Ongoing Formation of Religious - CMGlobal

VINCENTIANA 1/2-2008 - INGLESEApril 17, 2008 − 4ª BOZZAOngoing Formation of Religious105promote growth and reject what inhibits growth. This attitude hecalled, the formative tendency, which he contrasted to the othertendency to randomness. 23 Without an authentic witness of livingtestimonies it is not easy to highlight the Gospel values. Hence theimportance of communities and individuals, who give witness in theway they follow Christ.Rogers proposed another aspect that helps us to understand theprocess of becoming a mature person. He referred to a discrepancybetween the “ideal self” and the “real self.” The real self contains aperson’s true or real qualities, which he termed the actualizingtendency. He called the conflict between the real and the ideal selfincongruence. A person experiences the real self as threatening whenthere is incongruence. But, when there is freedom one can move inone’s thinking and feeling and being, in whichever direction thatperson intends. By this process the individual sheds the false masks,fronts, roles of the ideal self, and gradually discovers something morebasic and true in the real self. 24 Moving towards the real self is a wayfor a religious in ongoing formation to become a mature personalityand a fully functioning person.For this purpose one needs openness, first of all, with regard toone’s own experiences. The first step in this direction is readiness tobe aware of one’s self, and this can be done by shedding barriers andinhibitions. These barriers, like the false concept of self and thenon-acceptance of others, are eliminated by self-awareness and by anopenness to others. For a positive change to occur the person mustperceive the three characteristics that Rogers regarded as essential toany successful relationship: genuineness (i.e., to be in touch withone’s own inner experience and to be able to express it whenappropriate), empathy (i.e., to understand the other person’s feelingsand beliefs) and unconditional positive regard (i.e., a non-judgmentaland non-possessive respect and caring for the other person’sself-concept and feelings).5.2. Spiritual Aspects of TransformationFrom the spiritual point of view it should be pointed out thattransformation is primarily attributed to the grace of God, but italso involves human cooperation. In this sense, transformation could23Cf. C. ROGERS, “The Foundations of the Person Centred Approach,” inEducation (1979) 100, pp. 98-107.24Cf. C. ROGERS, On Becoming a Person, p. 339.