There is a series of inner worlds that are just as real as the external world and we must learn to conquer them if we are to become masters of our life.
By Roberto Assagioli, Transcribed from an Original Written Document by Istituto di Psicosintesi, Translated with Notes by Jan Kuniholm. From the Assagioli Archive in Florence, Doc. #1277 (See also the Glossary Item: The Great Chain of Being)
Those who wish to sincerely seek self-knowledge and seriously approach the mastery and development of their psychological and spiritual energies must first recognize the existence and reality of the inner world. Note well that we here speak of “existence” and “reality” in a relative and phenomenal sense, in the same sense the material world is considered “existing” and “real.”
From a higher, spiritual and metaphysical point of view, the external world, like every other plane of manifestation, is illusory and impermanent; it is a mere play of “phenomena;” that is, of changing appearances. It is necessary to be clear, and important to keep this fundamental distinction in mind — between absolute reality and relative reality; between transcendent and eternal essence, and conditional and limited existence in time and space — for ignorance or neglect of this distinction has been the cause of serious theoretical and practical errors. On the one hand, materialists and positivists have attributed maximal and exclusive reality to the material world, disregarding that of the inner world and ignoring the supreme reality of the Spirit; on the other hand, certain excessive and fanatical idealists and spiritualists, past and present, have denied any reality to the outer world — and what is worse, have refused to take the forces of the physical world and the laws that govern them into account in practical life, thus discrediting healthy spiritualism and bringing trouble to themselves and others.
The balanced spiritualist, having fully recognized the relativity and impermanence of external phenomena and of everything that is not pure spirit, does not, however, ignore or condemn the material world; on the contrary, he recognizes its raison d’être, its beneficial and necessary function for the evolution of souls. Therefore, while he lives in this world, he admits and respects its conditions and laws; and this not in order to enslave himself to it, but rather as a necessary condition for defending himself from it, and for learning every lesson it has to teach him and for transcending it.
This same theoretical and practical attitude we should take when faced with the inner world. Concerning this, however, we must begin from the first elements; for this is still generally ignored or misunderstood. By “inner world” we mean all that set of facts and psychic actions that are part of the content of ordinary human consciousness: ideas, images, passions, feelings, desires, impulses, solutions, etc.[1] While some (materialists and positivists) regard these psychic phenomena as mere effects of the physico-chemical activity of the cells of the nervous system, others (certain idealist and spiritualist philosophers of the traditional type) even regard them as “spiritual;” that is, purely subjective and immaterial.
Both of these opposing conceptions, however, prove to be increasingly insufficient. We consider it superfluous to repeat here once again the refutation of materialism that has been exhaustively presented by many distinguished philosophers and scientists. Instead, it seems to us appropriate to pause and emphasize the fundamental difference that exists between the psychic world and the sphere of true and pure Spirit.
The psychic world is, like the external world, a world of relativity and manifestations. Psychic phenomena are manifold, quite distinct from each other, highly varied in quality, importance and duration. They are subject to modification, development and to destruction; they can associate, merge, come into conflict. They are contents of consciousness, objects of knowledge. Pure Spirit, on the other hand, is immutable, eternal, simple, universal; it is pure subjectivity and unity; it is sat-chit-ananda; that is, being, consciousness, bliss and love.
BUT: before we can awaken and maintain our highest spiritual self-awareness, our inner and true being, we must know and master the inner world, transform and regenerate our soul. The inner world is a true universe, magnificent and boundless no less than the outer world. It too has its glittering peaks and gloomy abysses, its arid moors and hidden treasures, its fragrant flowers and [?] harvests.[2] It too has its rushing streams and placid rivers, its lazy mists and devastating hurricanes. It, too, has its rhythms and cycles, from brief to long periods; it has its clear dawns and purple sunsets, its happy springs, opulent summers, harsh winters. These and so many other comparisons and resemblances between the outer world and the inner world are not mere metaphors or ingenious outward approximations, but are real and profound analogies, close and intimate correspondences of nature and function, and the right comparison is a most valuable aid in all inner works.
It will be necessary to create a whole comparative cosmology of the inner world, using an appropriately analogical method guided by a comprehensive spiritual, and universal conception of the world and of life, in order to coordinate and interpret the analytical and fragmentary data supplied to us by both scientific and intuitive psychology into a new synthesis. This is one of the great tasks of the spiritual culture that is flourishing vigorously in these times; it will require the exploratory work of many geographers and meteorologists of the soul.
In the meantime, in order to give an initial orientation in this regard, which I hope may also serve as an inducement for the individual researches of those who are willing, I shall present the very general outlines of this, which might be called psycho-cosmology.
The external world consists of forms and energies, more than of matter (which, as we mentioned in the first installment of this column, is considered by modern physicists as a collection of minute electrical charges). Forms give the various objects and beings (of which they are part) the character, appearance, intimate structure, and function for which they are intended. Energies give these objects stability [?], durability[?], and relative permanence; to beings they provide vitality — the power to react and act in various ways in the environment.[3] The same happens in the inner world; mental factors (images, ideas, principles, logical connections) are its formal, qualitative and directive elements; while affective factors (emotions, feelings, desires, impulses) represent its energetic and dynamic elements, the great creative and destructive natural forces. Here, too, the creation of forms and the play of forces are governed by laws no less rigorous and certain than those governing physical nature, and only the knowledge and wise application of them can give us the inner mastery to which we aspire. [4]
[Editors note: Assagioli defined the inner worlds in his book Transpersonal Development in this way: “The third group of symbols, a frequently occurring one, is that of elevation, ascent or conquest of the ‘inner space’ in an ascending sense. There are a series of inner worlds, each with its own special characteristics, and within each of them there are higher levels and lower levels. Thus in the first of these, the world of passions and feelings, there is a great distance, a marked disparity of level, between blind passion and the highest feelings. Then there is the world of intelligence, or the mind. Here too are different levels: the level of the concrete analytical mind, and the level of higher, philosophical reason (nous). There is also the world of the imagination, a lower variety and a higher variety, the world of intuition, the world of the will, and higher still, those indescribable worlds which can only be referred to by the term ‘worlds of transcendence’. KS. (Transpersonal Development, 1993: 92).[1] Note that in using the word “psychic” (psichici in Italian) Assagioli is here including phenomena which would usually be called “psychological”in modern English.—Tr.
[2] [?] indicates that the word in the Italian the manuscript was unclear or unreadable. —Tr.
[3] This paragraph in the original essay is somewhat jumbled, and I have rearranged its sequence in an attempt at greater clarity. It will be noted that Assagioli refers to an external world that consists of both “beings” and “objects,” which are comprised of, or subject to, both “form” and “energy.” —Tr.
[4] The hand-written manuscript of Doc. #1277 contains duplicate pages, and some of the transcript of this last paragraph provided by the Istituto contains repeated language as well as language not visible in the written document. We are assuming that the transcript replies on other documents, since Assagioli himself refers to an earlier installment of this lecture. —Tr.
Leave a Reply