Author — GorAton. Source — goraton.ru
If there is analysis (decomposition into parts), then there is synthesis (creation of a whole from parts). In order to find the cause of disharmony, neurosis, analysis is preferable. In order to create harmony, homeostasis, synthesis is preferred. Imbalance (mental discomfort) often occurs because our mental processes are fragmented or even contradict each other. Roberto Assagioli (1888 — 1974) believed that in the process of psychosynthesis, these “parts”, these disparate mental processes, desires, aspirations, must first be realized, and then combined. But not just to unite, but to unite so that harmony arises.
Psychosynthesis is based on Freud’s psychoanalysis (you will now notice the similarity of terminology), however, the originality of individual theoretical views and methodological approaches to treatment allowed Assagioli to create an independent psychotherapeutic direction.
The personality structure, or «map of the inner world», according to Assagioli, consists of the lower unconscious (1), the middle unconscious (2), the higher unconscious (3), the field of consciousness (4), the conscious self (5), the higher self (6) and the collective unconscious (7).
The lower unconscious is the most primitive part of our personality. It includes the simplest forms of mental activity that govern the life of the body; basic drives and primitive impulses; numerous complexes that carry a strong emotional charge; patterns of nightmares and fantasies; uncontrolled parapsychic processes.
The middle unconscious (preconscious) is the area where all mental skills and states reside. Here the assimilation of the experience gained takes place, the fruits of our mind are born and ripen. The middle unconscious and consciousness are closely related and can spontaneously pass into each other.
The higher unconscious (super unconscious) is the area of formation and the source of inspiration, creativity, heroism, altruism and other higher feelings. Here, according to Assagioli, higher parapsychic functions and spiritual energy are born and concentrated.
One cannot say that the lower unconscious is «worse» than the higher. It’s just that the lower unconscious is the beginning, the foundation, and the super-conscious is the reserve for the development of the personality.
The field of consciousness is the part of the personality that we are directly aware of. This is a continuous stream of sensations, thoughts, desires available to our observation and analysis.
The Conscious Self is the center of our consciousness, but it is not a part of the personality that we are aware of (the field of consciousness). Assagioli emphasizes this difference in this way: «The difference between them is in a sense reminiscent of the difference between the illuminated area of the screen and the images projected on it.» It is this element of personality that Assagioli calls the ego.
The Higher Self is our true essence. Conscious I changes or disappears in violation of consciousness (coma, fainting, anesthesia, hypnosis, etc.). The Higher Self does not change or disappear. Therefore, Assagioli calls it the true Self and believes that it is from it that after a deep sleep, fainting or anesthesia, the Self returns to the “field of consciousness”, i.e., again begins to be realized by us.
Assagioli himself writes: “In reality there are no two I, two independent and separate beings. There is only I, which manifests itself at different levels of consciousness and self-realization.
Awareness of the personal I is a condition of mental health, the realization of the transpersonal I is a sign of spiritual perfection.
Our psyche is not isolated, it, in the figurative expression of Ferrucci, swims in the ocean, which Carl Jung called the collective unconscious. According to Jung, the collective unconscious contains the experience of all mankind and is transmitted from generation to generation. Assagioli emphasizes that the outer oval of his «Structure of the Personality» scheme, not accidentally representing a dotted line, should not be considered as «separating», but only as «delimiting» from Jung’s collective unconscious.
Psychosynthesis technique
The main tasks of psychosynthesis, according to Assagioli, are: the comprehension of one’s true (higher) Self, the achievement, on the basis of this, of inner harmony and the establishment of adequate relations with the outside world, including with people around.
In psychosynthesis, two main methods are used: the method of disidentification and work on subpersonalities.
Both methods are based on a psychological principle, which Assagioli formulated as follows: “We are dominated by everything with which we identify ourselves. We can dominate and control everything with which we have disidentified ourselves.
