Congruence
When I am studying a thinker, I like to start by reading about their life to get to know them a human being. Are they (as far as you can tell) trustworthy?
Post-script to this idea of congruence: I was fascinated to recently come across an Instagram interview of the Iranian artist, Farah Ossouli. The personal integrity of a philosopher such as Marx is vital for her to know.
“I look to the private life of the writer…I like integrity…I cannot believe in a philosopher who speaks about justice then treats his woman cruelly or does not recognise his child.”
Farah Ossouli, 2025
Here is my evidence: the volunteer client, Gloria Szymanski, was filmed in therapy sessions with three different therapists, one of them being Carl Rogers (the Three Approaches to Psychotherapy video series, dubbed ‘The Gloria Films’, helped popularise therapy in the US in the 1960s).
I was therefore glad to find evidence of congruence about the founder of counselling, Carl Rogers. His actual self seems alligned with his writing.
Following the TV production, Gloria Szymanski developed a lifelong correspondence with Carl Rogers.
Her daughter Pamela described Rogers in her memoir, Living with ‘The Gloria Films’ . This acted as an endorsement:
“[he] has a taste for humility, and is loath to be seen as a redeemer, and therefore, to my mind, he was the quintessential closet-Buddhist.”
by Pamela J. Burry (2013)
Carl Rogers’ on creativity
Rogers viewed creativity as embodying “the same tendency which we discover so deeply as the curative force in psychotherapy” (p. 350)
The creative pathway is unique, so naturally, embarking on it brings “the anxiety of separateness… I am alone. No one has ever done just this before” (p. 356).
Rogers, C. (1960). On Becoming a Person. A Therapist’s View of Psychotherapy. First UK edition (1967). London: Constable. 60th anniversary edition (2020). London: Robinson.
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