A Way of Being

"I, and many others, have come to a new realization. It is this: The only reality I can possibly know is the world as I perceive and experience it as this moment. The only reality you can possibly know is the world as you perceive and experience it at this moment. And the only certainty is that those perceived realities are different. There are as many 'real worlds' as there are people! This creates a most burdensome dilemma, one never before experienced in history."



-Carl Rogers, A Way of Being



Carl Rogers was a 20th century humanist. The humanistic psychological approach emerged in the 1950's stressing the individual's potential and the importance of growth and self-actualization. The idea was that every person was born innately good, but that problems would occur when one would deviate from natural tendencies.



Does Cartesianism fit somewhere in these ideas? Of course it does, Cartesianism can be seen anywhere thanks to Descartes. Rene Descartes expressed to the world that the mind was wholly separate from the corporeal body. He believed that the two worked together to form reason- the basis of all knowledge. He believed that the body and brain were materialistic properties that worked like a machine. On the other hand, the mind did not follow the laws of physics; it was its own entity. So what can be said about Carl Rogers?



Roger's thoughts concur closely with Descartes ideas. He says that because everyone experiences different things throughout life, everyone perceives the world different. All of these different perceptions gives the world multiple 'real worlds' that shape our one. Descartes stresses that we give the universe structure by our mirror of self perception. Perception and deductive reasoning are the two ways in which we can acquire knowledge about the world. Rogers and Descartes are helping people map out the world. Explaining that everything one perceives is different than someone else, helps to characterize people as legit (or not). They help people to be able to find truth, prove things, have doubt or skepticism--basically understand that we live in a dualism of the mind and body.