Disidentification
Man, unlike the animal, is inherent in self-consciousness. Self-consciousness, in turn, is accompanied by the process of identifying oneself with the most relevant elements of the personality, feelings, desires. Some identify themselves mainly with their body (athlete, fashion model), others — with the intellect (scientist, «wise gudgeon»); the third — with feelings (a young man in love). Such a one-sided identification of oneself with one of the parts of one’s personality, first of all, makes it difficult to know «oneself for oneself.» Moreover, prolonged self-identification with individual elements of the personality often leads to tragedy: “suffering athlete”, “fading actress”, “retired politician”, etc. These identifications can be persistent, but they can also be temporary. Each of us at times says (or thinks): I am annoyed; everything falls out of my hands; I can’t do anything. We can surrender to these feelings or identify with them and fall into anger or depression for a long time, or we can delimit these feelings from our conscious self, realize them, try to see their cause and undesirable consequences. Sometimes this is enough to withstand the onset of the «dark» forces. The meaning of disidentification, Assagioli teaches, is to separate the selected complexes and “mental images” from our conscious self, decompose them into elements and try to control and manage them. “In other words,” writes Assagioli, “we should observe them coldly and dispassionately, as if they were simply external natural phenomena. It is necessary to establish a “psychological distance” between yourself and them and, keeping these complexes and mental images, so to speak, at arm’s length, calmly study their origin, their nature and their stupidity.
This does not mean that the energy of these negative feelings and desires must necessarily be restrained and suppressed. This energy should not be left to chance. You need to learn how to control it and manage it, directing it in a constructive direction, but this is possible only if you delimit and comprehend the core of your personality, your true self. Work on subpersonalities. According to the figurative expression of P. Ferrucci, subpersonalities are «psychological satellites that exist as many lives within the whole personality.» Each personality, on the one hand, is integral and unique, on the other hand, it is multilayered and diverse. In each of us, many “types” coexist, often opposite to each other. Even K. Jung, speaking about the structure of personality, singled out the “shadow”, opposing it to our conscious self. The number of subpersonalities is infinite. They are changeable. The more of them, the person is internally richer, but also less purposeful. In general, one can be purposeful even with a great wealth of subpersonalities, but for this it is necessary that they be in a certain agreement, in harmony. It is impossible to talk about good or bad subpersonalities, since all of them express only the versatility of our integral personality. But sometimes one (or several) of the subpersonalities dominates and begins to control our feelings and behavior. First of all, it is important to recognize your main subpersonalities (usually there are two or three of them). This alone enables you to form a clearer picture of your inner life. When you recognize a subpersonality, you gain the opportunity to sort of step back from it and observe it from the side. This process in psychosynthesis is called disidentification. The person is more prone to identification; disidentification is the reverse process. Comprehension of one’s true Self is the identification or creation of a unifying center of the Self.
The essence of comprehending the true Self lies in expanding the narrow field of personal consciousness mainly due to the higher unconscious, combining the lower Self with the higher Self. Everything seems to be simple: you need to know your true essence, your “core”, but, as Assagioli rightly emphasizes, «behind these easy-to-pronounce words lies a complex undertaking.»
In this context, the idea of P. Ferrucci is interesting: “In psychosynthesis, I am neither a passive spectator nor an actor. Ono is more of a show producer, responsible for quality, timeliness, and responsive direction.”
To get acquainted with the methods of psychosynthesis, you can do the following exercise.
«Who am I?»
This exercise helps to reveal our true self, which manifests itself outside not only in positive, but also in negative aspects. You can do it at home.
When performing the exercise, adhere to the following order.
Pick a quiet place, grab your workbook, put a date, and write the question, «Who am I?» Write the answer to this question below. Try to keep your answer as open and honest as possible. You can ask this question several times and answer it several times.
Sit down, close your eyes, relax. Mentally ask yourself the question «Who am I?» and try to capture the answer in the form of an image. Dispassionately study the image that has arisen, open your eyes and describe it.
After a minute, close your eyes again and ask yourself the same question again. Now allow the response to be expressed in movement, in dance or singing. Trust the wisdom of your body. Perhaps you express in the movements of a particular image.
Then share your experience with someone you trust, or write down your feelings in a notebook.
Depending on the area and purpose of application, psychosynthesis can be:
- the method of self-knowledge and self-development of the individual;
- method of treatment (mainly borderline neuropsychiatric disorders and psychosomatic diseases);
- method of education.
