Whither Fritz Perls?

I often wonder what remnants of the sixties still can be found in the litter of today's world and its ethos. If you throw enough mud against the wall, will some of it stick? Was it all in vain? Did anything that Fritz Perls talked about at Big Sur result in any long term influence and change our present way of looking at relationships, or was it just jargon? Did Easy Rider or Fellini Satyricon or Blowup strike anyone with a sense of changed perception that lasted? Did Alan Watts, poor man, make any sense to the world, grappling with his identity issues and ours? What about Robert Bly and his male concepts in Iron John? Did this speak to any males seeking to redefine themselves? Is it only Leonard Cohen that is left carrying an old torch? I think not. He still speaks to many. Are there still subversives in the underground that see a way out of today's polarized and hugely structured, in the box thinking? Yes! What ever happened to love when success took over? What ever happened to peace when gratuitous violence took over? What ever happened to freedom when regulation returned? Sure, there was lots wrong with all that earlier stuff. Some people would say, "You must be an old hippy." It was often impractical ,but it had some of the right stuff. It included seeing the divine in your neighbor for all his and your own warts, and caring about it. I hope we can look at the mosaic that is the world and pick out bits and pieces of it that we can say," Here is , 'I have a dream!' " and another that says " Ich bin ein Berliner !" 'The church I go to is trying to get out of the box and seek the core values of loving your neighbor as yourself, and the neighbor is the world and the whole community. It's a start . We want to be part of the mosaic. We are beset with naysayers these days. Whether we can work out of our packaged ideas and open up to life hinges on blind exploration of all parts of the elephant!