Chapter 7: Music as a Cause of Disease and as a Healing Agent

"We trust that the magic of sound, scientifically applied, will contribute in ever greater measure to the relief of human suffering, to a higher development and a richer integration of the human personality, to the harmonious synthesis of all human "notes," of all "group chords and melodies" - until there will be the great symphony of the One Humanity."  (Roberto Assagioli)

To begin this chapter Roberto Assagioli gives historical examples of the therapeutic use of music, as presented in anthropological research, literary works, philosophical writings and medicine. He then goes on to detail the elements of music: rhythm, tone, melody, harmony, and timbre.

Assagioli first examines the negative effects of music, stating that music can be very artistic, aesthetically expressive, but still harmful. He says that harmfulness can arise because of the particular listener, how a piece is situated in a program, how long that program is, and so forth. He also clearly identifies music that "arouses the instincts and appeals to the lower passions" as likely to produce "injurious effects," as is music that is melancholy and depressing. Further, he finds too much dissonance and irregular rhythms to be not only a product and reflection of the modern stress and strain, but also psychologically damaging. He implies that such music is "an aural drug" and that it may lead to "a nation of neurotics which even the skill of the psychiatrist may be hard pressed to cure." In addition, he discusses the effects of performing music on musicians, and the need for them to avail themselves of rest, relaxation and "all the available means of psychotherapy." Music in films is examined as well. Assagioli notes that the influence of music can be stronger when the consciousness is more focused on the visual. The music is taken into the unconscious mind and can affect the person profoundly in body and psyche.

Next, Assagioli addresses the positive effects of music. He writes, "Music can indeed be a powerful healing agent." Not least, music can effect a condition of relaxation and restfulness that is difficult for modern people to achieve on their own. He notes that a major university was using music to reduce tension in people who were being prepared for surgery.

Music can also free emotions in those who have repressed emotionality, and it can lighten the moods of those who are bitter and worried. It can give joy - which is good for both body and soul. He mentions, as well, that music can enhance memory. In relation to psychological healing, music can have an almost psychoanalytic function. Music "can help in repressions and resistances and bring into the field of waking consciousness many drives, emotions and complexes which were creating difficulties in the unconscious."

Yet, there is also a psychosynthetic role for music as well. Here, Assagioli identifies three kinds of psychosynthesis: spiritual psychosynthesis; inter-individual psychosynthesis and cosmic psychosynthesis. He goes on to describe these and to make some recommendations about the types of music that can facilitate each kind of psychosynthesis.

Spiritual psychosynthesis is facilitated by music that appeals to the religious dimension, "lifting us above the level of everyday consciousness ... into the higher realms where light, love and joy ever reign." Examples of the kind of music he recommends include Gregorian chant, Palestrina, J.S. Bach, Handel, Cesar Franck, Wagner, and Scriabin.

Inter-individual psychosynthesis, the harmonious connection in groups of individuals, is aided by "music which expresses collective emotions and aspirations." Some examples are national anthems, workers songs and choruses from some operas. I might add that school songs, well-loved folk songs and marches and fanfares can also knit people together. Assagioli says that "The highest and most effective musical expression of the psychosynthesis of humanity is Beethoven's Ninth Symphony ... ."

Cosmic psychosynthesis involves the individual's understanding and acceptance of the laws underlying cosmic order and his or her participation in it. Music brings effective healing when it starts with the whole, according to Assagioli, quoting Pontvik. Accordingly, music brings into harmony and balance tensions that symbolize archetypal forces. Certain music, particularly that of J.S. Bach, evokes religious symbols, according to Pontvik.

The discussion of music therapy that follows provides a number of rules to be observed in conducting music therapy. These rules range from the rather simple to the more complex. The simple rules prescribe that the therapist give patients information; help them relax; don't overwhelm them; use repetition, but not too much; be careful of the loudness of the music; and have time to relax afterwards.  The more complex instructions require more knowledge and discernment on the part of the therapist. These include making a careful choice of music, adapting it to the social/cultural situation of the patient; selecting music that counteracts the difficult state - but maybe choosing music that expresses some of the same mood with which the patient is struggling. Assagioli acknowledges that it is difficult to know the "subjective effect" of any given piece of music, since how the person responds depends on many factors, not all of which the therapist can know.

