Then there is a form of concentration that is higher and more important than those indicated so far: that of the Inner Observer or Spectator …

By Roberto Assagioli, May 17, 1934, from the Assagioli Archive in Florence, doc. #23152. Original Title: Concentrazione. Translated and Edited with Notes by Jan Kuniholm

_________

Abstract: This text is a comprehensive exploration of the concept of concentration as articulated by Roberto Assagioli, emphasizing the importance of mastering the mind for personal and spiritual development. Assagioli distinguishes between two types of concentration: spontaneous (or automatic) concentration, which occurs when driven by strong interests or emotions, and deliberate (or directed) concentration, which requires conscious effort and discipline. He points out that many people mistakenly believe they possess good concentration simply because they can focus on tasks that engage their interests, but this does not translate to the ability to concentrate on abstract or less personally relevant topics.

The text discusses the humbling realization that our thoughts and emotions often control us rather than the other way around. This lack of mastery over the mind highlights the necessity of training and discipline to develop true concentration. Assagioli emphasizes that to gain control over our mental processes, we must practice focusing on objects that do not inherently attract us, thereby training our minds to concentrate without the aid of personal interest.

Practical exercises are suggested to enhance concentration skills, such as observing objects in a room and then recalling details about them, which helps to sharpen attention and observation skills. Assagioli notes that individuals vary in their ability to observe based on their psychological type; those who are more introspective may find these exercises particularly beneficial as they work to develop their observational skills.

The text also transitions into the realm of internal concentration, where individuals focus on mental images, feelings, and ideas. Exercises to hold an image in the mind’s eye or to conjure up familiar objects are recommended to strengthen this ability. Assagioli acknowledges that the struggle to maintain concentration reveals the conflict between our true selves and the wandering nature of the mind, which can serve as a powerful motivator for developing self-mastery.

He underscores the importance of patience and perseverance in training the mind. Early attempts at concentration may yield only brief moments of focus, but these small successes are valuable. Assagioli encourages a balanced approach, avoiding mechanical practice or excessive strain, and advocates for cultivating a patient and confident attitude toward the process of developing concentration.

In addition to specific exercises, Assagioli highlights the importance of being fully present in daily activities, warning against the dangers of a distracted mind that often dwells on the past or future. He posits that true concentration involves living in the present moment, particularly in relation to our immediate tasks.

The text also addresses the idea of a higher form of concentration, that of the Inner Observer, who can observe one’s psychological processes with detachment. This perspective allows for regulation and intervention in the mental stream, fostering greater self-awareness and control over one’s psychological life.

Assagioli draws on various historical figures and their insights into concentration, suggesting that the ability to focus is a hallmark of genius. He argues that while genius requires intense concentration, true mastery involves knowing when to concentrate and when to disengage. The ultimate goal is to train the power of concentration to serve our will, rather than being dominated by it.

In summary, Assagioli’s teachings on concentration encompass a broad spectrum of practices and philosophical insights, advocating for a disciplined approach to mental training that fosters both personal growth and spiritual awakening. The text serves as a guide for developing the ability to concentrate effectively, emphasizing the importance of observation, patience, and the cultivation of a harmonious and purposeful life.

_______

Part I: Concentration and Meditation

It is appropriate first to understand well the difference between spontaneous, or automatic, concentration and deliberate, directed concentration. They differ as much in nature as in the manner in which they are produced. Spontaneous concentration is brought about by a strong interest, desire or feeling, which keeps the mind along a certain line. A typical example is that of the businessman who makes plans for the success of his enterprise; another example is the concentration of the student on the subjects on which he expects to be examined. Those who can concentrate in this way are under the illusion that they possess a good amount of concentration. But the ability to keep the mind fixed on a task or topic when driven by intense interest, need, or fear does not mean that we can do so equally when those incentives are lacking. If we attempt to concentrate on some abstract topic or something that involves no personal interest or benefit, we find it difficult to do so, and we discover that we actually have no effective command of our mind.

Such a discovery is humbling, but salutary. It shows how much we are at the mercy of our moods, and, in this sense, passive, even though externally we may be positive and active. It can be said that our thoughts, emotions and impulses act in us almost automatically and independently. In other words, we are pulled along by them; we do not choose and direct them.