In conclusion, I would like to analyze one interesting thought that Assagioli expressed almost 30 years ago, but which is still relevant today.
This idea lies in the fact that individual psychosynthesis is a special case of general interpersonal synthesis. Man does not live in a vacuum. Each individual is closely related to other individuals, so the person should be considered as an element of the human group. Small groups (family) are elements of large groups (social class, nation). Large groups can be combined into states, and states are elements of humanity as a whole.
Between people within a group and between groups (small and large), conflicts constantly arise, in their mechanism surprisingly similar to those that are inherent in each individual. Therefore, it is possible to resolve them (interpersonal psychosynthesis) according to the same plan and approximately the same methods with the help of which individual psychosynthesis is carried out. From the analysis of conflicts, disharmony — to the synthesis of harmony around a true and independent «center».
Initially, R. Assagioli considered two levels of psychosynthesis. He singled out the stage of formation of a full-fledged personality (personal psychosynthesis) and then the stage of spiritual improvement (spiritual psychosynthesis). To the field of spiritual psychosynthesis, he attributed many phenomena and mental states that are encountered by one who plunges into the depths of his unconscious.
At present, many followers of this trend tend to accept the three-level model proposed by T. Yeomans. He divides the process of psychosynthesis not into two, but into three stages: personal, transpersonal and spiritual.
The stage of personality formation corresponds to the stage identified by R. Assagioli. During this period, work is underway to integrate the personality around the «personal self». The task of this stage is to structure and (or) coordinate all aspects of the personality, to enable it to cope with the surrounding reality in a new healthy, effective way. This work should precede the transition to other stages. Premature opening to the energies of the transpersonal can, on the contrary, lead to deepening personality disorders, ego growth, and regressive behavior.
Transpersonal work has to do with the expansion of consciousness beyond the usual boundaries into any other area (into the personal or collective unconscious). This work involves a detailed study of various levels of the psyche, corresponding, for example, to different areas of the oval diagram of R. Assagioli, or work with «memories of one’s birth.» This may also include working with what K. Jung called the «shadow» or Anima and Animus and their integration. It could also be «experiencing past lives», the manifestation of psychic abilities, parapsychic phenomena, etc.
Thus, the transpersonal is the area that makes it possible, literally, to know oneself deeper and more fully, to see and feel, and sometimes even hear those aspects and energies that have so far been inaccessible to consciousness and include them in a more complete sense of one’s own » personal I».
The spiritual level, in comparison with the transpersonal, whose attention is directed to the content of the unconscious, refers directly to the energies of synthesis, to the will of the «Spiritual Self». Here the task is to bring the personal will into conformity with the will of the «Spiritual Self», i.e. actual dissolution in the Higher will. Unlike the transpersonal level, experiences at the stage of spiritual psychosynthesis have no content. If the psyche has content, the personality has a dynamic structure, then the “Spiritual Self” is pure being, penetrating them. This is the energy that fills the entire life system, this is a feeling of complete harmony, complete satisfaction with the existing state of affairs, a feeling of inner strength and confidence. At the same time, there is no need to know any areas of consciousness, to comprehend them. Everything is clear and there is knowledge without understanding.
Working with the «Spiritual Self» has its own levels and problems. It does not offer expansion of consciousness to obtain new knowledge. If we assume that the “Spiritual Self” is a condition for the existence of the psyche, and the psyche is a condition for the existence of a personality, then it is clear that the more transparent the “prism” of the psyche and personality, the more light from the “Spiritual Self” will reach the outside world. Thus, work on the personal and transpersonal levels comes down to linking and adjusting the internal systems of «prisms». The Spiritual Self becomes the head of the work of psychosynthesis, it becomes both a condition and a result of work on other levels.
It is the “Spiritual Self” that contains the consciousness of God, the potential opportunity to comprehend Him. A person who manages to achieve complete “tuning” lives in the Absolute World, where the concepts of “inner World” and “outer World” are identical and the border between them disappears and, therefore, there are no contradictions. Living in the Absolute World, he acquires absolute thoughts and feelings, performs absolute actions. That is why every word, action and even thought of such a person contains a huge transforming power.