Making a Difference: How Humanistic Practice Makes a Critical Difference to Humanity's Future

Abstract

It's no news to anyone who reads a newspaper, watches TV or peruses the Internet that there is no shortage of bad news. This article proposes that the world can be better and that humanistic psychotherapy and other social practices aimed at human growth and existential freedom have a role to play in creating a sustainable humane future. Carl Rogers' work was based on the observation that, given the right conditions, all human beings have within them vast resources with which to face their threats and transform their circumstances. Other humanistic practices provide us with transformational approaches to providing these conditions and are the basis of social innovation in concrete actions for human betterment across the world. Some examples of humanistic practices at social and political scales conducted by the International Futures Forum and others are described, and some suggestions about steps to take to engage in undertaking transformative emancipatory action are offered.