This is one reason why intellectual interests do not have the effectiveness and stimulating effect on the personal interests of the average man; but this is also because there is an inherent difference in the nature of those interests. Abstract subjects are too “thin,” they are too intangible for the mind to grasp them easily, and as it is unaccustomed to this more strenuous method of operation, it is reluctant to do so. And in general, every new activity, every new way of functioning, requires an uncomfortable effort.

This explains the reluctance of so many to accept new ideas and change their beliefs and interests; they fear or dislike what is new and resist it. An amusing example of such misoneism,[1] which now seems almost unbelievable, is the statement of an eminent French astronomer, who in 1884 said that there was nothing more to be discovered in the field of astronomy.

The realization that we are not masters of our own minds is — we repeat — quite humbling, but it is useful in that it prompts us to make efforts to acquire mastery. Another important result of this discovery is the awareness of the difference between ourselves and our mind or emotions. Unsuccessful effort to master the mind shows that there is conflict, and conflict means that there are two opposing sides. So this awareness of conflict is valuable in that it highlights the distinction between the “I” or self, with will, and the lazy or rebellious mind, which has, in a way, a life of its own.

These preliminary, but vital, acknowledgments form the necessary basis for learning to focus the mind according to our will. They also help us to understand ourselves and give us the incentive we need to become masters of this instrument, the mind, which is an excellent servant when mastered, but can be a cause of mistakes and inconvenience when it is not connected with the other aspects of our personality and is not directed by the will.

The technique to be used to achieve mastery over the mind and the ability to concentrate and use it at will is to direct and hold our attention steady on objects that are indifferent to us and that present no attraction to ourselves. In this way we learn to keep the mind fixed, without the help of personal interest or desire.

There are many such exercises in concentration that can be practiced to train us. Observation is one of the simplest and therefore suitable means to begin with. It trains attention and develops the ability to focus it; this is the first step toward the more difficult and complete procedures of meditation on abstract subjects.

The exercise consists of quickly and carefully observing a series of objects, for example those existing in a room, for half a minute, and then writing down as detailed a list as possible of what was noticed. The same exercise can be done by looking at a store window, or observing a painting. By repeating such exercises we can ascertain the degree of development of our ability, checking the accuracy of our observations.

Such exercises also show that the ability to observe varies greatly according to different psychological types. Some people find this kind of exercise relatively easy because they are interested in the outside world and habitually observe their surroundings. In contrast, these exercises prove more difficult for those who tend to live with their attention turned inward, those whose interest is directed primarily toward the worlds of emotion, imagination and thought, but precisely for that reason they are particularly useful. The exercises train them to observe and focus on what interests them least, and this helps them develop a relatively deficient side of their nature. The goal for everyone is to be able to focus when they want to, on any level of life and on any particular object or subject, regardless of its interest in itself.

Exercises in observing external objects are a preparation for concentration on “internal objects:” images, feelings, ideas. One exercise that is a transition between the two is to observe an external image for thirty seconds, then close your eyes and try to hold it in front of the “mind’s eye.” We all have this power of imagination, in the sense of being able to depict objects, faces, etc. that are familiar to us. It is more developed and vivid in some people than in others, but for the purpose at hand here it is not so much the image itself that is important, but the ability to hold it still before the mind’s eye, and to be able to focus attention on it.

A second such exercise is to conjure up an image and hold it firmly in the field of consciousness for a short time without having looked at it just before. You can start with some well-known object, such as a building you see every day, a landscape you know well, or a family person. The image should be conjured up precisely, with concentration on details, and then held fixedly for a time. In doing so, a struggle is created, an interesting but sometimes exasperating skirmish between our desire to hold the image firmly and the fluid nature of the imagination, which is accustomed to moving from one subject to another quickly and haphazardly. It will play all sorts of tricks: it will distort the image, add some extraneous element to it, divide it into two or more parts, replace it with something else. In short, it will do anything not to keep the image still before the mind’s eye.

This fact is also humbling, but revealing at the same time. Once again we are confronted with the evidence that we are not the masters of our psyche and that there is conflict between it and our true being. This is where the conquest of self-mastery really begins, in the sense of learning to direct and use our “psychic instrument” as we wish.

The key to achieving the power of concentration is, as in any other field, a persevering patience and repeated effort. A further incentive to set about doing this lies in the fact that the evocation of images, in addition to developing our ability to concentrate, gives us a way to use the tremendous effectiveness of the imagination. But this subject will be examined later, in the handout on the use of visualization as one of the most important parts of the meditation technique. For now, let us consider visualization only as a phase of concentration.