After listing the rules, Assagioli address some more specific situations, including finding out how patients have responded to music in the past by having them fill out a questionnaire; using music as an adjunct to anesthesia; using music to influence people's interactions with each other; having patients perform music to help in their healing; and using music in hospitals and prisons.

Three sections are appended to the chapter. The first is the Questionnaire on Musical Therapy. The second is a suggestion for musical therapy for obsessive ideas, which would require that the therapist be skilled in musical composition, as it involves using two pieces of music, and then putting them together in way that bridges and alternates the two. The third is the poem, "The Bird of Paradise," written by Francesco Chiesa after hearing a violin recital.

Since the time this book was written, music therapy has developed tremendously. Music is regularly used in most of the ways outlined by Assagioli here. It is also used with guided imagery for emotional healing, in energy healing for chakra healing and strengthening, in work with dementia patients to aid their memory and mood, and in medical settings, including surgical operating rooms and recovery rooms. Music therapy is offered in many settings, including prisons and jails, medical facilities, nursing homes, rehabilitation centers and schools. Music is used in shamanic journeying, in chanting to induce meditative states, and to achieve states of spiritual ecstasy, especially if combined with dance.

Chapter 6: Technique of Imaginative Evocation of Interpersonal Relationships

In this chapter Roberto Assagioli discusses how a therapist can help a patient/client "achieve the right inner attitude towards other people and to successfully perform intended actions involving others." He sees this happening in two stages. The first stage involves eliminating that which hinders the patient from holding that right attitude, and the second stage "is a gradual training in developing facility in outer interpersonal relations." The first stage involves catharsis of emotional blocks and increased understanding of negative emotions. The second stage involves imagining the right attitude in a specific relationship and creating a kind of internal model of how that relationship can be warm, loving and harmonious.

In another section of this chapter, Assagioli addresses the attitude of the therapist, stating that interpersonal relationships can be facilitated by the way in which the therapist regards the patient. Referencing the work of Henri Baruk, he says his own approach "consists in the attitude of addressing oneself to the better part of the patient, together with (a)  spirit of confidence, of trust in and appreciation of the patient." In a further explication, Assagioli states that one needs to view the patient not only as  having the "unaffected" aspect of moral conscience, but also the Self. He emphasizes that the role of the Self is not only moral, but also spiritual. He further explains that the conscience "that issues from the spiritual Self is quite different (than the harsh super-ego that Freud identified). It is a wise, loving type of moral conscience; it is not harsh, and follows to some extent the principle so well expressed in the words of the Christ: "Love thy neighbor as thyself.""

In the very last section of the chapter there is a general commentary on all the techniques discussed in this and earlier chapters. Assagioli points out that techniques should be used with patients in a way that takes their particular situation into consideration, and each patient should be regarded as uniquely themselves, rather than "as a member of a class." Finally, he gives some thoughts about research, stating that he feels "that research can be more profitably directed towards the intensive study and treatment of a comparatively small number of cases - resulting in detailed and thoroughly discussed case histories - than towards a more general treatment of the large number of cases needed for statistical purposes."

Chapter 4: The Rest of the Story

For this week's study we began with the subsection of chapter 4 subtitled, "Technique for the Training and Use of Imagination." This section contained a number of exercises for strengthening the ability to image in a variety of modalities: visual, auditory, kinesthetic, gustatory, tactile, olfactory. I was impressed with the degree of importance Roberto Assagioli placed on being able to image in these ways, both in the sense of registering/recalling experiences, but also in allowing the imagination to be creative, allowing images to flow and change. Further, I found interesting his claim that part of what needs to be developed regarding the imagination is the capacity to stop or not attend to images and sensations.

Since this work was first published, of course, the use of imagery in education, therapy, sports, artistic performance and medicine has flowered. Interestingly enough, the attention paid to developing imaginative capacity does not seem to have grown along with the tremendous increase in its use.  The differences among individuals for different imagery modalities are fascinating. Assagioli attributes psychological  meaning to these differences, I wonder if they have actually been researched? For example, is it really the case that auditory imagery is more connected with the dimension of emotion?

