Seven Ways

Here is a short compilation of quotes by Roberto Assagio, about the Seven Ways. Read also his article The Seven Ways, which goes into depth with this concept.

“There are many different ways of expanding the consciousness as one moves upwards, and they are related to different psychological types and different individual constitutions. We can identify seven main ways. I would point out at once that these methods are not separate and that in practice they tend to overlap, so it is possible for a person to proceed along more than one path at the same time. The fact remains, however, that they are distinct and for the sake of clarity, to begin with at least, we need to describe them and get to know them separately. We can then move on to possible ways in which they can be combined. They are as follows:

1. The Way of Science
2. The Way of Enlightenment
3. The Way of Regenerative Ethics
4. The Way of Aesthetics
5. The Way of Mysticism
6. The Way of Heroism
7. The Way of Ritual” (Transpersonal Development, 2007, p. 44-45)

“Just as there are various routes up a mountain, so there are various “inner routes” suited to different temperaments, to different psychological types, leading to the peaks of the superconscious and coming into contact with the spiritual Self. There is the mystical way, the way of love, the aesthetic way as expressed by Plato in his famous scale of beauty, the meditative way, etc. It is the last, the meditative way, that is more directly associated with the field of psychosynthesis, and for this reason, the remainder of this discussion will be limited to it.” (Psychological Mountain-Climbing)

“Studies and investigation along these lines (transpersonal inspiration) have been initiated and are undergoing rapid development. They constitute a new branch of psychology, which has been given the name “transpersonal” and which could be termed “Height Psychology”; but this is only a beginning: a great deal remains to be done. Speaking for myself, this field has occupied my attention for many years, and I am now (June 1974) engaged on the task of coordinating and systematizing my personal contribution to the field in a book to be called Height Psychology and the Self. Its proposed index will convey an idea of the vastness and complexity of this field:

Introduction-The Dimensions of Psychology

1. Two-dimensional (superficial) psychology;
2. Depth Psychology;
3. Height (Transpersonal) Psychology’;
4. Towards a three-dimensional, synthetic psychology.

Contents:

1. Levels of the inner world;
2. The superconscious level;
3. Experience and realization;
4. Distinctive features of the “Heights”‘
5. The Self (summary~existential experiences and transcendental realities);
6. The seven different paths:
   1. The religious, devotional, mystic;
   2. The ethical, regenerative;
   3. The aesthetic;
   4. The path of social-humanitarian service and the heroic;
   5. The scientific-philosophical;
   6. The ritualistic or ceremonial;
   7. The path of the Will.
7. Means and techniques for transpersonal realization: Descent and Ascent.” (Transpersonal Inspiration)

“The aspiration and will of the personal self and the pull from the Transpersonal Self to transcend the limitations of “normal” consciousness and life do not manifest themselves only as a search and will to meaning, to enlightenment. There are other types of transcendence which are experienced by the corresponding types of human beings.

Some of the chief ones are:

1. Transcendence through transpersonal love.

2. Transcendence through transpersonal action

3. Transcendence through beauty.

4. Transcendence through self-realization.

These ways of transcendence can also be expressed in terms of will, the fundamental will to transcend personality limitations through union with someone or something greater and higher. More exactly, in all of them we find the union of will and love.” (The Act of Will, 1974, p.116)

“In the measure in which the “I” succeeds in releasing itself from those mistaken identifications at the personal level, it becomes able to ascent, through the superconscious or transpersonal realm, toward the Self. (See diagram, fig. A.) During this process there can be an increased intensity of the sense of identity; of self-awareness, due to the closer proximity of the Self, as well as the awareness and experience of the superconscious processes.

One of these two experiences will be prevalent, depending on the psychological type. For example, using the septenary classification mentioned in The Act of Will (3), the experience of the superconscious will be generally prevalent in the “love/illuminative” type and the “aesthetic/ creative” type, while the increased sense of identity is likely to be the most salient in the “Will/power” type, the “scientific/rational” type, and to some extent, in the “active/practical” type.” (The Superconscious and The Self)

“The men and women who cannot reach their true Self in its pure essence can create a picture and an ideal of perfected personality adequate to their caliber, their stage of development and their psychological type, and therefore can make this ideal practicable in actual life.

For some it may be the ideal of the artist who realizes and expresses himself as the creator of beautiful forms, who makes art the most vital interest and the animating principle of his existence, pouring into it all his best energies. For others it may be the ideal of the seeker after Truth, the philosopher, the scientist. For yet others it is a more limited and personal ideal, that of the good father or mother.” (Psychosynthesis, 1965, 24)

“There are people who – either spontaneously or through some strenuous inner exercise of prayer or meditation – can temporarily project their consciousness upwards along a specific line corresponding to their type and way of functioning towards the levels of the superconscious, getting at times very near to the spiritual Self. …

This also occurs during the immense focussing of abstract thought that advanced mathematicians, physicists, etc., experience, and at these moments they often get real intuitive flashes of understanding which they then translate into understandable mathematical terms. Included in the same general area of experience are two other types: those aesthetic experiences which at their highest pitch give a kind of ecstasy and superconscious realization; and those other experiences in moments of danger, as in war or in certain phases of mountain climbing, which inslead of paralyzing with fear stir a man to heroic action. This has been described as “enhancement of being,” a real superconscious experience for the short spell in which the situation lasts. (Psychosynthesis, 1965, 201-202)