Regardless of these specific exercises, there are numerous opportunities to train our concentration during daily life. We can do this by paying full attention to every activity we are doing, without letting our minds wander. Habitual actions are often performed more or less automatically, while extraneous things occupy the field of consciousness. This creates a state of passive dissociation that can reach harmful proportions, and is in any case a waste of energy. Further on, in the course of our studies, we will consider the possibility of doing two things at once, but this is an entirely different matter. In that case we are well aware and active on both levels, whereas in the first case there is a more or less automatic performance of physical activities while the image goes on its own.

In this regard it can be said that many people do not live in the present: the greatest part of their interest, their attention, their psychology is directed to the past or the future; they remember or regret past things, and worry about things that might happen. This attitude is harmful and should be eliminated. To sum up, concentration means the ability to live in the present, and specifically in that part or area of the present that pertains to our immediate task.

Then there is a form of concentration that is higher and more important than those indicated so far: that of the Inner Observer or Spectator who, perfectly concentrated, (himself) observes the changing landscape of psychological life — what William James called the “stream of consciousness:” he perceives it in a detached way, regulates it and, when necessary, intervenes to change it. It is not easy to maintain this internal position. Being, as it were, “on the bank” of the mental stream, we tend to be swept along by its currents. Attention is easily shifted by some wave of emotion, by some interesting idea or some impulse, and we have to continually bring it back to the center of concentration, to the conscious Self, the part in us that is persistent and unchanging through all the changes in the psychological flow.

The ability to observe and perceive “inner objects” was described by Hermann Keyserling in his Travel Diary of a Philosopher as follows:

All recognition is perception; Reflection, induction, deduction are only means to attain to perception. It is not for nothing that, even in the case of invisible relationships, people say, I see how matters stand; in fact, one perceives also an abstract connection. It is unjustified to affirm a difference in principle between the observation of an external object, the visualization of the imagination of a painter, the conception of a thought and the mental vision of an idea. It is always the same problem: that of perception. Only the objects and the organs differ. But an idea, as a phenomenon, is something equally external as the tree in front of us; we either do or do not perceive it.[2]

Such training in concentration during the first few months is a necessary foundation for future meditation practice. However, the two extremes should be avoided. One is to do these apparently uninteresting exercises mechanically, out of habit; performed in this way they would not achieve the purpose. The other is to do them with too much effort or tension. Also, we should not attempt to perform them when we are tired, for then there is little chance of success.

Another caveat is that we should not be discouraged by failure, especially with regard to the inability to maintain fixed concentration for any length of time. In the beginning, it is already enough if one can achieve true concentration for ten or twenty seconds; a minute or two is already a lot. Therefore it is better to perform several short exercises with good results, rather than trying to forcibly hold fixed attention longer.

Finally, there are two useful attitudes which, like that of the Observer, each of us should try to maintain during all experiments and exercises. The first is patience with ourselves, more precisely with our undisciplined “instrument” from which we hope to gain cooperation little by little. The other is confidence in perseverance, which will lead to success. The following words of Keyserling, again in his Travel Diary of a Philosopher, may strengthen that confidence and make us increasingly aware of the value of what we attempt to achieve:

Undoubtedly the power of concentration is a real propelling power of the whole of our psychic mechanism. Nothing heightens our capacity for performance as much as its increase; every success, no matter in what domain, can be traced to the intelligent exploitation of this power. No obstacle can resist permanently an exceptional power of will, that is to say, one which has been concentrated to the utmost; concentrated attention forces every problem sooner or later to reveal all of its aspects which are capable of recognition by a specific nature.[3]

* * *

Two other documents from the Archives reveal additional insights into Assagioli’s observations concerning Concentration. The first is Doc. #3536, a typed fragment in English, which may or may not have been written by Assagioli himself:

Concentration — Constancy and energy are not enough, if the multiplicity of our interests and undertakings disperses our forces into a thousand little streamlets. It is of little value to have the energy and persistence to remain at a desk for ten hours, if during that time we divide our attention among many books, or if we deceive ourselves into thinking that we can carry on many projects concurrently. This is the reason why many active, remarkable and intelligent people produce nothing of vital importance.

