Mental Development

The text discusses the different functions of the mind and the need for mental development in education.

By Roberto Assagioli, (Assagioli Archives-Florence)[i] Original Title: Sviluppo Mentale. Translated and Edited with Notes by Jan Kuniholm

Abstract: The text discusses the different functions of the mind and the need for mental development in education. It highlights the importance of synthesizing sensory impressions, gathering information, thinking, understanding insights, and fostering creativity. It also addresses the problematic relationship between the mind, impulses, and emotions. The text emphasizes the importance of developing a harmonious balance between intelligence and love for the purpose of loving understanding and wisdom.

Mental Development consists not only of a quantitative increase in mental activity, but also involves a change in quality, which refers to different ways of using the mind. Until not so long ago, they were the prerogative of a few, philosophers and scientists; but the fact that they are beginning to have a mass diffusion today means that they must be properly recognized and adopted on a wider scale, and applied in the educational field. The various activities and uses of the mind can be briefly described as follows:

(a) The first function of the mind is to synthesize sensory impressions, so that the individual acquires an intelligent experience of the so-called external world. In this regard, the mind can be regarded as a sixth sense, a “common sense” that coordinates and interprets the messages conveyed by the other five.

(b) The second function is to gather information, to make the fruits of humanity’s experience its own, and thus to make use of the cultural heritage of the past. This purpose is achieved by study, and inculcating cognition of this kind has been the main task of teachers in the past.

(c) The third and higher type of mental activity is that which processes the material gathered in the previous stages, coordinates it, and finally draws conclusions and applies them; this may be called: thinking or reflecting.

(d) The fourth function of the mind is to become receptive to insights; to understand and interpret them accurately, and then to formulate them precisely.

(e) The fifth is the creative function. The dynamic and creative power of thinking that has recently been discovered (it would be more accurate to say “rediscovered”) is increasingly being recognized and applied; but it is mainly used for the attainment of personal goals (achievement of wealth, success, etc.). One of the tasks of the new education will be to train the individual to make use of the techniques that provide a way to understand this power for constructive purposes and in the service of humanity.

The relationships between the mind and other psychological functions — impulses, emotions, feelings and imagination — are far from satisfactory, and pose problems of basic importance in education.

In most of humanity, the mind is subordinate to impulses and emotions, and is used to “rationalize” them; that is, to justify them, and as an aid to achieving their ends. In this way the mind can be said to be in the service of desire.

But the unsatisfactory and often disastrous results of this mistaken relationship produce a crisis sooner or later, which is then followed by changes whether slow or sudden. Indeed, the mind awakens in the individual an understanding of the nature and effects of his emotions and impulses. He becomes aware of the distortions of reality and the illusions they create, and the errors of judgment, evaluation, and demeanor they produce.

Two results are likely to follow from this recognition: the first being “good,” leading to the development of the objectivity and reason that characterize the scientific spirit. One of the most recent advances made in this regard is the refinement of that scientific method by the new science of semantics.

A second, undesirable result is an excessive devaluation of emotions, feelings and imagination that leads to the mental pride, one-sidedness and repressions that characterize the type of the “arrogant intellectual.”

Education should have two main purposes in relation to the mind: to promote its development and active use, and to establish the right proportions and constructive cooperation between the mind and other aspects of a person. What is most needed in this regard is a harmonious combination of intelligence and love, leading to loving understanding and the development of wisdom.

[i] This document was retrieved from www.psicoenergetica.com and is not dated. —Ed.