The Culmination of the Education of the Will
By Roberto Assagioli .
(Doc.13559 – Assagioli Archive – Florence)[1]
Original Title: Adesione della Volontà.
Translated by Jan Kuniholm
Editorial note:
The subheadings in this online edition have been added by the editor, Kenneth Sørensen, to support readability and navigation. They were not part of the original text and do not modify, interpret, or alter the original wording.
Abstract
In this short meditative essay, Roberto Assagioli describes the final and highest stage in the education of the will: conscious adherence to the universal Will that governs the cosmos. Reflecting on the ordered, lawful, and purposeful nature of existence, Assagioli explores how the individual will is strengthened—not diminished—by freely aligning itself with a greater universal order. The text articulates a central psychosynthetic insight: that cooperation with the universal Will leads to wisdom, strength, and the emergence of the “integral will,” harmonizing goodness, power, and intelligence.
The Recognition of a Universal Law and Purpose
The previous meditation has prepared us and led us to the last and highest pinnacle of the education of the will. In contemplating the great universe of which we are a particle, we feel that it is not something dead, but rather pervaded by eternal life. We feel that it is not ruled by chance and arbitrariness, but by august laws; we feel that it must have a meaning and a purpose. Even those who do not have a religious faith or a defined philosophy, if they observe the unfolding of natural phenomena without preconceptions, cannot fail to see how they obey a law of evolution and progress; they cannot fail to perceive in the star and the insect, in the atom and the heart, the same obscure drive towards a mysterious goal.
Voluntary Alignment with the Universal Will
When we realize the truth and power of this universal law, it becomes clear to us how futile it is to oppose it, and we discover that the real cause of so many failures lies in our unconscious violations of that law. Then the impulse to adhere to it and obey it arises spontaneously in us. And once again, a paradoxical fact occurs: the will of the individual, which freely bends to the universal will, which immerses itself in it and merges with it, is not diminished by this. It is not cancelled; at the moment when it seems to die, it rises again, transfigured.
When our will agrees to cooperate harmoniously with the Will that moves the universe, it realizes that this Will in turn cooperates with it, placing its infinite energies at its disposal; and in the laws that govern the cosmos, it discovers the sure laws for its individual action.
(The capacity to adhere to a chosen direction presupposes that the choosing itself is authentic — which is the subject of our exploration of free will. Ed.)
The Emergence of the Integral Will
Thus, the will, becoming good, becomes both stronger and wiser, and from this mutual completion of its three notes arises the perfect will, the integral will.
[1] The original document is a typed manuscript that was hand-corrected by the author. – Oath.