A second fragment, or “Assagiolini” from the Archives, is Doc. #3534, which emphasizes the negative aspects of concentration. It is duplicated below, with a transcript following:

Transcription:

Concentration

One-pointedness

keeping the soul ever in view
It implies:

Eliminating

Discarding

Repulsing

Refusing

Repudiation

Relinquishing

Leaving behind

Outgrowing

Putting aside

(it is not repressing)

Rather “channeling”

———
Forbearance, quote poem by Emerson

And finally, we present the poem cited by Assagioli:

Forbearance

by Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 – 1882)

Hast thou named all the birds without a gun?
Loved the wood-rose, and left it on its stalk?
At rich men’s tables eaten bread and pulse?
Unarmed, faced danger with a heart of trust?
And loved so well a high behavior,
In man or maid, that thou from speech refrained,
Nobility more nobly to repay?
O, be my friend, and teach me to be thine!

 

Part II

Control and active use of our psychological functions

 

Document #10859, Assagioli Archives, Florence[1]  Re-Formatted and Edited by Jan Kuniholm

In this section we shall deal with the control and the active training of our inner faculties, or to use a more modern term, our psychological functions. This training has a twofold usefulness. The first is that of illuminating the fre­quent troubles and errors due to impulsive and uncontrolled psychological activities. The second is that of being the necessary preparation for awakening spiritual consciousness. In other words they are needed in order to achieve both personal and spiritual psychosynthesis.

* * *

The first and fundamental inner power which has to be achieved is that of mental concentration. We are generally more or less blissfully ignorant of how much we are the slaves of the spontaneous chaotic activities of our mind (for brevity’s sake we will use the word MIND in the general sense which includes all human psychological activities). Vivikananda[2] has given a vivid illustration of this “normal” human condition. “There was a monkey restless by his own nature, as all monkeys are. As if that were not enough someone made him drink freely of wine, so that he became still more restless. Then a scorpion stung him. When a man is stung by a scorpion he jumps about for a whole day; so the poor monkey found his condition worse than ever. To complete his misery a demon entered into him — what language can describe the uncontrollable restlessness of that monkey? The human mind is like that monkey; incessantly active by its own nature: then it becomes drunk with the wine of desire thus increasing its turbulence. After desire takes possession, comes the sting of the scorpion of jealousy of the success of others, and last of all the demon of pride enters the mind, making it think itself of all importance. “How hard to control such a mind!” [3]

The control of the mind is possible if we are willing to take the trouble, or rather use the same amount of time and energies which we recognize is needed, and are disposed to expend in order to acquire some special skill, such as playing the piano or singing — and mind control has an incomparably greater value. Also in this case it is well to begin with the most elementary exercises and then pass on gradually to more complicated ones. A first group of ex­ercises is that generally called the training of the senses – but which can be more accurately named the training of objective per­ception. Normally our physical senses are good enough but our ability to make full use of them is very imperfect; therefore these exercises can also be called a training in sense utilization.

 “The Stupid Old Body”

Do not pay attention to the stupid old Body. When you have trained it, made it healthy, beautiful and your willing servant — Well then, do not reverse the order and become its slave and attendant (The dog must follow the master — not the master the dog). Remember that if you walk away [with it behind you], it will have to follow you — it will grow by following, by continually reaching up to you.

Incredibly beautiful it will become, and suffused by a kind of Intelligence . . . Therefore quite lightly and decisively at each turning point in the path, leave your body a little behind — with its hungers and sleeps, and funny little needs and vanities, paying no attention to them; stepping out at least a few steps in advance, till it catches up to you again.[4]

“The Wandering Lunatic Mind”

Do not pay too much attention to the wondering lunatic mind, when you have trained it, inform it, made it clear, decisive and your flexible instrument and tool. Well, do not then reverse the order and become the mere fatuous attendant and exhibitor of its acrobatic feats (like a keeper who shows off a monkey). Remember that if you walk away from it, leaving it as dead and paying no attention whatsoever, it will have to follow you — it will grow by following, by reaching up to you, from the known to the unknown continually; it will become at last the rainbow-tinted garment and shining interpreter of yourself, and incredibly beautiful.[5]

If we study what happens in life, and especially if we read the reports of witnesses in a court trial, we realize that the saying of Jesus, “those who have eyes see not; and who have ears hear not,” is true not only symbolically and spiritually but also in its literal physical sense.

