The Unconscious

This essay explores the profound implications of modern psychology’s recognition of the unconscious mind, likening its significance to the discovery of a new continent.

By Dr. Roberto Assagioli, (Doc. #23484 – Assagioli Archives – Florence). Original Title: L’Inconscio. Translated and Edited With Notes by Jan Kuniholm[i]

Abstract: Part I of this essay explores the profound implications of modern psychology’s recognition of the unconscious mind, likening its significance to the discovery of a new continent. Delving into various abnormal and normal manifestations, it reveals how the subconscious influences our actions, emotions, and decisions without our conscious awareness. From hypnosis to dreams, from memory to subconscious processing of experiences, the study highlights the intricate workings of the subconscious. It warns against being blindly led by subconscious impulses and suggests that self-aware exploration of the unconscious is essential for living a conscious, deliberate life.

Part II discusses the duality of the unconscious mind, distinguishing between its amorphous and organized aspects. The amorphous unconscious is portrayed as a reservoir of untapped potential, responsive to external influences and capable of endless adaptation. It is likened to unexposed film waiting to capture experiences, or unused magnetic tapes ready for recording. In contrast, the organized unconscious is characterized by complex structures and associations, akin to exposed films or recorded discs animated by propulsive energy. Through detailed analysis, the essay explores the interplay of cognitive, emotional, and active elements within the differentiated unconscious, offering insights into its dynamic nature and potential for psychological transformation.

Part III delves into profound psychological insights that challenge Western materialistic thinking and exploring the nature of the psyche. It highlights the distinction between physical and psychic realities, emphasizing the latter’s timeless and boundless essence. The concept of the collective unconscious is elucidated, comprising both unstructured psychic currents and permanent archetypal structures. These archetypes, ranging from primal instincts to higher spiritual ideals, influence individuals and collective humanity, shaping perceptions and behaviors. By transcending concrete thinking and embracing the complexities of psychic existence, the essay invites a deeper understanding of human consciousness and its interconnectedness with the cosmos.

PART I: The Unconscious

It is time for as much knowledge as possible to be spread about the treasures that lie ignored within us and how to use them for our own good and for that of others. This is made possible by a discovery, or rediscovery, by modern psychology: There is a large part of ourselves that exists outside our normal waking consciousness, and in that part numerous and continuous activities take place without our direct awareness of them. This unknown part of ourselves has been named “the subconscious” or “the unconscious.”[ii] Generally speaking, we do not fully realize the importance of this discovery. Some comparisons will be worthwhile to make it more vivid and obvious.

The revelation that the unconscious exists is no less significant than that of the discovery of America. Indeed, by proportion, the vastness of the inner world represented by the subconscious far exceeds that of the American continent. In fact, the extent of the unconscious psychic area is far greater than the conscious one. It is difficult to establish exact proportions; I will only say that according to some scholars, nine-tenths of our psyche is unconscious.

From another point of view, it can be said that the conscious part of our personality constitutes the surface of the psyche; below it there are numerous other “layers” that descend to the level of instincts and organic life; above it there are other increasingly higher levels, all the way to the heights of spiritual life. This upper part of the unconscious, which is quite different from the lower part, should more properly be called “the superconscious.” So psychology and philosophies that take into account only the conscious level, can rightly be called superficial in the literal sense of the term; they have two “dimensions;” but there is a “third dimension,” that of the human soul, which extends in depth and height and which we must travel through in our explorations and ascensions if we are to know integrally what a being is in its living, multifaceted reality.

This is an investigation that is still developing and whose full, truly revolutionary consequences cannot be predicted. In fact, the shift of the center of reference of our interest from our small, ordinary personality to our larger being — to the inner spiritual center — can be compared to that produced by the Copernican discovery that the earth is not the center of the Universe, but only one of the planets revolving around the Sun, which, in turn, is but one of the innumerable stars in the immense Cosmos.

On the practical side then, the discovery of the inexhaustible energies of the unconscious that we can use is comparable in importance to that of electricity, which has always existed but had remained virtually ignored until the last century. From this discovery comes a new way to conceive and understand ourselves, others, and life; a new way of educating and of behaving with others — and a new way of treating physical nervous and psychic[iii] disorders.

EVIDENCE FOR THE EXISTENCE OF THE UNCONSCIOUS AND ITS MAIN MANIFESTATIONS

ABNORMAL MANIFESTATIONS

Let us examine these first, for they are the most obvious, and one may say, striking. In fact, illness often constitutes like a magnifying glass that enlarges and exaggerates phenomena and thus allows them to be better observed.

1. HYPNOSIS – In hypnosis the subject’s normal consciousness is suppressed; in fact, afterwards, he remembers nothing. Yet during hypnotic sleep he behaves intelligently, understands and carries out even complicated orders; he puts into operation a part of his psyche different from that of his ordinary personality. Indeed, it is curious that the hypnotized person’s psychic activity sometimes proves to be superior to that which he exhibits in the waking state.

