Book review: "Carl Rogers on personal power"

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I was lucky enough to find this book in a second hand book store and as by chance, it was the exact reading I required to get an understanding of some of the psychology behind natural game.
If you know about psychology then the main respected minds are Freud, Jung, Skinner and of course Rogers. Having read alot on Freud, Jung and even Eric Berne before being introduced to the community, I was interested in checking out Rogers ideas.

The main principle behind Rogers work is a person centered approach. In many chapters he introduces the ideas of non hierarchial structures (e.g education, corporations) being obtainable by encouraging each group member to become their natural self. Whilst Rogers is a therapist, this book has very little to do with psychiatric problems and is focused more on the implications his research has for politics and traditional hierarchial structures. Throughout the book he challenges the status quo of authoritarian rule and is able to outline his visions of how things could be improved for the benefit of humanity.

What is the natural self? I was asking myself this question just recently as I have had a reality shattering experience in the last few weeks as I discovered natural game and realised how the place I was coming from, was totally wrong. The natural man is an authentic self that doesn't rely on ego to skew others perceptions of them. Natural man doesn't need to use routines or openers as an excuse to talk to people and is not a manipulator. The natural man freely admits its frailties to others and shares its feelings openly. The natural man is not afraid to tell people when they are wrong and natural man is not going to like being dominated by others. Its pretty self explanatory really but it took reading this book to put it in a perspective that I can really see what it means to be an authentic person.

Through the book, there are many case examples of where it was beneficial for one to be their natural self and in doing so causing other people to empower themselves. This does not mean being some kind of macho alpha guy, its actually just been your authentic self and encouraging others to be their natural selves too. Whilst these are hand picked examples of times this approach has worked in group experiments, the book concedes that many people cannot be their authentic selves and feel threatened by this. It also concedes that in going for a person centered approach and abandoning hierarchial structures, the initial phase is difficult as many people are pre-conditioned to having a leader to follow, rather than some kind of facilitator.

Whilst the book doesn't really pertain to any PUA methods, I have found it useful for getting a baseline understanding of how being an authentic self can impact others and has the potential to even impact the world on a global political scale. The book was written in 1975 and 35 years later some of the ideas are pretty revolutionary and its definitely way ahead of its time in thinking. It has shown me the benefits of being a natural self and even in the times Rogers was describing his feelings openly, I as a reader, was able to empathise with him very easily and you couldn't help but connect with him as a human being, rather than a shrink, as he is so honest and open about his work.

There is a particular chapter that talks about polygamous relationships. If you have good inner game and are secure in yourself, it wouldn't be that far fetched to do something like this. It describes how an open ended marriage where each partner is encouraged by the other to seek out new partners to connect with can have long term benefits for that relationship. These satellite relationships are not necessarily sexual but it is permissable as long as they are open about it with each other. They end up enriched further by the experience although it seems like it could be an emotional roller coaster at times and if you are pre-conditioned to get jealous easily it may not be possible for you to obtain a balance. However as the traditional marriage and religious conditionings wear off, this could be some kind of future blue print?

Not really game improving material here but I think that if you were interested in the benfits of being open and honest in many situations, this book can show you a new way of doing so and can challenge the idea that authoritarian/ hierarchial rule is a must. It may also inspire you to change experimentally the way you approach a work or project setting.