Chapter 8: Transmutation and Sublimation of Sexual Energies

In this chapter Assagioli attempts to counsel people on how to manage sexual energy in a way that is healthy, pro-social and wholly human, i.e., considers that sexual energy is tied to the whole human being, not just the physical. He examines the then-current situation of sexual behavior or morals, noting that generational tensions were being played out, that religious prohibitions and attitudes were declining and that sexual liberation did not eliminate sexual problems, but, in some areas may have increased them.

Because of the Freudian insights about sexual repression creating neurotic patterns, Assagioli does not recommend going back to repression of the sexual drive. Nor, however, does he advocate "free love," that leads to other problems. Instead he counsels that drives, the energies within/behind drives, can be transmuted and sublimated. The energies can be harnessed for other good purposes and used (and the energies thus absorbed) for those purposes. He states that sexual energies can be transmuted in two directions, the vertical and the horizontal. If they are directed towards the vertical, the spiritual, they may emerge as mystical sense of union with the Beloved. If they are directed towards the horizontal they may be taken up through substituting other sensual pleasures such as food, enjoyment of nature or appreciation of beauty.  Another example of the horizontal direction of transmutation of sexual energies is channeling them into other forms of love, such as "comradeship and friendship" which may finally "radiate as brotherly love upon all human beings and upon all living creatures." And, the third kind of transmutation is into creative activities. Here Assagioli gives the example of Richard Wagner and his sublimation of unfulfilled love into the opera, "Tristan and Isolde".

In the last section of the chapter, Assagioli offers some practical psychological methods for effecting a process of transmutation and sublimation. Several of the methods involve right use of will, direction of intent, and devoting energy to creative work. He also recommends using symbols, particularly heroic or ideal images of manhood or womanhood, or the symbol of the lotus, or symbolic movement, or symbols that occur in dream images.