1. For example: more extensive memory; Ability to play “parts.” If you tell a hypnotized person (who has no practice in acting) that he is Napoleon or an old lady or a drunk, he experiences that part with an often surprising realism and vividness.
   1. Increased receptivity of the organism to psychic influences, by which various experimenters have succeeded in bringing about the production of blisters and hemorrhages; the acceleration and retardation of heartbeats; the elevation of temperature.

• POST-HYPNOTIC SUGGESTIONS – An order given during hypnosis — and forgotten upon awakening — is nevertheless carried out by the awakened subject exactly at the time indicated to him.

• For example: during session the hypnotist tells the subject, “Tomorrow morning at eight o’clock you will wake up, get up and visit Mr. X.” After a few minutes he wakes the subject, who remembers nothing of what was said during hypnosis. But the next morning, at eight o’clock, the subject wakes up and feels impelled to get up and go to his friend X. His reason tells him that there is no reason to make this visit, that it is too early, that his friend is still asleep; but in spite of these considerations, the impulse persists and raises more or less plausible pretexts in the mind. The subject has no peace until he has obeyed the impulse that he considers to be his own and spontaneous. This is a very demonstrative fact; for it gives conclusive proof that intelligent psychic activities take place in the awake person without his knowledge of them, in other words, that there is “an active unconscious” in him.

• SOMNAMBULISM – It can be represented as a apparent dream that is “acted out.” Sometimes the somnambulist moves without apparent purpose or intention, but sometimes he relives some scene from the past that has made a great impression on him.

• MORBID DREAMING STATES (HYPNOTIC STATES) – These can be regarded as states of transition between wakefulness and sleep, of confusion between reality and the creations of the imagination. They are produced spontaneously in various patients who have an exuberant imagination, little sense of reality, and a very active and uncontrolled subconscious. A special group of “dream states” is aroused by intoxicating and narcotic substances. The most frequent and well-known are those given by alcoholic intoxication. Alcohol attenuates or even suppresses the normal dominance exercised by waking consciousness, and thus the subconscious emerges tumultuously without restraint. Hence the ancient saying in vino veritas.[iv] But this is not to be understood in the sense that it reveals man’s true being; that is more veiled and obscured than ever; this type of intoxication, on the other hand, reveals the contents and tendencies that are prevalent in the unconscious. Thus there are those who are cheerful and expansive when intoxicated; there are those who are tender, sentimental, and those who are wrathful and violent; also those who are sad and tearful. It can be said that a caricature of the person comes out. In some cases mild intoxication encourages artistic production, especially poetic production, and particularly its emergence. It has also been a medium used by talented poets, but it is certainly not recommended.

Other and worse forms of “hypnotic states” are those produced by certain substances: nitrous oxide, hashish, mescaline, peyote, opium, morphine, and heroin, etc.. Under the action of these substances, the activity of the unconscious is profoundly altered and becomes distinctly morbid. The initial pleasurable phantasmagoric exaltations are paid dearly by the unfortunate people who become victims of those addictions. Tormenting sufferings soon arise in them that can be soothed only by ever-increasing doses of poison, and so they go to physical and moral ruin. They can save themselves, but only with arduous care and at the cost of severe suffering. 

• DISSOCIATIONS OF PERSONALITY (Partial and Total) – A certain degree of dissociation among the elements that make up the human personality can be said to be “normal;” this is revealed by examining the normal manifestations of the unconscious. But in some people the dissociation goes so far as to allow the formation of true secondary personalities, which are similar to the primary ones. They may alternate with the primary one in the control and use of the body, creating strange and paradoxical situations, “pirandellism,” almost; even “ultra-pirandellism.”[v]

• MENTAL ILLNESSES – In some mental illnesses the barriers between normal consciousness and the unconscious are broken down; the unconscious bursts into consciousness and manifests itself there without any brake or restraint. This occurs especially in manic excitement, in certain forms of schizophrenia and in paranoia. In these cases one has the opportunity to study the subconscious in a direct and immediate way. Among the morbid phenomena that emerge in this way, delusions and hallucinations deserve particular examination.

In delirium there is often an enhancement of physical forms, but also of certain psychic functions, especially memory. One case that has often been cited is of an elderly maidservant, who, in the delirium produced by a high fever in the course of pneumonia, began to recite Bible passages in Hebrew. It later turned out that thirty years earlier she had been in the service of a priest who read aloud the Bible in Hebrew in the woman’s presence. The invasion of the field of consciousness by the unconscious produces in the patient a confusion between the perceptions of external reality with internal images, and in general between objective reality and constructions of fantasy. So hallucinations and delusional ideas arise in them. In many cases these are produced by the psychological process of “projection,” which consists in attributing one’s own ideas, tendencies, feelings to others. Thus several sufferers of persecution mania have within themselves (consciously or unconsciously) moods and tendencies that are hostile to others and project them (unconsciously) onto others, believing that these others want to harm them and persecute them. It is worth recognizing and remembering this law of “projection,” since it often operates — in an exaggerated and overt but therefore more insidious way — even in normal people, and is the cause of frequent mistakes, misunderstandings and conflicts. So if we discover in ourselves a tendency to distrust everyone, to attribute bad intentions to others in respect to ourselves, to consider ourselves to be treated unfairly, let us be on our guard! Let us make a sincere examination of conscience, a thorough psychoanalysis,[vi] and we will not infrequently discover within ourselves a separative and critical attitude, resentments and hostility against others, with or without reason, or as an exaggerated reaction to some particular case of deception, or a wrong suffered; things that happen to everyone!