The accounts of the same event given by several indi­viduals before a jury differ not only in details but sometimes in the most essential points. One witness omits a decisive point, while another asserts that he has seen and heard something that in reality never happened. And this occurs among the cultured and highly educated people as well as among the uneducated.

Psychological experiments of the reliability of testi­mony made in the tranquil atmosphere of the classroom, where no passions of personal interests are involved, have given striking confirmation of this fact. I will quote only one experiment made by Prof. Claparède of Geneva, the result of which was that the majority in a class of university students denied the ex­istence of a window by which they had to pass twice daily on their way to and from class.

This lack of reliability of our perceptions has sometimes very serious and even tragic results, as in several cases of judiciary errors where innocent people have been wrongly sentenced as a result of involuntary false testimonies; and it is in the life of each of us a constant source of mistakes, misunderstandings, loss of opportunities and other kinds of inefficiencies.

Visual Perception

Exercises of visual perception, while serving as a training of mind control, have a general and a useful application to daily life. Through them we learn to see, to really see all that surrounds us.

Specifically their objectives are two:

1. Rapidity and accuracy of perception.
2. Thoroughness and completeness of observation.

Here are some exercises for training:

1. Enter an unfamiliar room, stopping at the door and observing what it con­tains for a short while (half a minute at first, and gradually less [in successive exercises]), then write an account of the con­tents of the room, as detailed as possible.
2. Stop for a short while before a shop window, look at its con­tents and then write a report as before.
3. Observe a picture or drawing and then describe it in detail.

It is amusing or shocking, according to one’s inner atti­tude, to realize how incomplete and inaccurate our reports are at first. In some cases a big piece of furniture has been omitted. A rather difficult exercise of this kind is vividly described in Rudyard Kipling’s delightful Kim.

An exercise for the training of thoroughness is that used by the great naturalist Agassiz with a young man who wanted to become his pupil. The naturalist (Agassiz) took a fish from a jar in which it had been preserved, and laying it before the young student bade him observe it carefully, and be ready to report on what he had noticed about the fish. There was nothing especially interesting about the fish; it was like any other fish he had seen before. He had not noticed that it had fins and scales, and a mouth and eyes, and a tail. In half an hour he felt certain that he had observed all about the fish that there was to be perceived, but the naturalist remained away.

The time rolled on, and the youth, having nothing else to do, began to grow restless and weary. He started out to hunt for the teacher, but he failed to find him and so he had to return again to gaze at the wearisome fish. Several hours passed, and he knew little more about the fish than he did in the first place.

He went out to lunch and when he returned, it was still the case of observing the fish. He felt disgusted and discouraged and wished he had never come to Agassiz whom, it seemed, was a stupid old man after all — one way behind the times. Then, in order to kill time, he began to count the scales. This completed, he counted the spines of the fins. Then he began to draw a picture of the fish. In drawing the picture he found that fish had no eyelids. Thus he made the discovery that, just as his teacher had expressed it often in his lectures, “a pencil is the best of the eyes.”

Shortly after, the teacher returned, and after ascertaining what the youth had observed, he left rather disappointed, telling the youth to keep on looking and maybe he would see something. This put the boy on his mettle, and he began to work with his pencil, putting down little details that had escaped him before, but which now seemed very plain to him. He began to catch the secret of observation. Little by little he brought to light new objects of interest about the fish. But this did not suffice for his teacher, who kept him at work on the same fish for three whole days. At the end of that time the student really knew something about the fish, and best of all he had acquired the “knack” of careful observation and of detail.

Year later, the student, then attained to eminence, is reported as saying, “That was the best zoological lesson I ever had — a lesson whose influence has extended to the details of every subsequent study; a legacy that the professor left me to see, as he left many others — of inestimable value, which we could not buy, and with which we cannot part.” [6]

 

Part III

“The Energies Latent in Us”

Unedited Notes from Lesson II (1934) in a Lecture Series Entitled:  “The Energies Latent in Us”. Doc. #24214[7] – Assagioli Archive – Florence. Original Title: “La Concentrazione”.Translated and Edited With Notes by Jan Kuniholm

Last Sunday we began to talk about the concentration of the mind, about what the Orientals call Dharana, and we mentioned its importance. This will become even more evident if we consider how the power of concentration is one of the essential characteristics of genius.

