Chapter 11: From Intention to Realization, and Chapter 12: Purpose, Evaluation, Motivation, Intention

Chapter 11: From Intention to Realization                                   

The first paragraph of this chapter indicates that understanding the act of will itself is necessary for beginning effective training of the will. As well, engaging in act-ion is part of the training of the will, which can lead to the will's "progressive ascent through the attainment of strength, skill, goodness and universality." Carrying out acts of will relies on understanding the stages of the act of will, and also increases the capacities of the various aspects of will.

There are six stages or phases in the act of will. They are linked, and the outcome of willed actions is dependent on the strength of each link. The stages are: 

1. Purpose (goal), Evaluation (valuing), Motivation, Intention
2. Deliberation
3. Choice and Decision
4. Affirmation
5. Planning - Working out a Program
6. Direction of Execution of the Plan

Assagioli notes that individuals may have difficulties with any of the stages, and may, depending on the individual and his or her circumstances, get stuck in any stage of the act of will. Yet, if the individual understands the stages, he or she can analyze where s/he gets stuck. Then s/he can consciously strengthen his or her ability to work through that step.

Chapter 12: Purpose, Evaluation, Motivation, Intention      

Four elements are grouped in the first stage of the act of will: purpose, evaluation (valuing), motivation and intention. Assagioli says these four elements are necessarily interconnected. We often become conscious of one element first and then become aware of the others. 

We can become aware of much through self-observation, he says, but when it comes to motivation, there are both conscious and unconscious dimensions. Some motives originate in unconscious drives or urges, and the conscious mind will then rationalize a desired action. Assagioli notes that "there is almost alwas a combination of the two (conscious and unconscious motivations) in very variable proportions." That is why we need to analyze our motivations accurately, either through self-analysis or through working with a therapist or educator.

In the process of addressing increasing awareness of motives, Assagioli notes that his technique of "acting as if" is sometimes looked upon as being inauthentic or false. In reality, he says, it is a leaning toward acting in alignment with our real will rather than acting upon so-called lower motives. He emphasizes we can do this with integrity. "This is due to the psychological multiplicity that exits in each of us." If, however, the "lower" motives have a lot of energy, we are best served if we do not deny or repress them, but instead, discharge, transmute or sublimate them.

Assagioli recommends distinguishing between urges or drives, and reasons. Drives or urges can be either conscious or unconscious. They spontaneously move us in the direction or their fulfillment. On the other hand, reasons are conscious, "and have a cognitive, mental aspect." Because of our multiplicity, at times our motives are in conflict with each other. And yet, sometimes lower and higher motives are actually in synch with each other, too. A Talmudic saying, here quoted by Assagioli, points to being able to utilize even our lower motives, "Serve God both with your bad impulses and with your good impulses." Having motivations in synch allows us to "direct(...) all the biopsychological tendencies to higher purposes and creative activities." The advantages of enlisting lower motives in service to higher ones are listed:

1. we avoid condemnation and repression of the lower drives into the unconscious
2. we can use the "potent" energies of lower drives in productive rather than destructive ways, or balance them with an opposing tendency
3. the "very energies themselves become transmuted and sublimated through being redirected to higher ends." 

Assagioli advocates that we keep in mind a relative assessment of motives. Whether they are "higher" or "lower" we can make no final judgments about the worth of the motives of others (or ourselves, perhaps). Yet, he says, we make judgments all the time, in the sense of evaluation. There are two different meanings of 'judgment' at work, he explains. The first kind of judgment is moral judgment; the second kind is discriminatory judgment - being able to discriminate on the bases of many and diverse elements.

He further examines the situation of being motivated by so-called lower motives and claims that these do not necessarily result in an act (product) that is objectively of an inferior quality. Assagioli says that such lower motives can actually help us move forward in our "higher" aims. He gives us as an example, the use of both a "stick" (shame) and a "carrot" (reward) method that relies on some lower motivation to help us with a higher aim. The important thing is "to make sure that the lower motives are aligned with the higher motives, and that it is these that are in control and determine the action."

Assagioli summarizes this stage of the act of will, outlining what a person needs to do to complete this stage:

• "That person must get his goals or purposes clearly in view."
• "Then he must evaluate his goals" 
• "he will examine his motives trying to become aware of the unconscious ones"
• "motives must be aroused and used"
• "Psychological energies must be set into motion and used with clear intent in the service of a higher good; must be mustered and combined so that the will can effectively proceed to action that will lead from goals to accomplishment."

