Calling forth all that we are now to open the way for all that we can become: seed-thoughts as daily instruments of alignment and spiritual will.
THE USE OF SEED-THOUGHTS
By Roberto Assagioli
Undated
Original title: Uso dei Pensieri-Seme [1].
Translated and Edited With Notes by Jan Kuniholm
Editorial Note
The abstract and contextual subtitle in this online edition have been added by the editor, Kenneth Sørensen, to support readability, navigation, and archival consistency. The original wording has not been altered.
This text has been translated and edited with notes by Jan Kuniholm, whose editorial annotation on the source material has been preserved as part of this edition.
Abstract
In this essay, Roberto Assagioli addresses a group of esoteric students on the use of seed-thoughts as instruments of spiritual growth. He describes how regular meditation on a seed-thought builds a habit of raising consciousness throughout the day, maintaining alignment between personality and Soul. He emphasises the value of a ‘healthy sense of dissatisfaction’ with one’s present development as an accelerator, and calls on the reader to evoke the latent spiritual will.
We have often wondered if you derive all possible benefit from the effort you put into penetrating the meaning of words and reading, as they say, between the lines. Many of the seed-thoughts have been chosen by the Group for their thought-provoking nature, and because they offer the beneficial opportunity to exercise the intuitive faculties.
They compel us to “extend the mind,” to deepen our intellectual understanding. If meditation is done correctly, the seed-thought of the month should really become a kind of grounding for spiritual reflection even during brief moments of free time during the day, so that even for a few moments we raise our consciousness while maintaining a dynamic alignment and connection between the personality and the Soul. This is an important exercise and one worth cultivating. Try to do it often so as to build the habit “of clarifying the immediate vision” using past efforts as a foundation, as a platform for your future spiritual endeavors. We need to call forth “all that we are now” to open the way for “all that we can become” in the future, if we will [to do so]. As we broaden our vision, we will become what we have visualized. Our thoughts and actions will acquire the colors of our vision as we progress on the Path of Light.
If the disciple works correctly, he will always have a “healthy sense of dissatisfaction” regarding his present efforts, as he realizes what small part of his true Self he has yet expressed and brought into manifestation. Such thinking pushes him forward, spurs him on to new efforts. He knows that potentially he has an immense unrealized field to be made practically effective in his life. It is precisely this sense of dissatisfaction that we must all cultivate as our accelerator, striving to evoke the spiritual will that is latent in us and that we can evoke and use. If we reach this stage of our will, we learn to use it more to rise above the ordinary apathy into which our life can drag itself, if we allow it to. The whole rhythm of world affairs and the intensification of the inner impulse to progress appeals for renewed spiritual effort as we fraternally connect with all those who cooperate in the fulfillment of the Divine Plan for the immediate future.
[1] This document was taken from psicoenergetica.com and was not found by this editor in the Assagioli Archives. This essay was intended for the use of a specific group, probably one that followed esoteric studies, which undertook regular activities. It appears to be suitable for use by certain others at appropriate times. —Tr.