Since misunderstandings are easy in the complex and nuanced field of psychology, in which a continuous, subtle and difficult balance is needed, it will not be superfluous to observe that what has been said here is certainly not meant to recommend just trusting everyone. [This discussion is not advising anyone] to close their eyes to the shortcomings, blunders and faults of others. It is a matter of not overdoing things, of not generalizing, of recognizing the good no less than the bad even in our “enemies.” Above all — while defending ourselves appropriately, when appropriate — [it is a matter of] not repaying others in the same coin by creating a “vicious cycle” of antagonisms and struggles that are harmful to all.

NORMAL MANIFESTATIONS

1. ORGANIC PSYCHISM – Anyone (who is free from materialistic and mechanistic preconceptions) who considers living organisms cannot fail to be struck by the marvelous intelligence that presides over vital activities. So-called elementary functions such as cellular assimilation, growth, locomotion, reproduction, reveal a series of such ingenious adaptations, such fine coordination, and such a salient purpose, as to exclude all purely mechanical and physical interpretation. In truth, none of the most complicated machines invented by people has the faculty of growth or self-repair and multiplication that the humblest unicellular organisms have. Those who want to know the most astonishing manifestations of the psyche inherent in organic life have only to read Fabre’s fine books[vii] and William Mackenzie’s mighty work At the Sources of Life,[viii] where the problem of the relations — indeed the inseparable unity between life and psyche — is dealt with extensively and persuasively. Well, this psychical activity[ix] that so intelligently directs the functions of our bodies takes place without the knowledge of our consciousness, and is therefore unconscious to us.

DREAMS – They are often the best known and most obvious manifestations of our unconscious. For they are not produced by our conscious personality, since they take place during the latter’s sleep; yet they are the result of intelligent psychic activity.

The phenomenon of dreams has always aroused the liveliest interest in people; they have more or less clearly felt that in those strange phantasmagorias there must be some meaning, that they bear us some veiled message; therefore they have always tried to interpret them. We find examples of interpretation that are childish or wise, fantastic or persuasive, in the most ancient sacred books, in the literary works of every people, in the studies of numerous inquirers, in folk traditions, and right down to the Book of Dreams[x] and Freud’s On the Interpretation of Dreams.

• INTELLIGENT ACTS PERFORMED WITHOUT CONSCIOUS ATTENTION

Included in this group are all those acts which were first performed with will and intention and as a result of learning become habitual, or as they say, automatic; for example: the performance of musical pieces after long study. But note that this is not a mechanical automatism, but rather, according to Janet’s expression, a “psychological automatism.” This is confirmed by other acts in this group; for example, those that are not performed consciously, such as walking, crossing the street, avoiding vehicles and heading toward a given destination, while our attention is taken by our thoughts or an interesting conversation with a fellow traveler. In these acts there is no rigidly predetermined automatism, but intelligent adaptation to an end. It is a true “delegation” of certain activities by the conscious personality to the subconscious, like [the delegation of work by] an executive to a secretary and by a landlady to a maid. This analogy can be developed further. In the one case as in the other, once the act of delegation has occurred, any interference by the consciousness disturbs rather than facilitates the execution.

• Jastrow[xi] cites an example drawn from ordinary life. He writes:

I can quickly tie a certain kind of necktie if I pay no attention to it and let my hands do as they are accustomed to do; but if I begin to think which garment goes over and which under, and observe my movements in the mirror, I am likely to fool myself and not succeed.

The same author quotes an amusing English verse inspired by this psychological law:

The centipede was happy quite

 until the toad for fun

said, “Pray, which legs come after which?”

This brought his mind to such a pitch

He lay distracted in his ditch

Considering how to run.

The subconscious is just like a servant who accomplishes his chores well if he is left alone after receiving clear and precise orders; whereas if the mistress continually intervenes with orders and counterorders, scolding, etc., he becomes disoriented and accomplishes little or nothing.

• MEMORY

Remembering what we have seen and heard, etc. is so commonplace that it has become “natural” to us and we do not pause to wonder what it really consists of. In fact, it is far from simple: it implies at a minimum the recording, the preservation, the recall (spontaneous or voluntary) of the initial impression. None of these functions is performed in a truly mechanical way: impressions do not remain inert, like the tracks on a gramophone record; they associate, coordinate, and elaborate (as we will mention shortly) according to certain laws of subconscious activity that are partially known, and on which the methods for training memory are based.[xii]

• SUBCONSCIOUS PROCESSING OF EXPERIENCES AND OF WHAT IS PERCEIVED AND LEARNED

This is one of the most important activities of the subconscious, which takes place in us continuously, and can be compared to a psychic digestion and assimilation. The knowledge of the ways in which this is carried out is very valuable because it teaches us how to make the most of that function and to prevent and cure its disorders, and it constitutes one of the most obvious evidences of the subconscious.