Helvetius[8] said that “genius is continued attention;” Buffon[9] that “it is a protracted patience.” Chesterfield stated that “the power of applying an attention, steady and undissipated, to a single object, is the surest mark of a superior of genius.” [10]

We believe that genius is a complex faculty, and that it also consists of other essential elements, but we agree with the words of Prof. Butler: “All men of genius have possessed to a high degree the power to concentrate their mental forces, and it is undoubtedly true that this power is capable of indefinite increase through careful and resolute exercise.”[11]

But here we need to examine certain facts that seem to contradict what has been said, but which instead fully confirm and prove it. These are the so-called “distractions of men of genius.” It is said that Newton often forgot to have lunch, and there is a well-known anecdote of the egg and clock.[12] See Cardano,[13] Buffon, and Beccaria[14] (see Colozza, p.92-93).[15] It doesn’t take a very deep psychological analysis to understand that these apparent distractions are an indication of an extraordinary level of concentration, of an absolute absorption of all psychic faculties on the object of their studies. It is easy to smile at these incidents and see the inconveniences that this excessive concentration can produce in practical life, but we must not feel so superior . . . No valuable thing can be acquired without a corresponding sacrifice.

If you really seriously want to reach a difficult goal, you must be willing to abandon many things, to give up, to limit yourself, and even to face — when necessary — ridicule and the criticisms of “right-thinking”people and of those who consider everything that transcends their petty and sterile balance of “calm” people to be exaggerated and morbid. Those who are too “calm” stand still and don’t progress! . . .

Therefore those researchers who are passionate about the truth deserve not only our respect, but our admiration. On the other hand it remains true that the highest ideal of inner perfection lies in being the master of one’s own power of concentration and not in being possessed and dominated by it, as in the cases we have mentioned.

 

The ideal is to be able to concentrate perfectly at will and then to stop when it is appropriate. And the only way to approach this ideal of full self-control is to methodically train the power of concentration, promoted, directed and controlled by our vigilant will.

Concentration exercises are exercises of the will; therefore they have a dual purpose:

1. Discipline of the Mind
2. Exercises of the Will

Visualization exercises are also useful for concentration, as well as those that evoke auditory, olfactory and tactile images; those that develop the perception of power of observation.

1. Successively evoke (visualizing) the letters of the alphabet.
2. Successively evoke (visualizing) a series of 50-100 numbers.
3. Mentally go back to a walk or a journey, recalling all the streets and roads taken, in order.
4. Recall (in reverse order) the activities carried out the previous day. This also serves as preparation for the examination of conscience.
5. Ramacharaka’s exercise (Raja Yoga Carabba, I, 93).[16]
6. Wood’s exercises.[17]

Concentration exercises in daily life. Continuously fight the tendency to become distracted, to dissociate, to do one thing while thinking of something else, and to daydream. [This is an] enormous waste of energy; an inner anarchy. Therefore, while doing one thing, think of the next (see Mulford, The Forces That Sleep in Us),[18] and do them with speed, precision and efficiency. While waiting for a tram, while waiting, instead of being tense and restless, concentrate on a vital, elevated theme. Concentration of mental application:

Various kinds of study: reading, writing, etc.

Various rhythms: long application [of exercise, or breathing, etc.] followed by long rest; or short repeated applications; or long applications interspersed with frequent very short rests. Advantages: you don’t lose the “heat,” the initial enthusiasm, and you give yourself the necessary breathing space. Study your own [psychological] type and find, through careful testing, the most appropriate rhythm that allows you to get more done with less effort.

But there is an even more important aspect, a general and synthetic aspect of concentration. It is that which refers to the organization, to the program of our entire life. Don’t disperse your efforts; don’t try to do too many things, don’t be dilettantes. How many people of talent and value have miserably squandered their gifts!

Miracles of Concentration (Ford).[19]

One mustn’t exaggerate or become too rigid; one needs to relax. To fantasize and to stroll . . . is also rest; this is the surfacing of the subconscious, what comes up is useful to know for self-awareness.

Cultivate the other vital aspects alongside discipline and mental activity: sentiment, imagination, aesthetic sense, religious sense. Don’t live haphazardly. Learn the art of Life.

Make your life a work of harmony and beauty.

“Il faut faire sa propre vie comme on fait une oevre d’art.”

(“You have to make your own life as you make a work of art.”)

—G. D’Annunzio

[1] The original of this essay is a typed manuscript in English in the Archives, It is not known whether the original was in Italian or English. the translator, if any, in not acknowledged. This editor has corrected typographical and grammatical errors found.—Ed.

