Integrate – Elevate – Radiate

By Jon Schottland, MA, BCC. March, 2023,
Jon Schottland has been developing his work in Psychosynthesis and the field of human potential over the past twenty years. Jon is a psychosynthesis trainer, therapist, writer and educator. He is the founder of the Synthesis Northeast training institute, former President of The Synthesis Center in Amherst, Massachusetts, and currently serves as a senior instructor with the Psychospiritual Institute in Delray Beach, Florida.

I have been meeting with clients for nearly two decades in my psychotherapy practice, and the people who have walked through the door (or into the Zoom room) have shared with me the intimate details of their personal lives and relationships. They speak of deep concerns, emotional distress, challenging conflicts and inner turmoil. They also give voice to their longings and higher aspirations, their dreams and sense of purpose, and what they hope to be able to accomplish in their lives.

Psychosynthesis has given me a framework to welcome them all, with the confidence that together we will search for ways to ease their burdens and find more fulfillment in life.
Their troubles will not disappear overnight, yet by and large people come to see their troubles in a new light. They find ways of releasing limiting stories from the past, living with greater awareness and freedom in the present, and looking to the future with a renewed sense of optimism and direction.

The process of psychosynthesis, with its emphasis on psychological healing and spiritual enrichment, breathes life into the journey of overcoming challenges and revealing the potential of who we may be. However, it has never been a one-size-fits-all approach to personal growth and development. It does not prescribe any sort of formula or shortcut up the mountain to achieve greater spiritual maturity and self-realization. In fact, Assagioli is well known to have emphasized there is no one single technique that defines psychosynthesis. For one person, one thing; for another, something else entirely. The key is to meet each person where they are at, to join with them in turning towards their immediate experience and existential situation.

Yet, beyond the particular nature and specifics of each person’s life story, it is still possible to describe in general terms what can be seen as a progression of steps or tasks on the road to greater psychospiritual maturity. Assagioli articulates these steps or stages in this way:

1. Thorough knowledge of the personality
2. Control of its various elements
3. Emergence of the inner self or “I” as a center point of consciousness, with its twin aspects of awareness and will (or choice), referred to sometimes as “the loving observer” and “the inner director”
4. The reconstruction and alignment of the personality, as directed by and attuned to this inner self.

This is how Assagioli, the founder of psychosynthesis, envisioned the progressive movement towards a more fully self-actualizing human being. What I have observed over time is that these stages of self-development are supported by three dynamic processes, which I refer to as: integrate, elevate and radiate. These processes are very much aligned with what Assagioli has described and they are implicit in his model, as we shall see.

There is only a shift in emphasis to bring attention to the active functions that are involved in self-development.

Integrate

What does it mean to integrate? And more specifically, from a psychological perspective, to integrate the various elements of the psyche and personality? To have an integrated personality, borrowing from the dictionary definition, means that the various parts or aspects are “linked” or “coordinated.” This seems a useful definition, yet we might then wonder: linked to what and coordinated by whom?

The answer would have to be some internal “linker” or “coordinator” that is distinct yet in relationship with all the other parts or links. If we refer back to Assagioli’s four stages, this linker or coordinator is analogous to stage number three, the emergence of the self or “I”. To integrate any aspect or dimension of our psyche and personality, then, means to come into a conscious relationship with it, so that it no longer exists as an isolated or repressed fragment but rather comes to be seen under the light and guidance of the inner self.

By way of example, let’s take a look at the experience of anxiety, which is probably the most commonly reported symptom and source of distress among people seeking help in the field of mental health. When I have a client with anxiety, one of the first things I want to ask is “what’s your relationship to this anxiety?”

What I mean by this is how does the client regard their anxiety, their attitude so to speak, which is different from asking “what makes you anxious?” Many clients view their anxiety as a nemesis, a threat, or perhaps a weakness. One client went so far as to say “I hate it.” All of these responses suggest a combative or aversive
stance towards the anxiety, and this only serves to compound the distress.