The first fact to emerge from its study is that it takes a certain amount of time.

For example, it has often been observed that if a musician gives up the attempt to play a difficult piece after several unsatisfactory attempts on his instrument, and then after a day or two he tries again to play that piece, he succeeds immediately. This fact of subconscious learning has also been observed by several people; in fact, in Germany it has been expressed with the proverb, “One learns to skate in summer and swim in winter.”

The law that governs this psychic process can be called the “Law of Delayed Effect.” It is a fundamental law that can have countless applications and should be kept in mind. If we give it due consideration, we will first of all avoid the frequent mistake of blaming a problem or disorder on the circumstances that immediately preceded it, because the true causes may be much more remote.

We need to remember that law regarding the effects of physical and mental cures. It has often been noted how the benefit of summer climatic cures is felt especially the following winter. Thus the maximum effect of psychotherapeutic action manifests itself later, after a longer or shorter time, which may range from a few hours (as with certain relaxation and suggestion exercises) to several months, and even longer; for example, the Montessori method.[xiii]

I will cite the practice of a piano teacher who has her students stop studying three weeks before examinations and resume it only a few days before the examinations. I have been assured that in this way her students succeed far better than those who studied without respite. This method deserves to be tried out (by appropriately varying the rest period) by all those preparing for examinations, competitions, concerts, plays, etc.

An important reverse psychotherapeutic application of the law of subconscious processing is that of rapid intervention, in cases of psychic trauma (i.e. intervention is cases of strong fright impressions before their action has had a chance to fix itself, to process, and thus produce disturbances).

This was intuited by an aviator (a Capt. Hidstone) who, having miraculously escaped the fall of a burning airplane, wanted to make an immediate flight in another aircraft. When he got out of the plane he said, “I wanted to test the resilience of my nerves; if I had not immediately fought the sense of horror and the instinctive aversion toward airplanes that had arisen in me, I would never have been able to board one again.”

• ACTS PERFORMED FOR REASONS AND BY THE ACTION OF INFLUENCES OF WHICH WE ARE NOT CONSCIOUS

These manifestations of the subconscious are so frequent, indeed habitual, and have such decisive effects on each of our lives, that they need to be well known, investigated and . . . unmasked.

Experimental proof of their reality is provided by posthypnotic suggestions. If, for example, a subject is told during hypnosis that the following morning at seven o’clock he must bring a given book to the doctor, he will then do so, believing that he is acting spontaneously. Driven by the impulse whose origin he is unaware of, he will induce himself by argument or otherwise to do the thing, overcoming his own reluctance and the just objections of his conscious reason. So, to the considerations that it is useless to go so early to bring the book, or that at that hour the doctor may be disturbed, etc., the subject — to whom the urge to go gives no rest — replies (to himself), in order to better convince or better delude himself, that the doctor may have urgent need of that book, that by going out early he will have time for other errands.

Now, and this is important and serious. It has been shown through psychoanalytic investigations that something similar often happens to all of us. That is, we believe that we are acting freely and spontaneously, while instead we are moved by impulses from impressions and suggestions, remote or recent, which we did not realize were influencing us or which we have forgotten, but which nevertheless operate in our subconscious. Thus some decisive choices in our lives, such as those of a profession or spouse, or of a political party, a philosophical system, a belief or religion, are not determined by the “good reasons” we give ourselves or others, but by motives that are anything but “reasonable,” operating in the dark and ignored regions of our psyche.

This is not to say that every decision (and particularly that concerning the choice of a spouse or adherence to a faith) should be made on the basis of purely personal considerations. Feeling and intuition have their place in life alongside reason, but the genuine feelings and intuitions, the suggestions and ways of our Spiritual Self, our Soul are one thing; while the [the unconscious] suggestions and influences that arise [from other sources] are another, and they can cause us to make serious mistakes.

Some of the strongest of those influences come from a very deep level of the unconscious, in which the individual psyche communicates, and in part merges, with the collective psyche, in the collective unconscious, as we have already seen.

From this it follows that the psychoanalytic exploration of the unconscious[xiv] should not be limited to the treatment of neuropsychic disorders, but should be done (and with proper preparation it can be practiced by many) by everyone who does not want to be a laughingstock and victim of obscure traditional impulses; by everyone who wants to think, feel, act with clear awareness of the motives that animate him, with full awareness of the choices he makes and the decisions he takes.

                                                                                     PART II: The Structure of the Unconscious and its Relationship to Consciousness[xv]                   

There is a fundamental distinction between the part of the unconscious that is amorphous and undifferentiated, and that which is organized into structures of varying origin and complexity.

1. THE AMORPHOUS, PLASTIC UNCONSCIOUS

This is the part of our psyche that still remains “neutral” and unshaped, but which is most sensitive to impressions, responsive to suggestions and obedient to commands (as long as they are given in a suitable way). Its most obvious manifestation is in hypnosis, but we must realize that it exists in each of us. It can be compared to an inexhaustible storehouse of unexposed photographic film, or unused magnetic tapes.

