Psychosynthesis
Roberto Assagioli
Psychosynthesis is a holistic approach to human development that was developed by the gifted Italian psychiatrist Roberto Assagioli (1888-1974) from around 1910. It is non-dogmatic approach to growth and healing and expression of individual potential that includes spiritual as well as personal development. As such, it presents (like Jungian psychology) an integration of the personal (psychological) and transpersonal (mystical, spiritual) elements.
The purpose of Psychosynthesis is to further the ongoing process of evolution, and so to achieve a synthesis, a coming together, of the various parts of an individual's personality into a more cohesive self. That person can then function in a way that is more life-affirming and authentic. Along with this is the affirmation of the spiritual dimension of the person, the "higher" or "transpersonal" self, in addition to the personal and prepersonal ("lower" self). The Higher Self is seen as a source of wisdom, inspiration, meaning, and unconditional love. The integration, synthesis, or unification of the personality, happens around this higher self. This occurs in two stages: personal, and transpersonal
Psychosynthesis is as a tool for psychological healing and personal transformation.is widely applicable and used in such diverse fields as counselling, religion, education, health care, business and management, diplomacy and international relations.
Like many other psychological and esoteric systems of thought, Psychosynthesis uses a number of maps or diagrams of consciousness in order to illustrate the various components of the self. Two diagrams used in Psychosynthesis are the Egg Diagram and the Star Diagram.
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1. The Lower Unconscious
2. The Middle Unconscious 3. The Higher Unconscious or Superconscious 4. The Field of Consciousness 5. The Conscious Self or "I" 6. The Higher Self 7. The Collective Unconscious |
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1. Sensation
2. Emotion-Feeling 3. Impulse Desire 4. Imagination 5. Thought 6. Intuition 7. Will 8. Central point: The I, or personal self |
Note on the Egg Diagram and the The Collective Unconscious (by Arvan Harvat):
With regard to the egg in Assagioli, I think he made a great mistake: he "drowned" egg in the sea of "the Collective Unconscious". But, when we analyse Jung's Collective Unconscious, we see that it contains archetypes (Self, Animus/Anima, Shadow) and symbols for these archetypes (Wise old man, Youth,...). Leaving aside Self and Shadow (God and Devil), it's evident that this is equal to, in occultist parlance, causal/archetypal plane plus high subtle (symbols). Therefore, the Jungian Collective Unconscious is essentially a combination of Noetic plus higher Psychic planes of
Neoplatonism. Since "egg" contains superconsciousness (the highest third
of the inside)- there was no need to place the egg diagram in anything
like the Collective Unconscious. If he wanted the unity of beings, he could have connected
superconscious parts of various "eggs" in the continuum.
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Psychosynthesis Links | |
Psychosynthesis Home Page - Istituto di Psicosintesi - (mostly in Italian)
Psychosynthesis - includes What is Psychosynthesis?, Resources, Organizations, Publications, Essays & Articles, Centers & Practitioners, Projects & Activities, Events, and links
The Synthesis Center, psychosynthesis
Psychosynthesis and Kabbalah - the Will Parfitt Website -
Personal and spiritual development with the Kabbalah and its application through Psychosynthesis. Plus distance education, group courses, books, and articles to download.
What is Psychosynthesis?
includes the two diagrams
The Intuitive Self - The Psychosynthesis Model - describes the different aspects and suggests dynamic interactions
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