The above set of internal actions lead to zest which is needed to make "deliberate examination of the ways...to actually achieve a given aim." Thus, the first stage engages the "dynamism of (one's) motives," without which one will "remain only a dreamer instead of the doer of willed action."

Chapter 9: The Transpersonal Will, and Chapter 10: The Universal Will

Hubble photograph

Chapter 9: The Transpersonal Will

In this chapter, Assagioli refers to the 'foundation' and 'framework' that transpersonal psychology provides. He cites Maslow's observation that many who have achieved success in personal life and development reach a point of dissatisfaction. They have been able to satisfy the first two levels of need, which include basic psychological needs for survival, and personal needs such as belonging and love, and self-actualization.

Many years ago, I heard a song, "Is that all there is..." which, for me, captured the essence of the inner desire for something more. That desire can emerge in both those who are very healthy, and also in those who have needs from the first two levels that have not been met. In agreement with Maslow's identification of Meta-needs, Assagioli offers the examples of Viktor Frankl and Leo Tolstoy, who learned the "importance of the need for understanding the meaning of life." Another example is that of people in concentration camps whose most basic needs were not met, yet survived. Frankl himself, survived because of his connection to his life's meaning.

Assagioli thus identifies a "third and higher level" of the "constitution of man" - that is, "the area of the superconscious, which culminates in the Transpersonal Self." The superconscious involves higher needs, and these in turn, evoke the will to meet them. The Buddha is a prime example of the will to life meaning. He devoted years of study and practice until he achieved Enlightenment and could show others the way through the maze of what Suzuki called 'Ignorance.'

Being subject to such dissatisfaction, to needs we do not know how to satisfy, creates anxiety and a desire to evade it. There are two basic responses to this desire to evade anxiety caused by dissatisfaction with life and the search for meaning, says Assagioli. The first is an attempt to find some kind of primitive immersion into a collective object or group. The other evasive response is to seek transcendence by "rising above" ordinary consciousness. Both involve attempts to leave individual consciousness behind. But, Assagioli says, neither of these efforts to assuage the existential anxiety involved with questions about life's meaning will be successful. "So we need to face courageously and willingly the requirements for transcending the limitations of personal consciousness without losing the center of individual awareness." And, he says, "this is possible because individuality and universality are not mutually exclusive; they can be united in a blissful synthetic realization."

Assagioli acknowledges that sometimes people spontaneously experience "sudden, unexpected illumination." He says that in those cases the Transpersonal Self exerts a "pull from above." There is a Transpersonal Will operating from the superconscious level, which acts to exert that pull. The personal self experiences this as a "pull or call." Such experiences of being pulled or called have been variously described by writers on consciousness, by poets and mystics. Assagioli goes on to say that there can be a struggle between the Transpersonal Will and the will of the personal self. The stages of such struggles and crises and their resolution are discussed in his book, Psychosynthesis.


In addition to the search for life's meaning or for enlightenment, there are other responses to the call or urge to transcendence. They are transcendence through transpersonal love; action; beauty, or Self-realization. He says, "These ways of transcendence can also be expressed in terms of will, the fundamental will to transcend personality limitations through union with someone or something greater and higher." In each of these ways, there is the union of will and love.

Assagioli then goes on to describe in more detail what the various kinds of transcendence can entail. In the case of love, that love can be romantic union, or altruistic love, or the mystical love of God/the Divine.  Transcendence through transpersonal action through use of the Transpersonal Will, even at the cost of the person's own survival needs can stem from devotion to an ideal or a cause. Transcendence through beauty is characteristic of many artists, who are impelled to create because of the Transpersonal Will, although they may also exercise their personal will in concert with it. Transcendence through Self-realization "means giving particular value to those emerging potentialities which belong to the sphere of the superconscious, and have their origin in the Transpersonal Self." Self-realization is contrasted with self-actualization. Assagioli maintains that someone can be 'self-actualized' without necessarily having any "higher motivation." Self-realization means transcendence of the ordinary human experience and can be seen as almost god-like or divine, but is still human potential, not something supernatural, as Maslow pointed out.

There are three stages of Self-realization, Assagioi writes. They are:

• activation and expression of the potentialities residing in the superconscious
• direct awareness of the SELF which culminates in the unification of the consciousness of the personal self, or 'I,' with that of the Transpersonal Self 
• the communion of the Transpersonal Self with the Universal Self, and correspondingly of the individual will with the Universal Will.