It is plastic matter ready to be molded; energy ready to be used. It is our immense inner wealth; but this treasure, given its nature, must be carefully guarded so that it is not tampered with, deteriorated and corrupted by harmful influences.[xvi] It is practically inexhaustible; it gives us the capacity for learning, development and improvement; indeed, it constitutes our perennial psycho-spiritual youth.

This fact is in itself very encouraging. If we then also realize another quality of the unconscious, namely that for it everything is present and current, then it becomes clear that internally there is no need to grow old. This is a bad habit from which we could and should correct ourselves! Only those who believe and accept themselves as old are “psychologically” old. As long as we are willing to learn and have new experiences, as long as we are interested in the multifaceted life going on around us, we are young.

As long as we do not allow ourselves to be deceived by the illusion that makes us idealize the past by arousing nostalgia from the “good old days,” and as long as we keep in spiritual contact with the new generations, participating in their anxieties and collaborating fraternally with them, we can rightly call ourselves young, whatever the age of our bodies. Indeed, there is no shortage of people who have retained a freshness of intelligence and creative power into late in life, who indeed have developed and renewed themselves right to the end: just mention Goethe, Wagner, and Verdi. I know a lady who was in her seventies who was a connoisseur of many languages, who continued studying new ones to keep her mind agile. Everyone, I think, knows some people with old bodies who are more lively, cheerful and optimistic than many pseudo-young people. But there is more: given the continuous and strong influence of the psyche on the body, inner youthfulness contributes effectively to keeping the body healthy and active and also to prolonging its life.

All this is made possible by the latent energies in the plastic, virginal, “new” unconscious within us. Let us appreciate the value of this great and largely ignored wealth of ours. Let us not leave it unproductive but use it for our own and others’ good.

• THE DIFFERENTIATED UNCONSCIOUS

The differentiated unconscious can be compared to an immense collection of already exposed films or recorded discs. However, this analogy is only partially accurate. In fact, while the images on films and tracks on records are static and fixed, the impressions and emotions of the unconscious are instead animated by propulsive energy, and tend to associate, fight and modify each other, producing a continuous activity and ferment in our soul.

In order to bring order and clarity that is necessary for practical purposes into the knowledge of this aspect of our psyche, it is appropriate to examine the simpler psychic elements, and then to see how they combine and operate in us and according to what laws. The psychic elements can be distinguished into three series which are qualitatively different. In each series they can be arranged along an ascending scale by value and degree.

COGNITIVE SERIES

Sensations – images – concrete concepts – abstract (general) concepts – universal ideas.

EMOTIONAL SERIES

Passions – emotions – personal feelings – aesthetic and moral feelings – universal

(spiritual) feelings.

ACTIVE SERIES

Instincts – impulses – tendencies – desires – aspirations – personal will – spiritual will.

To show how psychic elements are produced or awakened and activated, we will give an example: the mere sight of a dog can arouse numerous states and motions of the three series:

Cognitive series: Elementary visual sensation. Perception and recognition of the dog as such. Evocation of images of other dogs that have been seen. Concepts of dog, animal, living being. Idea of life in general.

Emotional series: Attraction or fear (from distressing experiences, e.g. biting by other dogs). Feeling of affection, aesthetic feeling aroused by the dog’s beauty. Sense of fraternity toward that aspect of universal life.

Active series: Instinct to flee, or impulse to pet the dog. Desire to possess it. Willingness to acquire it, treat it well, etc.

Even more numerous are the psychic elements and activity that are produced by stimuli that are perceived, imagined or thought, that touch us most keenly, such as: mother, father, or God.

After this analytical examination, however, we should note that psychic elements are never found in isolation, one might say “in their pure state.” In fact, they always tend to associate with each other in various ways. Thus groups of sensations, ideas, emotions, feelings, impulses, tendencies and desires of varying nature, magnitude and power are formed, which have been called “idea-forces” (Fouillé)[xvii], “complexes” (Jung)[xviii], or “psychic constellations.” These complexes then join together in larger groupings, until they form true subpersonalities, even in a normal person: for example, the professional self, the family self, etc.                              

They can be compared to the cells of the body, which are joined together in groups to form tissues (muscular, connective, nervous). The various tissues in turn combine with each other to form organs (such as the stomach, heart, liver); and the organs finally coordinate into complex networks and systems (digestive, circulatory, respiratory systems). However, the “psychic or psychological systems” are still far from being as coordinated and harmonious as those of the body: there is still much disorder, dissociation and conflict among them.

Regarding the respective function of the various sets of psychic or psychological phenomena, it can be said in general that the cognitive elements give form and direction, while the emotional ones give energy and life. Another comparison, though also partial, can help to understand some of the relationships existing among psychic facts. [I will quote from one of my previous writings:]

* * *

An “idea-force” can be compared to an electrical battery. The cognitive aspect in this case corresponds to the material of which the battery is composed, and to the conducting wires. The charge and propulsive force, on the other hand, correspond to the accumulated electric charge.                                                                                         

The electricity of the battery always tends to discharge, and as soon as it finds a suitable conductor it flows along it. Thus the idea-force has an energy in itself that always tends to express itself externally and in actions, and does so as soon as it finds its way free from any inhibition. If the battery is defective, the electricity is easily dissipated. Similarly, if the “idea-force” is confused or uncertain, its energy soon dissipates no matter how intense it was at first, as is the case with so many warm enthusiasms that arise today and fade tomorrow.

