What is Psychosynthesis and why is it so relevant today?

A Psychospiritual Journey of the SoulAt the beginnings of modern psychology stands the discovery that human beings areconditioned by their childhood experiences. Freud and others spoke of the unconscious,which contains our past experiences and which produces very real effects on present feeling,thought and behaviour. Thus, psychoanalysis sought to treat psychological disorders byanalysing their roots in the past.In 1911, as a pioneer of psychoanalysis in Italy, Roberto Assagioli (a colleague ofFreud, Buhler and Jung) began developing the insight that just as the psychological pastexists in the present, so too does the psychological future. In other words, just as childhood isaffecting our present living, so too is our vast human potential for healing and change.Indeed, repression of this higher potential can lead to psychological disturbances every bit asdebilitating as repression of childhood trauma.Assagioli maintained that just as there is a lower unconscious, there is also asuperconscious - a realm of the psyche that contains our highest potential – the Self, thesource of our unique potential and connected to the universal. He formulated his discoveriesinto an approach he called Psychosynthesis. Assagioli does not replace the insights ofpsychoanalysis, but rather includes the past within the context of the awakening of the Self.Psychosynthesis is not simply a model of psychospiritual pathology and treatment, but adevelopmental approach which can help guide a person to understand the meaning of theirhuman life. And the drive towards the harmonisation of all relationships, whetherintrapersonal, or interpersonal, between individuals and groups.The Self and the ‘I’Assagioli recognised a powerful integrative principle acting within the human psyche – theSelf. Psychosynthesis as a psychospiritual psychology, adds the distinction of a ‘spiritualconsciousness’ - that of the Self. This psychology regards the Self as a Spiritual Beingimbued with Love which can be present to us both in its immanent and in its transcendentstate. The Self is seen to form ego structures within which the ‘I,’ the personal identity,becomes conscious. The Self also continually invites and guides that ‘I’ to levels of healingand wholeness. Thus the Self is a profound source of being which can be present to us in ourbrokenness as well as in our wholeness. This Self also stands on the boundary between thepersonal and the universal.Psychosynthesis – is uniquely placed for today’s worldToday in a world of complexity and huge and difficult change, many people are askingquestions about new ways to live their personal and professional lives. They want to bring aspiritual context to their own lives and make a difference in society and the world at large.Some seek career change, some want to do what they do from a different context – beyondconflict, beyond blame – bringing compassion and an open heart to their worlds. To do sothey know they need to transform themselves and their histories and learn different ways tobe with themselves and in relationship to others. This is an inner journey of development, ajourney to evoke the person that I really am!We believe we are at the beginning of a new psychological paradigm, a paradigm based onwhat is emerging in terms of aspiration and serving humanity as a whole, this is the world ofpsychosynthesis. In this sense we see that Psychosynthesis can truly Serve Humanity inTransition.The Institute of Psychosynthesishttps://www.psychosynthesis.org/