Person-Centered Psychology and Taoism: The Reception of Lao-tzu by Carl R. Rogers

Abstract

In the history of the meeting of Eastern and Western psychology and religion, the reception of Taoism in person-centered psychology constitutes a special phase. Carl Rogers approaches Taoism on a personal level, without knowledge either of other attempts to integrate psychology and Eastern religions or of original Taoism. The Taoist concept of wu-wei is equated with the attitude of the facilitator in encounter groups. In the adaptation of person-centered psychology in Japan, key concepts were translated, interpreted, and integrated culturally by F. Tomoda by using Taoist expressions. In this process, in the West as in the East, misunderstandings and mistaken interpretations, which have their origins in the respective cultural traditions, have arisen. For this reason, in this article, the content of original Taoism is explained in contrast to the respective receptions. Precisely in the concept of the self-central to psychotherapy-is to be found a hitherto untapped potential for development if a fruitful synthesis of the psychology of religion, psychotherapy, and Taoism is to be attained while recognizing the cultural differences.

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