Fritz Perls on control

Every external control, even internalized external control—”you should”—interferes with the healthy working of the organism. There is only one thing that should control: the situation. If you understand the situation you are in and let the situation you are in control your actions, then you learn to cope with life.¹

The less confident we are in ourselves, the less we are in touch with ourselves and the world, the more we want to control.²

… most of our role-playing is designed to use up lot of … energy for controlling …³

Please, note that the real opposites are impotence vs. control madness. If you feel you have to control everything immediately you feel impotent.⁴

Notes:
¹ Frederick S. Perls, Gestalt Therapy Verbatim, (Bantam Books, 1969), p. 20.
² Ibid., p. 21.
³ Ibid., p. 61.
⁴ Ibid., p. 230.

Update 2022-09-15: Text converted to blocks.