After a brief subsection on the formation of a psychosynthesis treatment plan, Assagioli moves into discussion of the "Technique of Ideal Models". He points out that we all have models of ourselves that have limitations, are in conflict with each other, and do not lead to our full development. He recommends that these false models be identified and even debunked, while preparing to build a truer model of oneself. He also makes it clear that the process he is advocating involves the patient visualizing him or herself possessing the qualities they are trying to build in, and that the process includes creating successive models as the person builds up their weaker psychological functions, strengthens desirable qualities, and moves to integrate them. Assagioli discusses how the choice is made about what to strengthen and develop, stating that "In the planning both therapist and patient agree which part of the program to take up first, and this includes the choice of the functions or qualities to be developed through this technique of model building and acting." He also discusses the situation in which a block or resistance is experienced in trying to build up a quality, and the concomitant need to move back and forth between working with the negative aspects, while building up the positive aspects.  For example, alternations may be needed between being compassionate towards one's anger or hostility even while aiming for peace and understanding with other people.

The subsection on "Technique of Symbol Utilization" presented much material on the use of symbols, kinds of symbols, and the procedures for using symbols. What I found most fascinating in this subsection was Assagioli's statements about the "functions" of symbols.  "Their primitive and basic dynamic function is that of being accumulators, in the electrical sense, as containers and preservers of a dynamic psychological charge or voltage. Their second function, a most important one, is that of transformers of psychological energies. A third function is that of conductors or channels of psychological energies. ... Symbols as accumulators, transformers and conductors of psychological energies, and symbols as integrators, have most important and useful therapeutic and educational functions. And this can be considered also in reference to psychodynamics because integration is really a function of energy, specifically the function of what has been called syntropy as contrasted with entropy. Syntropy means a heightening of the tension of the voltage of psychological and also biological energy." I am intrigued to explore these notions of psychological energies and their accumulation, containment, transformation, and channels.

Some Comments Related to My Practice and Reflection this Week - from Marsha

I was delighted with the suggestion that this week each of us practice with one of the techniques outlined in the first part of Chapter 4. It seems that individual engagement with specific techniques might stimulate good conversation among us this week.

I was most drawn to the section on the “development of the will” and the exercises therein. I very much appreciated Assagioli’s brief description of the six stages of the will. And I spent some time considering his distinction in stage six between the “dynamic power of the will, the one-pointed driving energy” and the “persistence and endurance” elements of stage six. That is to say that I spent time puzzling over which seems to be more highly developed, or at least habitual, in my own life and behavior.

That unresolved, I proceeded to the exercises described in the section on Mobilizing the Energies - and immediately encountered more puzzlement. Attempting Exercise I Part A, activities 2 and 3, I found it difficult to formulate the advantages of a well-trained will and to picture myself with a strong will as more or less context-free mental exercise. That is, I found it very challenging to conjure a well-elaborated image of myself being purposeful, focused and decisive outside of a situation, a context which would give meaning power to the purpose/focus/decisiveness. So I floundered a bit on this exercise.

I did attempt to practice some of the Exercises of the Will in Daily Life – especially the intention to “make haste slowly” in the routine demands of life. I did make an effort to check in as frequently as I remembered throughout the last several days, to catch myself rushing – if not outwardly, at least inwardly – and to return to a more mindful, thoughtful, careful action. The other technique that I worked with was the one related to physical exercise. Actually, it seemed rather the same as making haste slowly in that it focuses on precision and attentiveness in action – rather than just wildly energetic action. This was very useful for me as I have engaged in regular physical exercise for years – running on a treadmill and working with weights. But the attention to using the activity to train the will added a new dimension to my workout. So, I appreciated the practice with these techniques, attempting to train the will.

In the end I come back to stage one – aim, purpose, intention. As Assagioli says, “without a conscious aim, there can be not pure will” (p.112). And this, it seems to me is the essential (or I should say, existential) issue: Toward what do I aim? What is the “highest conceivable aim or purpose” (p. 113) toward which my will should be trained? The exercise this week brought me back to the words of Sören Kierkegaard – “purity of heart is to will one thing” and his attending questions: “what kind of life do you live, do you will only one thing, and what is this one thing?”

