Roberto Assagioli

Roberto Assagioli (Venice, February 27, 1888 - Capolona d'Arezzo, August 23, 1974) was an influential Italian psychiatrist who was the founder of the psychological movement known as Psychosynthesis. He was the first psychiatrist to integrate elements of what are often considered religious and spiritual concepts into modern psychology.

Biography

Assagioli was one of three Italians credited with being pioneers of the psychoanalytic movement. As a medical student, he introduced Freud's concept of psychoanalysis to his professors in Florence.

While embracing the radical new currents of psychoanalysis, he simultaneously - in 1910 - began a critique of that same psychoanalysis. He saw that it was only partial in that it neglected the exploration of what Maslow, some sixty years later, would call "the farther reaches of human nature." Thus he began the groundwork for Psychosynthesis. He saw that there was a need for something beyond analysis. This was the need for a person to become whole - to be united in synthesis. Assagioli's purpose was to create a scientific approach which encompassed the whole man - creativity and will, joy and wisdom, as well as impulses and drives. Moreover, he wanted this integrative approach to be practical - not merely an understanding of how we live, but an aid in helping us live better, more fully, according to the best that is within each of us. This conception he called psychosynthesis.

Assagioli maintained that just as there was a lower unconscious, there was also a superconscious. He describes this as a realm of the psyche which contains our deepest potential, the source of the unfolding pattern of our unique human path of development. Assagioli formulated his discoveries into an approach he called psychosynthesis. This term, of course, distinguishes it from psychoanalysis, but Assagioli did not mean thereby to replace psychoanalysis, but rather to complement and include it.

Psychosynthesis then is not simply a model of pathology and treatment, but a developmental approach which can help guide a person to understand the meaning of their human life within the broad context of synthesis - the drive towards the harmonisation of all relationships, whether intrapersonal, or interpersonal, between individuals and groups.

Assagioli was also a coworker of Alice Bailey, who had founded a New Age esoteric school called the Arcane School. In the book Discipleship in the New Age, channeled by Bailey to a small group of students, he is known by the initials F.C.D. standing for "Freedom from Ties, Chelaship, and Detachment.". It was his intention that this information would never be made public because of concern that his connection with Alice Bailey would harm the professional standing of Psychosynthesis.

"Only the development of his inner powers can offset the dangers inherent in man's losing control of the tremendous natural forces at his disposal and becoming the victim of his own achievements." - Roberto Assagioli, The Act of Will, 2002, p. 6

Work

Psychosynthesis is a uniquely synthetic approach to psychology developed by Roberto Assagioli, M.D. Although it has points in common with Humanistic psychology, Transpersonal psychology, and Existential psychology; the emphasis in Psychosynthesis is on the possibility of progressive integration of the personality around its own essential Self through the use of the will. To this end, it uses a number of specifically designed psychological training methods and techniques.

Assagioli had (in common with Abraham Maslow) considerable interest in the creative powers of the human personality, and in peak experiences; and he intended Psychosynthesis as a way to unify the ordinary levels of consciousness with the higher creative and transpersonal levels of being. In Psychosomatic Medicine and Bio-psychosynthesis Roberto Assagioli states that the principle aims and tasks of psychosynthesis are:

1. The elimination of the conflicts and obstacles, conscious and unconscious, that block [the complete and harmonious development of the human personality]:
2. The use of active techniques to stimulate the psychic functions still weak and immature.

The following concepts and applications may be considered at the core of Psychosynthetic training:

1. disidentification
2. the personal self
3. the will
4. the ideal model
5. synthesis (in its various aspects)
6. the superconscious
7. the transpersonal Self

In essence, psychosynthesis can be best represented by "egg diagram."

1. The Lower Unconscious
2. The Middle Unconscious
3. The Higher Unconscious
4. The Field of Consciousness
5. The Conscious Self or "I"
6. The Higher Self
7. The Collective Unconscious

Selected works

• Psychosynthesis: A Collection of Basic Writings by Roberto Assagioli ISBN 0-9678570-0-7
• The Act of Will by Roberto Assagioli ISBN 0-670-10309-8
• What We May Be: Techniques for Psychological and Spiritual Growth Through Psychosynthesis by Piero Ferrucci ISBN 0-87477-262-1
• Unfolding Self: The Practice Of Psychosynthesis by Molly Young Brown ISBN 1-58115-383-X
• Psychosynthesis: A Psychology of the Spirit by John Firman and Ann Gila ISBN 0-7914-5534-3
• The Act of Will by Roberto Assagioli ISBN 0-670-10309-8
• Transpersonal Development: The Dimension Beyond Psychosynthesis by Roberto Assagioli ISBN 1-85538-291-1

Legacy

Assagioli was a bold innovator who lived to see his ideas take form in hundreds of articles, books in many languages, students in numerous countries, a body of theory pregnant with new implications and consequences, and centers continuing to develop his work in the United States, Canada, England, Italy, Switzerland, France, Greece and Argentina.

External links

• Istituto di Psicosintesi The Institute of Psychosynthesis founded by Roberto Assagioli
• In Memoriam: Roberto Assagioli Dr. Roberto Assagioli, founder of Psychosynthesis
• The Institute of Psychosynthesis, London - Counselling and Psychotherapy Training and Self-Development
• A few words about Dr.Assagioli by Piero Ferrucci
• Roberto Assagioli, Psychosynthesis,and the Esoteric Roots of Transpersonal Psychology
• The Will Project was a project proposed by Roberto Assagioli to explore all aspects and manifestations of the Will.
• Roberto Assagioli Retrieved September 29, 2007.
• Roberto Assagioli Retrieved September 29, 2007.
• Psychosynthesis: A Collection of Basic Writings Retrieved September 29, 2007.
• Psychosynthesis Personality Assessment: Understanding ourselves and our relationships. Retrieved September 29, 2007.

• A few words about Dr.Assagioli by Piero Ferrucci
• Association for the Advancement of Psychosynthesis (Non-Profit): writings, concepts and links
• In Memoriam: Roberto Assagioli Dr. Roberto Assagioli, founder of Psychosynthesis
• Istituto di Psicosintesi The Institute of Psychosynthesis founded by Roberto Assagioli
• Psychosynthesis Basic concepts, links, articles including some by Roberto Assagioli
• Psychosynthesis Online Quotes on Psychosynthesis as well as a Psychosynthesis & Transpersonal Web Directory
• Southern Psychosynthesis Community Network has articles in plain language on Psychosynthesis
• The Will Project was a project proposed by Roberto Assagioli to explore all aspects and manifestations of the Will.

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