Hubble photograph

Chapter 10: The Universal Will                                         


This chapter begins with a reflection on what Universal Reality is and is not. Assagioli says that one difficulty in addressing the issue of Universal Reality and Universal Will is that in the past such discussions occurred in the context of religious belief, which is now rejected by many people. Even people who accept religious understandings "live as if God did not exist." He says there is another way to approach Reality, that of the intuition. It is possible to have an "intuitive, direct experience of communion with the ultimate Reality."

A second approach is that of the "perception of analogies" and an appreciation of the "essential unity of all aspects of Reality." An example is that water is basically the same whether it is seen as a small drop of dew, an ocean or a piece of ice, a snowflake or water vapor. Human consciousness can be gradually expanded, Assagioli claims, to "experience some of those wondrous mysteries," that is, of the identity of human and Divine, of the fact that there is only the One Life we all share. Expanded consciousness, however, does not mean that the human mind can comprehend all the "wonder and mysteries of the cosmic manifestation."

There are "successive degrees" of being dis-identified from our "various psychological elements" and existentially experiencing conscious "Being - ... being a living self." He shows three diagrams of experiential realization of the relationship between the SELF and the individual psyche. In the first diagram, the energies of the SELF are "bent on influencing the whole man (person) by radiation from and through the superconscious level." In the second diagram, the activities of the SELF are distributed to show that they are tending rather equally between the personality and Reality. "(T)he subject has some realization of his participation in a universal state of Being, while preserving at the same time a vivid, even sharpened sense of individual identity." The third diagram shows that the radiation of the SELF is mostly toward transcendent Reality. Yet, even in this case, "the sense of individuality is not wholly lost."

In the last few paragraphs of this chapter, Assagioli extends the analogical discussion. He asserts that all human love participates in some way, or is an expression of "a universal principal of LOVE." Likewise individual will and Universal Will are related. "The harmonization, communion, unification and fusion of the two wills has been - and is - the deep aspiration, and ... the highest ...  need of humanity." "It means tuning in and willingly participating in the rhythms of Universal Life." Mystics have written of their  struggles and their movement towards unification of the individual and Universal Will. Assagioli quotes two of them, Dante and Christ.

Dante - "My will and wish were now by love impelled, The love that moves the sun and all the other stars."

Christ - "Not my will, but thine be done" and "I and the Father are one."

Chapter 7: The Good Will, and Chapter 8: Love and Will

The Good Will
In chapter seven, Assagioli turns his attention to the interpersonal, social context. He discusses the fact that humans do not live in isolation and must interact in personal and social relationships. He emphasizes the importance of the Will for the "many attempts (that) are being made to replace competition with cooperation, conflict with arbitration and agreement, based on an understanding of right relations between groups, classes and nations." He points out that to arrive at "harmonization" of the wills of those concerned with any particular effort, individual wills must discipline themselves and choose aims that are "consistent with the welfare of others and the common good of humanity."

The individual accomplishes the tasks of such discipline and choice-making by eliminating obstacles and actively developing and expressing a good will.  Selfishness presents a significant obstacle. It can be countered by skillful use of the will. Moreover, good will must be mobilized to give energy to make the effort. Another obstacle is self-centeredness, lack of understanding another's perspective and insistence on one's own point of view. Such lack of understanding is itself an obstacle and requires "the intention to understand and also the relinquishing of ... self-centeredness ...". Assagioli says that humanistic psychology provides people with the means for increasing their understanding of others. Humanistic psychology through presents knowledge of how humans are constituted, how humans vary individually and as groups, and promote understanding and expansion of empathy. Empathy is "the projection of one's consciousness into that of another being. ... (A)pproaching him or her with sympathy, with respect, even with wonder, as a "Thou" and thus establishing a deeper inner relationship." Deepening empathy results in a wider and greater appreciation of the "wonder and mystery of human nature." We become aware that  human nature involves conflicts and suffering, and a core of goodness and possibility for change in everyone.

With that understanding, Assagioli claims, ...(W)e are induced to drop the ordinary attitude of passing judgment on others. Instead a sense of wide compassion, fellowship and solidarity pervades us." We can both accept the be-ing of others, and also their potential for becoming. We become aware that we have some responsibility for how we influence others, as well. "And the more we are aware of this, the more we can see to it that our influence is beneficent and constructive."  And this hinges on our intention. "The good will is ...  a will that chooses and wants the good."

Love and Will
Chapter eight begins with the claim that, "One of the principal causes of today's disorders is the lack of love on the part of those who have will and the lack of will in those who are good and loving." From this point, Assagioli explores the types of love: love directed toward oneself; maternal and paternal love; love between men and women; fraternal love, altruistic love; and humanitarian love; impersonal love; and love of God.