Reading Chapter 4 - First Part

In this section of the book, Assagioli presents a number of techniques that are helpful for the personal psychosynthesis. These techniques have various purposes, one is to "dispose of excessive energies released in the exploration of the unconscious," these include catharsis and forms of expression in writing, physical exercise, etc. Some techniques work to increase the domain of personal control, i.e., critical analysis helps in managing the emotional intensity and expression in ways helpful to the whole person through thoughtful reflection and making conscious choices. The technique of self-identification/dis-identification, "basic in psychosynthesis," leads, through "experimentation" to an experience of "pure self-identity" and "a direct awareness of its (self-identity) presence." In relation to the self-identification/dis-identification technique, Assagioli also mentions the 'test' devised by Bugental, also known as the "Who Am I?" Exercise. The final technique offered in this section of the chapter is "Technique for the Development of the Will" in which the stages of the will are outlined, various exercises are given for strengthening the will, recommendations are made for practices that will enhance the balance of "the different aspects and stages of the will," and some cautions are offered about right use of the will.

We have invited those participating in the book study to select one of these techniques or exercises to practice, notice what happens when they do the practice and reflect on it, and, if willing, report on their experience with it. We encourage other people reading this blog to do this as well.

Reflections On Our Reading and Discussions

Dear Group,

As we proceed with our reading I find delight in the fact that we can do this at all and wishing we could be sitting in a circle around my living room, discussing the issues that have come up. The goal in psychosynthesis always is to actually experience the concepts being taught. Creating that opportunity is what I would normally do. Nevertheless, I’m challenging myself to talk ‘about’ for the sake of our present process.

I too would prefer Assagioli used different language at times. But I remind myself of the time and circumstances under which he operated 100 years ago when psychoanalysis was king. Even that was not generally accepted. The whole mental health field as we know it today did not exist. All that aside, when I put my attention to what he said, it’s clear that he was and continues to be quite revolutionary in his thinking.

This is my big picture understanding of what he says. There are many dimensions of existence. There are many dimensions of the human being. Psychosynthesis prepares us to become aware of and bring into harmonious relationship some of this levels - personal and transpersonal psychosynthesis. Once this is achieved, we can then have our own, direct experience of the further levels, not requiring outside intermediaries, gurus, teachers for direction.

Psychosynthesis does not aim to answer all questions of existence. After achieving our own synthesis we find the answers for ourselves, directly.

“ Psychosynthesis does not aim nor attempt to give a metaphorical or theological explanation of the great Mystery- it leads to the door, but stops there.” p5 in the 2000 Synthesis edition. In the next paragraph on the same page he states very clearly the central purpose of psychosynthesis. “In the list of techniques used in psychosynthesis the various phases of psychosynthetic treatment are indicated. The starting point of the treatment is the ascertainment of the unique existential situation of each patient, of the problem which it presents and of the ways for their solution. This includes naturally a psychoanalytical phase. Then follows the activation of the latent aspects and functions and the development of the weak ones through the use of the active techniques suitable for each task. After, or rather while this is being done, the harmonization and integration into one functioning whole of all the qualities and functions of the individual must be aimed at and actively fostered - the central purpose of psychosynthesis.......” Synthesis 2000 edition page 5.

In the psychosynthesis framework, our true identity is the Self, the Transpersonal Self, the Soul, the Higher Self. The personality, the I, the center of consciousness and will, is a reflection of the Self. The mind, the emotions and the body are the instruments which constitute the personality.

Even though we are One, as human beings most of us become aware of this in an unfolding process. In looking back, I see very clearly how I moved from becoming aware of my self as a physical being, to exploring my emotional, and mental aspects. The experience of the personality, the ‘I’ is not a small event. Standing in the center and harmonizing the interactive system of the physical, emotional, mental (pem) aspects is a high achievement. And yes,even though the pem manifest in the subpersonalities as well, they are explored on their own also. There is one personality. It coordinates/integrates/harmonizes/synthesizes the pem as well as the subpersonalities and the various functions.

The Self is always projecting Transpersonal Qualities - many - like love, compassion, harmony, cooperation, wisdom, courage etc.
It always stands ready to become known to the personality. It is often said that Psychosynsthesis is both a top down and bottom up process. So while the Self reaches down (so to speak) the personality is reaching up. At some point when the personality is more or less integrated and the instruments (pem) are strong enough to hold the flooding of the energy from the Self we begin the experience of the higher synthesis.

Non of these steps are clear cut but happen simultaneously in varying degrees. And even though we know conceptually that we are ONE, the experience of that evolves over time. That is what psychosynthesis aims to do. Even though everyone is a Soul, a Spiritual Being and potentially can come to that realization and experience, everyone is not dedicated to that journey. We each have the freedom to proceed as we choose. I believe that is all RA meant. It is not a question of dividing people into two camps. However, the guide does have a responsibility to make an honest, deliberate assessment in order to be a constructive agent in the client’s journey and to avoid causing harm. Being a guide is more than being the wise friend or neighbor and carries great responsibility. This underscores again the absolute dedication a guide must have for her/his own personal work and ongoing development and synthesis.

