Once we recognise and respect our own agency, we can recognise and respect the agency of others. This is how we make real relationships.
If we try to insulate our own agency - protect it from 'outside influence' - we do not become more free. A free act is not random - it is informed, but not directed. It draws on, but is not determined by, the information resources that human interaction provides - by far the richest information resources we have access to.
Not all these information resources are available to conscious reflection. Perhaps a better way of putting this is to say that we cannot fully articulate them; we cannot put them all into words. This, I think, is part of what Carl Rogers is pointing to by using organism metaphors.
I'm inclined to think that if we specify outcomes in general terms, then what we are doing is not likely to be person-centered. But increased agency and the ability to form productive relationships might figure in there somewhere.
Only if they don't become a mantra or are translated into metrics ...
If we try to insulate our own agency - protect it from 'outside influence' - we do not become more free. A free act is not random - it is informed, but not directed. It draws on, but is not determined by, the information resources that human interaction provides - by far the richest information resources we have access to.
Not all these information resources are available to conscious reflection. Perhaps a better way of putting this is to say that we cannot fully articulate them; we cannot put them all into words. This, I think, is part of what Carl Rogers is pointing to by using organism metaphors.
I'm inclined to think that if we specify outcomes in general terms, then what we are doing is not likely to be person-centered. But increased agency and the ability to form productive relationships might figure in there somewhere.
Only if they don't become a mantra or are translated into metrics ...
