(M. Evans and Company) Jerry Rubín luis spent the last few ycars attempting to shed lus radical-heavy clown maniac image ol the sixties and move to a more rational and productivo sen se of hinisclf. But he's havlng a lot of trouble being heard by his formei comiades oa the lot t as he attempts to relate lus traffels through that mixed bag of gurus, would-be lulir6rs, and germine visionaries that make up what is sometimés ealled the "Personal (.rowth Movement," "The (New) Consciousness Movement," etc. What really bothers the lelt is Rubin's frankness m discussing the lailings of üic "revolutionary" surge of the sixties, and his insistence on an imperative which puts personal ehange and grou th on a co-cqual level with polilual struggle. A rational society, Kubin argues, cannot be built by people who are out of touch with themselves and unable to run even ilieir own lives rationally. In the axties, he says, "We were postponing personal growth until at'ter (he Revolution," and the "Movement" became a refuge from oneself for millions. It lukes j lot ol courage to step back and take a hard look at how one's personal defects are being translated into politics, and then to take sibiliiy lor changing one'fl life, as many people scem to want to ding to the all-toopat ideologies thal have. been shielding them from realïty lor soma time now. Rubín represen ts an emerging trend toward fusing the humane and spiritual torce ol' the "New ('onsciousik'ss" -which now involves thousands of people on a senvinon.il level and millions more in a quieter way unh the social, politica], and economie thrust of socialism, creating an ever-growing pool of individuals vvho .ire living, as much as possible, the society they hope to créate when they actually run things. But this general impulse toward selt'-development finds expression, in Rubin's case, in every "growth" shtick available. trom meditation to Gestalt therapy to rolling to men's consciousness-raismg groups. uith varying but generally favorable results for the busy young author. Rubín, though a crude writer, takes it all ia from a fairly skeptical viewpoint and repoits in entertaining, thoughttul, and sometimes funny prose. The depth and sincerity of his search is apparent, and his cali tor a cooperative relationship between new consciousness and new politics is one ol the more promising prospects ot' the sevcnties.