The work for us all, guides included, is to tend to our own synthesis. With that in mind, I encourage you all to actually try one of the techniques about some personal issue of your own. This has been a good reminder for me and I too am experimenting with a couple of the techniques. Will share at our conference call next week to which I look forward with great anticipation.

In Light and Love, Hedi

Chapter Three: "General Assessment and Exploration of the Unconscious"

We've been having quite a discussion about the organic unity of a person, whether present as potential or having been actualized, the nature of the Self and the nature of the "I" or personal self as the center of consciousness and will. Finding language to talk about the concepts in the abstract is a challenge. Finding words to share the actual experiences, the states of consciousness, the lenses through which we perceive is even more challenging.

Chapter three addresses these challenges in another way. In chapter three, Assagioli first discusses his approach to working with the conscious aspects of the personality and with unconscious aspects. He says that psychosynthesis begins with assessing these, but does not delve deeply into the unconscious aspects first. Instead psychosynthesis works with what is conscious, and uses the exploration to develop an observing self that can view the personality with some objectivity, without a strong degree of emotional charge. He offers several ways of accomplishing development of the observer stance and providing the therapist (guide) with information that can be useful in subsequent guidance.

I found it interesting that so much of the initial work is in the form of writing. I very much like the statement that "In writing, both conscious and unconscious factors are active...". By using writing, unconscious factors are incorporated in ways that will not tend to destabilize the person. In writing, unconscious material emerges into consciousness without flooding the person with more than they can handle. In looking at what is written, the inner observer is strengthened. Biography, diary and written responses to specific questions are all forms of writing Assagioli recommends in the assessment phase of psychosynthesis.  There is more recent research on the benefits of writing, and the importance of being able to form coherent narratives of one's experiences in life that validates the practices Assagioli advocated in the middle of the 20th century.

I particularly like Assagioli's discussion of the five points or parts to include in an assessment:

1. The origin of various personality traits.

2. The recognition of existing complexes. There are complexes of which the patient is often painfully aware.

3. The recognition of polarities, ambivalences and conflicts.

4. The recognition of the various "selves," this in the sense given to them by William James. We may call them subpersonalities.

5. The persistence of traits belonging to preceding psychological ages: (a) infantile, (b) adolescent, (c) juvenile.

Some of the language in this section of chapter three is perhaps a bit dated. However, I appreciate the emphasis on developing a systematic and comprehensive understanding both within the 'patient' and the guide, of all these facets of the personality.

In the subsection, "The Constitution of Man," we are again in discussion of the Self, the personal self and the two main aims of psychosynthesis, the personal psychosynthesis and the transpersonal psychosynthesis. This section contains discussion of how to present the concept of the higher Self to persons who will probably only engage in the personal psychosynthesis, and to those who already bring in spiritual or religious problems, or will likely proceed to a transpersonal psychosynthesis. Assagioli makes it clear that we are to respond "to the actual need of the unique situation of each patient and at each stage of the patient's life." For those people for whom "a good personal psychosynthesis is all that we can look for" the most important idea around which that personal psychosynthesis is oriented is, the idea of "a personal self, of a point of consciousness and self-awareness, coupled with its realization and the use of its directing will."

In the discussion of how to assess higher values, Assagioli recommends asking rather directly about the person's philosophy of life and religious beliefs. In addition his "cosmic test" is fascinating. With the many pictures of deep space, the birth of stars and the recent evidence of the birth of a black hole, we have many materials available now that were not available to Assagioli.  We can use Hubble photographs, and there are a number of slide shows and at least one film, "Powers of Ten" that are available that could be useful for this cosmic test.

The last section on the "Exploration of the Unconscious" interested me, but I've not been trained in the particular psychoanalytic techniques he discusses, except for training in hypnosis. And, as events centering around the issue of "repressed memories" have unfolded, hypnosis can have definite downsides for both patient and therapist or guide. Generally, it has seemed most safe to me, to note where there are clearly resistances or blocks and then work with them with imagery, the use of techniques for working with ego states, or some of the gestalt or somatic experiencing methods, either alone or in combination.

