A wave of narcissism swept this country during the late 1960’s and 1970’s. We heard “Do your own thing.” “If it feels good, do it.” We read the Gestalt prayer by Fritz Perls, “I do my thing, you do yours, if we meet it is wonderful, if not, it can’t be helped.” The representative rubric of this “me-ism” was “Here’s what I want, to Hell with what you want.” There was a reaction against this error. It was seen as destructive and anticommunity. Actually it could have been a building block for a new kind of community. It was not recognized as such. It was seen as a threat. As a result, there was a massive retreat to what was before.

Person Centered Approach stands at the cusp of its most incredible opportunity. The tension between “high-tech” and “high touch” is at its highest point in history and getting higher. People feel the tension. They feel the alienation and the potential. We, practitioners of Person Centered Approach, are able to make an incredible contribution to our civilization. This contribution will not be made in therapy or CCT. It will be made in our everyday lives. It will be made at work, in primary relationships, in seeking peace, on the Internet. Lets look at how this is so. During the fifty thousand or so years of hunting and gathering there were no assets. Assets were discouraged. If Grog brought home an extra mastodon or so, his peers, affected by the stench would mention it to him.