The analogy also serves well to illustrate the various types of combinations and linkages between the various idea-forces.

Batteries can be joined in series; that is, with the positive pole of one connected to the negative pole of another. This increases the voltage, that is, the potential difference of the electrical voltage (the height of the cascade).[xix] These correspond [in people] to ideo-affective complexes in which each added element increases and intensifies the emotional and impulsive charge. This occurs in people in the throes of a passion; for example, in a man in love with a woman, in whom each fact, each new image, each new thought concerning the beloved woman, provides new fuel to the fire, makes the passion more intense, the desire more vivid (the same can be said in the case of other passions: greed, ambition, combativeness, etc.).

On the other hand, batteries can be joined “in parallel,” or in “derivation;” that is, with the positive poles joined together and the negative poles joined to each other. In this case there is no increase in potential [voltage, or “pressure”], but [there is an increase] in “amperage;” that is, in flow,[xx] in quantity (the cascade [voltage drop] remains the same height, but there is an increase in the flow [amperage] that discharges).[xxi] In the psychic realm this corresponds to the extension, the enlargement of a feeling, a tendency, or a desire, from one object to several objects: an affection that, without intensifying, extends from one to several people; the desire for an object that extends to other similar objects, etc. For example, the maternal sense of a teacher that makes her extend her affection gradually to all the children entrusted to her.

Another interesting analogy: when the intensity (voltage) of an electrical charge exceeds the capacity of the battery [or component] or wires or insulators, there are short-circuits and discharges, often with destructive effects on the system itself and on whatever is connected to the current. Similarly, discharges occur in the psyche that are sometimes no less dangerous and destructive. What is a crime but a violent discharge of an accumulated passion that has reached a very high potential?

On the other hand, when the discharge does not occur externally but within the psyche itself, we have “internal short-circuits;” that is, the psychic charge overcomes normal resistances, spreads by unplanned channels and produces various kinds of neuropsychic disorders.

The most typical example of this is a hysterical seizure,[xxii] in which a strong emotion, instead of remaining in the psychic realm and manifesting itself externally through the various modes of expression (mimicry, language, action), overcomes all inhibitory resistance and pours out impetuously into the motor nerves of the body, giving rise to convulsions and other incoherent movements.[xxiii]

There are, on the other hand, the normal and useful transformations of electrical energy into heat, light, movement, etc. Corresponding to these transformations in psychic life are the various fruitful transformations of inner energy: the force of feelings, desires, or volitions, which is transmuted into constructive action; amorous sentiment which is transformed into poetry; love of country which is transformed into an act of heroism; pity for someone’s suffering which is transformed into beneficial social action, etc.

Other interesting psycho-electric analogies can also be pointed out. For example, the phenomenon of induction, whereby the current flowing through the primary circuit arouses an opposite one in the secondary circuit.[xxiv] Thus an idea or a conscious purpose arouses an opposite idea and resistance in the subconscious; hence inhibition, indecision, contrast. The phenomena of psychic induction do not occur only within a single psyche, but are frequently produced between two people: the state of mind of one arouses the opposite state of mind in the soul of the other; in this case the induction manifests itself as a “spirit of contradiction.” (this also explains many things).

But this is not always the case; on the contrary, states of mind are often communicated and transmitted directly as if there were a connecting thread, a line of force between one individual and another. This corresponds to the transmission of electricity at a distance.

The various individuals each come to constitute a connected battery, either in parallel or in series, that is, with an intensification of energy and with an increase in potential. This type of connection explains certain phenomena of collective psychology, such as the excitement of crowds.

Electrical action at a distance currently has its most refined and admirable manifestation in radio-telegraphic and radio-phonic transmissions, by means of special Hertzian waves [radio waves]. These have their analogy in the phenomenon of psychic transmission such as telepathy and other parapsychological phenomena.[xxv]

* * *

These analogies and others that could be found can form the basis of a new psychodynamics. But in doing so, let us remember that we are dealing with energies that are qualitatively different from natural, physical energies; for here we are dealing with intelligent, living forces, with psychic, moral and spiritual energies. They cannot be measured by precision instruments; they cannot be produced and put into action by material and visible means. But they are not therefore less real and powerful. Let us always remember that they have given us the dominion over external forces of which we are so proud: it was the light of intelligence kindled in our minds that enabled us to dispel the external darkness with beacons and electric lamps; it was the fervor of the soul, the power of the will that gave man the daring to conquer the heavens.

Part III: The Collective Unconscious or Interpsychism

This is one of psychology’s most far-reaching discoveries that explains countless facts of human life and reveals the intimate relationships between the individual, other people, collective humanity and the entire cosmos.