Some "observations ... about the general nature of the most important relationships between love and will" follow. As he implied earlier, Assagioli says that usually, love and will are not in balance, but are most often found in inverse relationship. He points out that love is attractive and magnetic and outgoing, while will is more "dynamic" and has a tendency to be "affirmative, separative, and domineering." The differences can lead to opposition of love and will. To love well, is an art that requires use of will.

"To love well calls for all that is demanded by the practice of any art, indeed of any human activity, namely, an adequate measure of discipline patience and persistence. All these we have seen to be qualities of the will." Good loving and good willing both require knowledge about human beings, which is obtained through humanistic psychology. (See above.) After a certain amount of knowledge is obtained, three methods can be undertaken that will lead to "the harmonization and unification of love and will."  The three methods are: developing the weaker of love and will, such that both are available; awakening and manifesting the higher aspects of both love and will; and, operating them together in alternation so that each arouses and reinforces the other.

Developing the weaker of love and will means that "emotional types...must see to the progressive development of the will and its increasingly active employment" and "volitional types ... have to take particular care that the quality of love tempers and counterbalances it employment, rendering it harmless and constructive." The will training might consist in "cultivation of aspects in which it may be deficient." This may mean that the person has to overcome inertia or resistance. Where love needs to be strengthened, fear may need to be addressed.

Awakening and manifesting the higher aspects of love and will requires that we first of all recognize that there are lower and higher aspects of both. Compassion is a higher form of love than possessiveness is, for example. And, domination is a lower form of will than directing the will towards non-ego-involved and constructive ends.

Gradual fusion of love and will and their resultant synergy takes place over time, is part of the whole process of psychosynthesis, and "anyone who sets himself to practice it soon realizes how difficult it is."

The Principle and Technique of Synthesis
Assagioli says that achieving "a synthesis between love and will demands much skill in action." Among other things, it "calls for persistent vigilance, for constant awareness from moment to moment." This kind of 'mindfulness' "makes possible the active intervention and commitment on the part of the self, who is not only an observer, but also a will-er, a directing agent of the play of the various functions an energies." To bring about the synthesis (not a compromise, but a "higher unity endowed with qualities that transcend those of either") wisdom is essential. Wisdom works by regulating from a higher level, that of the Transpersonal Self, which is "a higher unifying center of awareness and power." The process of transpersonal psychosynthesis "constitutes the high effort, the central drama of man, who, either consciously or unconsciously, aspires to this goal, or is pushed toward it by his inability to find lasting satisfaction or a true peace until he has attained it."

Chapter 5: The Skillful Will: Psychological Laws and Chapter 6: Practical Applications of Skillful Will

Chapter Five - The Skillful Will: Psychological Laws

Assagioli begins chapter 5 by identifying two mistakes people make about the will. One is that using the will means using a kind of force to oppose other psychological functions, such as desire or imagination. The other mistake is to abandon the will and allow whatever happens to happen. He then goes on to describe the skillful will, that aspect of will that has "the ability to develop that strategy which is most effective and which entails the greatest economy of effort." It does this by stimulating, regulating and directing other psychological functions: sensation, emotion/feeling, impulse/desire, imagination, thought and intuition.

In the section on "The Psychological Elements" Assagioli presents his famous star diagram.

He discusses the relationships among the psychological functions, distinguishing between those that are "spontaneous" and those that can be influenced or directed by the will. 

Then he discusses the nature and role of the unconscious, which has two parts. One part is conditioned. It is 'set' and is not easily influenced. The other is more flexible; it is available for new impressions and connections. Interestingly, Assagioli calls this the "plastic" part - and brain plasticity is currently being researched intensively.  Impressions that are made in the unconscious, do not just disappear or sit there, they act in the unconscious. We can use this fact to our advantage, Assagioli says. He provides ten psychological laws that when observed, allow us to develop and use our will skillfully.

"The Ten Psychological Laws"

Law 1 – Images or mental pictures and ideas tend to produce the physical conditions and the external acts that correspond to them.

The will can be used purposefully and consciously by the individual to choose, evoke, and concentrate on the images and ideas that will help to produce the actions (s)he desires.

Law 2 – Attitudes, movements, and actions tend to evoke corresponding images and ideas; these, in turn (according to the next law) evoke or intensify corresponding emotions and feelings.