Now the client has two problems: the anxiety itself along with the constant battle against the anxiety. This is more of a fragmented and adversarial way of looking at the situation (it’s me versus my anxiety), creating a block or obstacle to integration. Of course, the point here is not to minimize the distress or even extreme discomfort that some people feel due to the experience of anxiety. Yet the non-integrated position leaves us trying to hide the anxiety from others (or even from ourselves). This is a form of repression, pretending it’s not there, and this can actually magnify the problem because the person is anxious about being anxious! In taking up the adversarial position, we find it very unflattering to be an anxious type, thus not only hating the anxiety but giving ourselves a hard time for having the anxiety in the first place.

How, then, might we take a different approach that offers the possibility of a more integrated relationship to the anxiety? We begin to establish this relationship through being the loving observer. We simply notice, in a neutral yet kind and accepting way, that an experience or energy of anxiety is present within us. We don’t take offense or go on the offensive, berating ourselves for feeling this way in the first place. The view from the self is entirely different, or we might say indifferent, when it comes to the anxiety. There’s no judgment or criticism about being anxious, just a warm and caring presence in the face of a distressed feeling.

This sort of kinder, gentler, relational view of our anxiety is actually therapeutic in itself, allowing the feeling to soften a bit around the edges, making it appear less threatening. Being in relationship with anxiety (or any other aspect of ourselves) as the loving observer doesn’t mean that we love or even like feeling that way. We simply accept it as a current part of our nature, a way that we sometimes feel on any given day. This takes practice given our habitual ways of responding, but it is possible to transform your relationship to any aspect or tendency in your personality. Remember, what you resist, persists.

The second part of this relationship to our anxiety draws upon the nature of the self as an inner guide or director, capable of orchestrating a skillful response when the feeling arises within us. How best to take care of our anxiety (or frustration, anger, grief, etc.) becomes the focus of the inner guide. Maybe we need to step back and take three deep breaths. Or we get some exercise, take a walk in nature, or meet a friend for coffee to talk about what is troubling us. Taken together, the loving observer and the inner guide represent the self (“I”) in psychosynthesis with its two dimensions of awareness and will.

This same method or approach can be applied and utilized to integrate any other feelings, longings, personality patterns, reactions, etc. so that we are no longer controlled and diminished by them. This is how we quiet the inner war within and come to develop a warmer, more loving and relationally connected, internally coherent personality. We integrate.

Elevate

The human psyche is a mystery and a wonder all wrapped into one, including psychologically diverse and complex elements both conscious and unconscious. The integration of all that we experience, and everything that moves within us, is an ongoing process. Gradually and over time the personality grows more integrated and cohesive, with the self or “I” serving to link and coordinate this activity, and in this way the process of psychosynthesis continues to progress. Of course, this process is never finished because there will always be new experiences, challenges, and life changes that we face right up to, and including, our own death.

However, there are other developmental tasks on the road to full self-realization that lie beyond the integration stage. Many people feel a deeper longing for spiritual fulfillment, and for these people the psychological work of integrating the personality no longer appears to be an end unto itself, if it ever was. It is necessary and useful, yes, but eventually we reach a point where we are called to consider what lies beyond the personality. We may understand that we have gotten ourselves reasonably well put together, but for what? Towards what end? This is the beginning of taking yourself and your life more seriously, accepting that you have certain gifts and a destiny that is yours for the making.

In the framework of Psychosynthesis, we might say that a person has a personality and we are also more than this personality. This is where the next stage in the progression comes into play, which is elevation.
What does it mean to elevate? In the most literal sense, to elevate is to lift up. In this stage we lift up ourselves, and those around us, as we begin to orient towards our highest aspirations and potential. What is it that we are capable of being and becoming, both individually and collectively? Psychosynthesis takes the principle of conscious evolution and puts it squarely in front of us. When we elevate, we set our sights on the mountain top and on the horizon, not simply to transcend it all but to continue to unfold our life in the best possible ways.