If we can overcome the tenacious habit of the concrete, materialistic way of thinking of Westerners, so inherent that even those who repudiate materialism, even those who consider themselves (or in fact are, by feeling and conviction) religious and spiritualists, are engaged in it without realizing it, it will not be difficult for us to realize how “psychic reality” is of an entirely different nature from physical reality (at least as it appears to our senses). It exists and functions in a different way, so that in order to understand it, it is necessary to use “categories,” conceptions, and methods, which are partly different from those which are valid and adequate for the natural sciences, even though modern physics itself obliges us to change the way we think (see Einstein; Heisenberg).

The first fundamental observation and admission to make is that the psyche of each of us is not at all as sharply delimited and “individual” as the body is; that for the psyche there is no “inner surface” that clearly indicates its boundaries. In fact, our psyche is “diffluent;”[xxvi] if one wants to help oneself with physical analogies, it is similar to a source of light taken together with its halo — the whole area in which its rays enter a “magnetic field.” Both have no clear boundaries but can interpenetrate and merge with those produced by other sources of light and electricity. An example of this is the lighting of a room (done with the modern system of multiple and scattered lamps),which is the result of the fusion of rays from various sources.

The second fundamental finding is that the psyche, just as it has no clear “spatial” limits, also has no clear temporal limits. It is only the waking consciousness in its objective and rational aspect that is embedded in the succession of past, present and future. The psyche for itself, in its true nature, is “outside of time.” Even Freud, with his positivist conceptions, said that the unconscious is “timeless.” A memory, especially if emotionally charged, is a reality that is present in the psyche, for all intents and purposes. The same is true for a hope or goal that objectively concerns the future: they are living forces in the psyche that are operating currently, and determining a person’s thoughts, feelings and even actions.

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THE COLLECTIVE UNCONSCIOUS [xxvii]

The Collective Unconscious has two aspects, one that is amorphous or at least unstructured, and one that is specifically structured. Another distinction is between the current or present collective unconscious and the ancestral collective unconscious. The current or present one is simply the psychic atmosphere in which we are drenched — or poisoned.

The ancestral one is the set of humanity’s collective experiences in its psychological evolution from caveman to the present. Experiences and elements have been “stored” and remain (one can call this “hereditary” without raising the question of genes and physical inheritance). There is a psychic, collective inheritance, and in certain cases the caveman still emerges (in war, revolutions, etc.). Basically they are primal instincts that re-emerge in their rawness without the attenuations and disguises to which they are generally subjected by civilized people. They are primal instincts, either negative or neutral. The neutral ones would be, so to speak, the psychic participation of primitive man in natural life, in cosmic life. Since self-consciousness is underdeveloped in him, he has a tribal consciousness, and so he participates in the “psychism” that is in the universe . . . it’s not just projection onto idols, onto things, but there really is a “psychism.” In fact, the primitives have parapsychological faculties, telepathy and even premonitions . . . in short they have psychological faculties that have atrophied in modern man. These can be called either positive nor negative, according to their use; for example, there can be the good sorcerer, a healer who protects the tribe, and there is the bad sorcerer who tries to influence negatively, to have people killed. For the rest, even the primal instincts are not negative in themselves. I would say they are “primal;” they are neither positive nor negative, they are original psychic forces. This is the collective, unstructured unconscious.

Then there are the famous archetypes,[xxviii] and further discussion is a bit complicated because of a confusion, that has been created by Jung himself, between archaic archetypes and higher archetypes, which would correspond more or less to Platonic ideas. Now these are two completely different things.

The ancestral archetypes: archetype of mother and father; there are these collective structures that often, I would say, influence and almost possess individuals, especially neurotics, but also non-neurotics. For example, the relationship with the mother is not the child’s only personal relationship; nor is the child for the mother. But behind the physical, personal mother, there is the whole Mother archetype that is more or less personified by the physical mother.

So also with the Father, and so with other Archetypes — in a strictly Jungian sense. These can be admitted — they exist, they are structures in the collective unconscious. Whereas the Higher Archetypes exist in the superconscious, which also has a collective side. So, in the Collective Unconscious we have to distinguish the various levels, and distinguish the non-differentiated part that consists of collective psychic currents from the permanent structures of the individual archetypes of Father, Mother, and even gods and various others. The archetypes of the superconscious resemble Platonic ideas; they are spiritual realities (living realities: the beautiful, the good, and the true; the others are “living principles” that are live active realities with which one can relate and be beneficially influenced. As Plato says, for beauty there is the whole scale. I would say that material or physical beauty is the ultimate reflection in the material plane of the Idea, the Universal Principle of Beauty. Plato says you can start [at the point of] admiring the beauty of bodies, then [move to] the spiritual and moral beauty of the soul, then reach higher until you get to formless beauty — the principle, the Idea of Beauty; and so on for Goodness, etc. All this is quite different from the Ancestral Archetypes.

[i] Editor’s interpolations are shown in [brackets]. Elisions . . .  Are as found in original documents. —Ed.

[ii] It is good to realize that the subconscious or the unconscious is not a defined identity. It is not a second “I” or another personality within us, but rather the collective name of a quantity of elements and psychic complexes of very different nature, some of which can easily pass into the conscious part of us, while at every moment, sensations, thoughts, feelings also pass from the illuminated to the dark area of our psyche. —Author’s Note.