And, to return to the "Introduction" section of chapter three, we must always keep in mind "the central, decisive importance of the human factor, of the living, interpersonal relation between the therapist and the patient."

For those people in the book study group who are not clinicians, it would be interesting to know which of the assessment methods might appeal as a means of self-assessment? This is also a question for clinicians, both at this point in time, and also thinking back to the time(s) of your training. With which self-assessment methods did you engage, and which hold appeal for you now as self-assessment tools?

"Self-Realization and Psychological Disturbances"

Book study participant Judi White sent an email about chapter 2. She wrote:

The reflection I had when reading Chapter 2 was about shadow and the recent publications about the shadow effect that are so popular right now. PSers have also raised questions about "dealing with AAP's shadow" and I'm sure I wouldn't know where to begin on that discussion. But, we all have one, and shadow and I are ONE.

Our telephone conference discussion today was lively and interesting as we tried to grapple with the chapter itself, our own experiences involved with the wholeness of the higher Self and the fragmentation and conflicts within the personality. We seemed to agree that we are multidimensional as human beings and that the journey involved in reaching out to the spiritual and also living out the spiritual call of the higher Self is an arduous one, as Assagioli states in the chapter.

The shadow concept was not discussed in the conference call. So, I am wondering what others think about the relationship among ego or personal self, subpersonalities, shadow, unconscious drives and conflicts, the superconscious, and the higher Self. There seems to be disagreement among Psychosynthesis writers and practitioners about some of these matters, and it would be interesting to hear from others who have been thinking about these concepts as they have read chapter two.

Chapter Two: "Self-Realization and Psychological Disturbances"

In the fourth paragraph of this chapter, I noticed something that just passed me by in previous readings of it. Assagioli is discussing the swing between an excessive focus on psychopathology and focus on wholeness. "Some representatives of the new current show a leaning towards reversion to the former conception of man as an already unified personality, which, unfortunately, is far from being the case. The drive towards integration has been rightly described and emphasized as a basic and normal urge of the human personality, but this is something quite different from the illusion of an already organically and harmoniously functioning personality." I don't know if others have this experience, but among my professional acquaintances are therapists who routinely state that we already are whole and already know everything we need to know. Perhaps this is true in the same way as it is true that the oak tree is already in the acorn. But much has to happen for the oak tree to emerge and grow and flourish through many seasons and years. So it is for us. The pattern is inherent, as is the drive towards integration, but the actualization is something that requires much of each one of us.

In Assagioli's discussion of the personal self or ego, the superconscious, and the Self he makes it clear that he is talking about two different meanings for the term 'self-realization.' One meaning is something roughly equivalent to Maslow's self-actualization, and the other meaning is more difficult to grasp. Self-realization, or awareness of or through the Self is "the reaching of the summit where the personal I-awareness blends into awareness of the spiritual Self."

The discussion of stages in Self-realization takes us into territory not often discussed in many mental health circles in the United States. The area of the 'spiritual' is seldom addressed in the favored mental health approaches of cognitive-behavioral therapy or exposure therapy or the therapies that specifically address emotional states, such as emotionally-focused therapies and the therapies that are designed to moderate emotional states. Assagioli says, "We are using the word "spiritual" in its broader connotation which includes, therefore, not only the specific religious experience, but all the states of awareness, all the functions and activities which have as common denominator the possessing of values higher than the average, values such as the ethical, the esthetic, the heroic, the humanitarian and the altruistic. We include under the general heading of ''spiritual development" then all experiences connected with awareness of the contents of the superconscious, which may or may not include the experience of the Self." Because much of psychotherapy in the United States is based within a materialist medical model, the focus appears to be one of working with people who aspire to be average, rather than with those, who may be suffering equally, who are undergoing crises related to awakening and working through the process of spiritual transmutation Assagioli describes in this chapter.

The first two stages of Self-realization, the crisis leading up to spiritual awakening and the crisis caused by the spiritual awakening, deserve to be far better known and more widely discussed than they are. When a relatively high percentage of people are taking medication for depression, anxiety or both, one has to wonder how many of those so diagnosed are experiencing what Assagioli would describe as neurotic conflicts and/or inability to accept or get along with significant others, and how many are treating and forestalling a spiritual awakening. Stages three and four - reactions to spiritual awakening and phases of the process of spiritual transmutation outline some of the ups and downs of the personality as it deals with spiritual influxes (or the ebbing of them) and with the inevitable challenges of living through the changes wrought in dissolving what has seemed to be the center of the personality and regenerating that center by harmonizing all the drives, working with the energies of the superconscious and the Self (especially with the Will), and yet meeting the obligations and duties of ordinary life.