If the integration stage of psychosynthesis has to do with the psychological domain (personality level obstacles, patterns, and concerns), the elevation stage moves us into the spiritual dimension of growth. It invites us to consider how we might live a life that is richly meaningful, heart centered and purpose driven. The reason we elevate is to find the juice, the vitality, what Joseph Campbell called the rapture of being fully alive. Again, with psychosynthesis there is no one way or prescribed technique to elevate. Some will meditate and do yoga, others go to church or temples, another person sits in a coffee shop and writes poetry, still another takes a walk in the woods. For one person, one thing; for another, something else entirely. Whatever it is that lifts you up, gives you the feeling of more aliveness, or lifts up others around you, that is the experience of elevation. This is a secular and inclusive way to define the spiritual dimension as something different than a strictly religious path or orientation.

There are a number of indicators or guideposts associated with this experience of elevation:

* The recognition and embodiment of essential qualities and energies such as generosity, patience, love, gratitude, compassion and kindness, to name just a few

* A feeling of being “called” or drawn towards a certain purpose, direction or activity (i.e. something that resonates strongly for us)

* A sense of unity and being part of a larger whole, seeing oneself as belonging to the great stream of life, developing an identification with the “ecological or global self.” This awareness is closely aligned with what the Buddhists call “interbeing”, an understanding that we do not exist only by/for ourselves but in relation to others and all life on the planet

All this gives rise to the cultivation of good will, which Assagioli saw as one of the four primary facets of the will (along with the strong, skillful and transpersonal will). The energy of the good will moves us to consider all the good we are capable of doing in our lives, in any given moment or day, and then doing it. Native American/First Nation wisdom has long proposed that we must consider the impact of every choice and action on the next seven generations.

Perhaps a more immediate way to put this same idea into practice is to consider the impact of our words, choices and behaviors on those around us, even if only for the next seven minutes or the rest of the day. This stage of psychosynthesis invites us to align or hitch our personality to the stars. We reach for something greater, lift ourselves up and those around us, and put our life towards a meaningful purpose. We elevate.

Radiate

What does it mean to radiate, the third active process in this sequence? To understand what it means to radiate is perhaps best illustrated by a few examples. We can imagine the hot surface of a stove giving off heat. Or consider the sun, the ultimate example of radiant energy in our solar system, how “all” it does is radiate heat and light 93 million miles through space, warming the Earth and making the miracle of life possible on the planet. That is quite an impressive accomplishment and resume. The sun is radiant, and what it radiates comes from its own internal core process of converting hydrogen atoms to helium through a process of nuclear fusion. The sun doesn’t do much else other than hang out in space and radiate.

Now a human being does not operate by nuclear fusion, yet clearly we each emit a certain form or quality of energy. When someone is “lit up” by their own passions and what makes them feel more alive, we can all feel it. Some people have a natural warmth and good energy that we notice the moment they walk into a room. Like the sun, we can only radiate the energy that exists within us. This is why it is so important, crucial really, to become conscious and intentional about cultivating the quality of our own energy.

This underscores the importance of integration and elevation, because the radiation of energy follows naturally from there. We integrate and elevate in order to radiate what is best and deepest in us, what is closest to our core. If all you contain is anger or jealously and you turn up the heat, then you’ll just radiate more of that energy out into the world. Why do we sometimes say that a person has “good energy?” Or that another is “rotten to the core?” It is because each of us has a certain energy signature, which is not static and can change from moment-to-moment, and we radiate that particular energy.

You have to know who you are (and who you are not) in order to concentrate the essential energy that exists within you. Otherwise there is a risk of becoming diffuse, of deferring to lower common denominators that exist both within you and all around you in the environment. The radiation stage cannot be fabricated or faked; there is no pretense that will amount to anything more than a lot of hot air. This is why it’s difficult to approach the radiation stage directly, even though it is in a certain sense the end game. If we clear a path by working on the first two stages (integrate and elevate), then our natural essence and energy shine more
brightly, more of the time, without any effort at all.

The whole movement in psychosynthesis is based on these three processes, and each of us has the potential to harness them in ways that are truly life changing. Imagine that within you is a source and core of radiant energy, not just in good times but also when life is at its most challenging. From this perspective, it only makes sense to pay attention to and cultivate our energy to reflect what is best in us. Then we radiate.