[iii] Note that the author uses the word “psychic” in its broadest generic sense, to mean all mental, psychic and psychological phenomena. —Ed.

[iv] Latin: “In wine there is truth.” —Ed.

[v] This is a reference to Italian Nobel Prize-winning playwright Luigi Pirandello (1867-1936). His most famous play, Six Characters in Search of an Author, could be seen as a metaphor for multiple dissociation. Pirandello’s work often explored issues of personality and identity. —Ed.

[vi] The author uses the term “psychoanalysis” in its generic sense of “analysis of psychological contents,” and not necessarily connected to the schools or doctrines of Freud or any other analyst. —Ed.

[vii] Jean-Henri Fabre (1823-1915) was a French naturalist, physicist, chemist, entomologist, and prolific author on subjects in botany, entomology and natural history, who work influenced Darwin. Many of his works were translated into English and some are still in print. —Ed.

[viii] William Mackenzie (1877- c.1960) was a British biologist and writer who lived in Italy and was a colleague of the author in certain endeavors. His Alle Fonti Della Vita: Prolegomeni Di Scienza E D’Arte Per Una Filosofia Della Natura [At the Sources of Life: Prolegomena Of Science And Art For A Philosophy Of Nature] (1912) was reprinted in 2010. No English edition has been published to the best of my knowledge.—Ed.

[ix] See Note 3 above.

[x] There have been numerous books by this title (in Italian: Libro dei Sogni) and it is not certain to which of these the author refers. —Ed.

[xi] Joseph Jastrow (1863-1944) was a Polish-born American psychologist who became well-known for inventions and experiments connected to psychology and psychophysics. —Ed.

[xii] These are discussed in various works and have been examined and integrated in light of new insights into the subconscious in the author’s essay “How Memory is Educated” — Author’s Note. (This essay is in Italian, “Come si educa la memoria” and appears as Assagioli Archive Doc. #1044,23134,23135, and 24266) —Ed.

[xiii] The Montessori Method is a method of education that involves children’s natural interests and activities rather than formal teaching methods. The method was developed by Italian educator Maria Montessori (1870-1952), whose work was promoted and supported by the author. —Ed.

[xiv] See Note 6 above.

[xv] This section also appears as a separate monograph: (Doc. #24038 – Assagioli Archives – Florence) Part of a Course of Lectures on: THE LATENT ENERGIES IN US – Original Title: La Struttura dell’Inconscio e I Suori Rapporeti con la Coscienza – Variants of this talk appear as Doc.#24034, 24035, 24037,24038, 24040, 24041, and according to notes in the Archive, portions were incorporated into sections on “The Skillful Will” in Assagioli’s book The Act of Will. A variant to this essay on The Structure of the Unconscious appears as Doc. #23485 in the Archives.—Ed.

[xvi] See author’s lectures on “Suggestion, its Nature and Laws;” “How Suggestion is Made;” and “Psychological Poisons and Drugs.: —Author’s Note.

[xvii] Alfred Jules Émile Fouillée (1838-1912) was a French philosopher. His concept of idea-forces was elaborated in three books published 1890-1907. —Ed.

[xviii] C.G. Jung (1875-1961) was a Swiss psychiatrist, founder of analytical psychology, and colleague of Assagioli. —Ed.

[xix] Assagioli used the term “cascade” in the original essay; this is not now in use as an electrical term. In electrical terminology the voltage in a series is the sum of the “voltage drops” of each component. “Voltage” is analogous to “pressure.” So that two batteries joined in series will produce a higher voltage than a single battery. —Ed.

[xx] Technically “amperage” is the amount of electrical flow in a circuit. —Ed.

[xxi] Assagioli’s analogy from electrical circuitry may not be clear: a series circuit in electricity is one in which current flows along a single line through multiple sources in which the opposite polarities are joined, so to speak. A parallel electrical circuit usually is one in which currents flows out from multiple sources in which the like polarities are joined.—Ed.

[xxii] In modern medical parlance this is often called a “psychogenic nonepileptic seizure” or PNES. —Ed.

[xxiii] Some of these analogies have been developed very acutely by Pierre Janet in his study “Les oscillations du niveau mental,” in Revue des idées. —Author’s Note from original 1909 essay.

[xxiv] According to Faraday’s discovery (1831), induction is a current produced because of voltage production due to a changing magnetic field. Induction is the principle behind electric motors and generators. Assagioli’s analogy makes use of the fact that induction follows “Lenz’s Law,” which states that the direction of the induced current is always opposing the change which causes the current. —Ed.

[xxv] The second part of this essay is essentially quoted by the author from his own article, “The Psychology of Idea-forces and Psychagogy,” published in the in Journal of Applied Psychology, Year V, 1909, no. 5. That article is also found in the Assagioli Archives Doc. #23793, and has been translated as a separate monograph by this translator. —Ed.

[xxvi] We have retained the author’s original term here: “diffluent” means “tending to flow away;” or “easily dissolving.” —Ed.

[xxvii] This portion of the essay is taken from Archive Doc.#23487 – Original Title: Inconscio Colletivo.—Ed.

[xxviii] Archetypes was a concept introduced by C.G. Jung. —Ed.