...Through conscious and purposeful movements, one can evoke and strengthen positive and desired inner states.  e.g. mudras

Law 3 – Ideas and images tend to awaken emotions and feelings that correspond to them.

...The centrally located will can mobilize the energy of the emotions and feelings through the use of appropriate ideas and images.  e.g. “evocative words”

Law 4 – Emotions and impressions tend to awaken and intensify ideas and images that correspond to or are associated with them.

... vicious and virtuous circles --  feedback processes

Law 5 – Needs, urges, drives, and desires tend to arouse corresponding images, ideas, and emotions.

... wishful thinking and rationalization

Law 6 – Attention, interest, affirmations, and repetitions reinforce the ideas, images, and psychological formations on which they are centered.

Attention makes images and ideas more exact and clearer

Interest increases the prominence of ideas and images, making them seem larger and of longer duration

Affirming images and ideas gives them more force and effectiveness

Repetition drives in the idea or image and makes it penetrate more deeply, sometimes creating almost an obsession

Law 7 – Repetition of actions intensifies the urge to further reiteration and renders their execution easier and better, until they come to be performed unconsciously.

This is the way habits are formed.  “Will and intellect can form habits of thought and will. We are responsible for forming our habits and even when acting according to habits we are acting freely.”  William James

Law 8 – All the various functions, and their manifold combinations in complexes and subpersonalities, adopt means of achieving their aims without our awareness, and independently of, and even against, our will.

We can “seed” our unconscious...

Law 9 – Urges, drives, desires, and emotions tend and demand to be expressed.

“Drives and desires are the active, dynamic ... springs behind every human action.” Assagioli  Sometimes we need to find harmless and/or constructive means of expression for these, as to repress them sends them into the physical or they “come out sideways”.

Law 10 – The psychological energies can find expression: a. directly (discharge – catharsis) b. indirectly, through symbolic action c. through a process of transmutation.

Regarding direct expression – the will needs to deliberate, choose, and regulate the expression

Regarding indirect expression – means of symbolic expression can be chosen, such as physical exercise, using objects, or writing

Regarding transmutation, there are several ways and means:

• Elevation – transformation into a “higher” value
• Purification – of motives and intent 
• Interiorization – transmuting a “lower” quality to a “higher” one, eg. pride to a sense of inner dignity
• Extension – ripple the energies outwards, eg. self-love to love of family, community, etc.
• Outer Expression – crystallizing a value into action, chosen purposefully

The Act of Will. Roberto Assagioli.  

Chapter Six - Practical Applications of the Skillful Will

In this chapter are presented some specific psychological techniques for applying skillful will.

I. Realizing the Value of the Will. This technique was discussed in chapter two as well. It relies on imagination to spark desire and emotion to increase the strength of one's will.

II. Technique of Substitution. Energy follows from giving attention, which has a tendency to increase interest. Thus we can give attention to a substitute for an unwanted thought or behavior, and thereby shift our energy to the new thought or behavior, reducing the pull of the old one.

III. Psychological Breathing and Feeding. We can pay attention to and choose our "psychological environment" to a much greater extent than we usually do. By withdrawing our attention to the "poisons" of greed, violence, fear, and depression we tend to diminish these in the inner and outer worlds. Through cultivation of positive qualities that counter these poisons we help ourselves and the world.

IV. The Technique of Evocative Words. Assagioli points out that words will evoke "the state of mind, the physical state, and the acts that correspond to (them)". Attention and repetition reinforce the image or idea, and an unconscious activation of what is signified by the word occurs. This means that simply seeing a word that signifies a desired quality will tend to move one toward acting with that quality. We can amplify this in various ways by concentrating on the word, writing it repeatedly, viewing it in poster-sized print, chanting or singing it, etc. Yet, for some people, a particular word may evoke a resistance, ambivalence or other negative reaction, so we have to be careful to notice such resistance and skillfully work with or around it.

V. The "Acting As If" Technique. In some 12-step programs this technique is summarized as "fake it until you make it." By changing our behavior, facial expression, tone of voice, even our costumes, we can find our internal state changing. More recent work done on facial expression and emotion validates Assagioli's comments about how putting on a smile can affect one's mood, or how imitating another person's facial expression can give entry into their emotional world. Assagioli gives many interesting examples from the lives of people such as the French general Turenne who "marched resolutely in front of his troops going into battle" which gave him a reputation for courage. He acted as if he had it, and so inspired his troops. In this section Assagioli also addresses dealing with very strong fears by working to desensitize them or to gradually build up a tolerance for the activity that generates such fear or reluctance.