Matt Kielty

About Esalen, about Carl Rogers.

I'd never heard a politician talk that way.

And eventually Mitch actually got to meet John in his funky little condo in Santa Clara.

And I guess, what exactly was it about what he was saying that made you kind of like want him to be a mentor?

That my values and my vision, my sense of myself informs what I do socially and relationally, institutionally and publicly.

And that really is the heart of the struggle in the nation and the state now.

It's not just about money or privilege or power.

It's about those, but it's about visions of human nature.

Our visions of human nature inform our parenting, our politics, our pedagogy, our intimacy, our dying, and all the rest of it.

If we think about human nature differently, if we dare to imagine that... Old, cynical, traditional people are basically evil and ugly and dangerous.

We people creatures aren't ruined by original sin.

And need to be contained and repressed and ashamed and guilt-ridden and locked away...

then we would approach policy, you know, really important social institutions and how they're run very differently.

That's one view of human nature.

It must have at their very heart, as its very foundations,

That positive, hopeful, healthful, growthful vision of human nature and potential.

Assume that within us is that spark of life and hope and health and wholeness that ought to be nurtured.

Like, what does any of this actually mean in terms of public policy?

It's like Harry Ferry, pie in the sky kind of thing.

What is this used to anybody?