I found myself wishing that Assagioli had given us more of the background thinking for his discussion of the Self, Self-realization, and the superconscious. The "self" has a history in philosophy and religion, and I truly would love to have had an opportunity to discuss with him what was informing his particular understanding of these concepts.

Reading Chapter 1

Each time I read Psychosynthesis, I'm amazed at how current the issues are, how well the content has withstood 45 years of great change in our world. This book was first published in 1965. By that time, Roberto Assagioli had been developing Psychosynthesis for over 50 years. This year we celebrated 100 years of Psychosynthesis at the AAP (Association for the Advancement of Psychosynthesis) Conference in Chicago, marking the anniversary of Assagioli's dissertation, completed in 1910. How might Psychosynthesis develop in the future?

In the Introduction, Assagioli compares and contrasts Psychosynthesis with existential psychology. In the amazing plethora of psychologies, methods, protocols and techniques offered today, what makes Psychosynthesis stand out? How is it similar and how is it different?

In chapter one, subtitled, "Dynamic Psychology and Psychosynthesis," he lists a large number of influences and strands in the stream of psychology of the day. He says that in attempting to coordinate and synthesize these, one can arrive at "a pluridimensional conception of the human personality." From there he presents his famous schematic, the egg diagram, in which he presents his idea of the psychological structure of the human person.

At the same time, Assagioli makes it very clear that Psychosynthesis is not a 'one-size fits all' psychotherapy. He writes of the dynamism of the concrete real living person. He emphasizes that the Self is 'one,' and states that the small self of ordinary consciousness is but a 'reflection' of the Self.  However, the problem is that humans experience themselves as divided in many ways, ..."we are limited and bound in a thousand ways - the prey of illusions and phantasms, the slaves of unrecognized complexes, tossed hither and thither by external influences, blinded and hypnotized by deceiving appearances."

Then, we are offered a way out: achieve a "harmonious inner integration, true Self-realization and right relationships with others. This is accomplished through the stages of psychosynthesis, which Assagioli lists. He describes what is to be done in each stage.

I'm wondering, what has been our own experience with each of these stages? And, what have we learned through observing and assisting others to through them?

Reading Schedule for the Book Study

Those people who have signed up to participate will have received the schedule by now. Here is an easily accessible record of the schedule for everyone, including people who would like to follow along without full participation.


Psychosynthesis: Reading Schedule

The schedule gives the conference call dates for each section of the book. In the week before the conference call, I will send a reminder email to registered participants, noting the section we are reading and providing a question or topic we may want to discuss.

November 4th Chapter 1
November 11th Chapter 2
November 18th Chapter 3
We skip the week of Thanksgiving
December 2nd Chapter 4, through the section on Will Training
December 9th Chapter 4, beginning with Techniques for the Training and Use of Imagination to the end of the chapter
December 16th Chapter 5
December 23rd Chapter 6
December 30th Chapter 7
January 6th Chapter 8
January 13th Appendix

Book Study Announcement: Study Assagioli's Psychosynthesis

CFA Offers a Group Book Study of Assagioli's Psychosynthesis: A Collection of Basic Writings

The Center for Awakening is sponsoring a free online and conference call book study beginning on October 28, 2010, concluding on January 13, 2011. It will be hosted by Carla Peterson and Hedwig Weiler of the Center for Awakening's Psychosynthesis Program.

The book study will consist of 10 sessions. Each weekly session will focus on a particular section of the book. During the week, participants can exchange views, questions, and ideas through email, on this blog and on a weekly conference call on Thursdays (except for the week of Thanksgiving) at 1 ET, 12 CT, 11 MT and 10 PT. The first conference call will take place November 4, 2010.

To be included in this book study, please send an email to Carla Peterson, carlapeterson(at)clearwire.net expressing your intent to participate. Also contact Carla for more information or to answer questions about how you can be an active participant. Once you have signed up for inclusion, you will receive a reading schedule and weekly reminder emails with the next week's readings, along with possible discussion topics to consider.