from God and His perfection but the comfort we find as Christians in the sacrifice of Jesus helps counteract that. To believe that we are simply far away and there’s no way to solve it is a horrible way to live life, indeed. I think one of the most freeing parts of the gospel is the room to fail because we have been covered by Jesus’ blood.
Rachel Easley on Redemption: The Renaissance Way
10:03 pm, 09.21.13
Hey Laura Kate! I thought it was interesting that you said and emphasized the point that a personal relationship with God is how one is redeemed, not through established religious systems. Like Jessica mentioned too, I enjoyed reading your blog post because it was about an ideology, and your own experience with faith, and not a specific person. During this time period the shift from a systematic and organized approach to religion was very similar to the climate Jesus was in and dealing with in regards to the Pharisees which made for a hostile dynamic in many ways. Personal faith was a breakthrough thing for this time and continues to be an important and powerful aspect of mine and many others’ lives.
Rachel Easley on Blog 1 - The Thinkers - DJ Acevedo
10:55 pm, 09.08.13
Dj, this was absolute rubbish. I’m just kidding. For real though, I was so thankful (as usual) to get an insight into your heart and how these two great thinkers have molded you into the fabulous person you are. Interesting how two people who lived so long ago can create works that so powerfully shape those of us who live many years later in profound ways. I loved following along in this look at your life in the past few months. The Creator is truly the thread that weaves in the tapestries of all our lives; the common denominator that unites us. There really is so much beauty and freedom in this truth and you worded it so well: “These are the things Aristotle and Plato have contemplated and wondered, giving us free reign to do the same; which is why I believe they resonate with people to this day.”
Rachel Easley on Creation and Knowing
10:42 pm, 09.08.13
Levi, I really enjoyed the Christian perspective you put into your blog post. So true and a good point that Christians define their worth and the way they view the world through the lens of who we are in reference to our faith. That belief system changes and moves us in powerful ways and I equally agree that it can cause conflict between secular sources like Aristotle. I felt like you did a beautiful job pointing out the differences at how we approach looking at things and then combining them to show that perhaps, we are not that different after all. I found this particular sentence wonderfully insightful, “From a purely functional point of view, the argument of our origins becomes irrelevant because we can be impressed with what God accomplished either way.” How lovely it is to fall in love with God when we recognize that no matter how things happen, there is magic simply in the fact they DO in fact happen.