[2] Swami Vivekananda (1863-1902) was a Hindu monk, philosopher and writer, disciple of Indian mystic Ramakrishna. —Ed.

[3] Swami Vivekananda, Raja Yoga, in Complete Works (vol. 1. p. 194, Italian edition). The Complete Works are available in English in nine volumes. —Ed.

[4] see Edward Carpenter, Toward Democracy: Poems of Cosmic Consciousness. First published in London, 1890; now available in reprint editions. —Ed.

[5] Carpenter, ibid.

[6] Assagioli first told the story of Harvard Professor Agassiz and his student in his 1933 lecture titled “The Development of Deficient Faculties” [Sviluppo delle Facoltà Carenti in Italian]. In the slightly different version of this anecdote related in that lecture, the student eventually the specimen ten hours a day for an entire week, and was then able to see an “astonishing” amount of detail. A first-person account by the student (Nathaniel Shaler, who eventually became a dean at Harvard) was published in his autobiography, and can be found at https://www.phy.ilstu.edu/pte/209content/agassiz.html —Ed.

[7] This essay is substantially identical to Doc. #10864 of 1931. —Ed.

[8] Claude Adrien Helvètius (originally Schwewitzer in German) (1715-1771) was a Dutch philosopher who was active in France, author of De l’esprit [On Mind], published in 1758. —Ed.

[9] Comte de Buffon(1707-1788) was a French naturalist, mathematician, and cosmologist, Director of the King’s Gardens in Paris, originator of the study of natural history. —Ed.

[10] Helvetius, Buffon and Chesterfield are quoted in James, Principles of Psychology (1890), p.152. —Author’s Note. These quotations appear in a footnote on page 384 of volume 1 of the modern ebook of this book by Global Grey Books. —Ed.

[11] quoted by Benedetti in his preface to the Italian edition of Concentrazione [Concentration] by Ernest Wood (Bocca, Turin, p.6). —Author’s Note.

[12] The story was that English physicist Isaac Newton was working on a difficult problem and would not go to his breakfast, so a servant brought his egg and a pan of water to him. He wanted to be alone and insisted that he would boil the egg for four minutes. When the servant came back she found that Newton had continued to work on his mental dilemma and held the egg in his hand, having dropped his watch into the boiling water. —Ed.

[13] Gerolamo Cardano (1501-1576) waqs an Italian mathematician, physician, scientist and philosopher. —Ed.

[14] Cesare Bonesana di Beccaria (1738-1794), Italian philosopher. —Ed.

[15] Giovanni Antonio Colozza (1857-1943) was an Italian teacher and professor. Among his many publications are Meditation, and The Imagination in Science. It is not clear to which work Assagioli refers here, but there is a reference to his Meditation in the Archives.—Tr.

[16] This refers to the Italian edition of Ramacharaka’s Raja Yoga (Chicago, The Yogi Publication Society, 1905) which contains exercises for developing the mind, affirmations, understanding the “I” and will. “Yogi Ramacharaka” was either an unknown Indian teacher or the pseudonym of American writer William Walker Atkinson (1862-1932), a pioneer of the “New Thought” movement. Raja Yoga may have been a collaborative writing, since some claim that the writings supposedly co-written by a disciple Ramacharaka are different and superior to the other writings by Atkinson. —Ed.

[17] Ernest Wood, Concentration. Chicago, Theosophical Press, 1923. Modern editions are available. This book contains a series of exercises to develop concentration, particularly in Chapter VI, pp. 35-45 in the original English edition. —Ed.

[18] Prentice Mulford (1834-1891) was an American author who was pivotal in the development of the “New Thought” movement. His work Your Forces and How to Use Them was published in six volumes in 1888. —Ed.

[19] There is no specific reference here, but the author has applauded the work of industrialist Henry Ford in many essays and lectures. Ford’s philosophy included 1) vision and purpose, 2) sustained effort, 3) focus and detail, and 4) concentration on achieving goals. In life he achieved extraordinary results. —Ed.

---

[1] Dictionary.com: hatred or dilike of what is new or that represents change. —Ed.

[2] Hermann Keyserling, Travel Diary of a Philosopher, Volume 1, Harcourt, Brace and Co. Inc. 1925, translated by J. Holroyd Reece, Chapter 28, p.267. This quotation is taken from the published English version. —Tr.

[3] Ibid. p.266.