The Seven Ways to the Soul is part of Psychosynthesis theory and in this article, he analyses The Path of Regeneration through Ethics, which is about moral purification.
By Roberto Assagioli, Undated, From the Assagioli Archive in Florence. Translated by Gordon Symons. Original title: La Via Etico-Rigenerativa
We have here a combination of two Ways which in some respects differ from each other, but which should be examined together, given that they have an important characteristic in common. In fact, in practice they constitute two successive stages of a fundamentally unique process.
Here the emphasis is placed primarily on moral purification, considered as a pre-requisite for the achievement of spiritual consciousness or, in Christian terminology, for receiving the Grace of God. On this Way, the first step to transcending the ordinary level and to awakening to consciousness of a higher reality coincide with a keen sense of one’s imperfections –”sins” – and with the determination to eliminate them.
In the numerous examples of “conversions” cited by William James and others, this is a predominant element. The emphasis is then placed on purification by detachment from world attractions, by the discipline of personality and in some cases, by ascetic practices. This way was followed much more in the past than it is today, since the then predominant religious conceptions placed great emphasis on man’s sinfulness and fuelled the fear of divine punishment.
Although moral purification has many different aspects, we can roughly group them into two stages, called active purification and passive purification. The first includes all moral practices aimed at a growing dominion over instincts, passions and imagination, and culminating in the awakening and training of the Will. In modern psychological terminology, this can be defined as the domain of the conscious aspect of the personality exercised on the unconscious.
Conversely, passive purification is an act of abandonment and detachment, by virtue of which the personality submits to a higher spiritual influence which, depending on the mentality and individual faith, is considered to come from one’s own higher Self, or from a Being. Superior, or directly from God. In psychological terms this can be defined as the opening of the personality (conscious and unconscious) to the purifying influence of the higher energies that flow from the superconscious levels.
In the past, the specifically ethical or moral aspect of this way of ascent has been overestimated and often put into practice too harshly and narrowly, with harmful results, such as an excessive accentuation of the duality inherent in man, and a forced repression of the lower tendencies that gave rise to neuropsychic disorders. As is well known, all this has produced a violent reaction in modern times, which has manifested itself above all in young people with excesses to the contrary. That is, with rebellion against every moral principle and rule, and every form of internal discipline. Even certain Movements that aim at spiritual fulfillment neglect and sometimes go as far as ignoring the ethical aspect. The consequences of this neglect are far from satisfactory and the resulting mental disturbances and deviations of various kinds: egotism, self-assertion, illusion of a spiritual conquest which is nothing but emotional excitability, self-glorification which sometimes reaches megalomania, all things which are no less harmful than the previous ones, both for the individual and for society.
The purpose of spiritual psychosynthesis is, on the contrary, to include the ethical aspect, assigning it the place and the function it deserves in the whole process towards integration, completeness and unification. A similar orientation has also been taken in the past, albeit with somewhat different premises. In fact, the goal then proposed was the elimination of all obstacles that stood in the way of spiritual realization, while the process was considered not as an independent and sufficient means, but as a preliminary stage on the path that leads to spiritual realization. This is clearly evident in the Patanjali Yoga Sutras. The first of the eight means of Yoga outlined in them, called Yama, or the five commandments, is purely ethical in nature.
Buddhism emphasizes the elimination of desire, which must be carried out by following the Noble Eightfold Path, two stages of which are called Right Action and Right way of life. The method, or process, of regeneration is also based on the ethical principle, that is, on the fact that human nature is not able to reach the heights of the life of the Spirit, and that this constitutes an obstacle that must be eliminated.
But in reality, that process is conceived as something deeper and more inclusive than just obedience to moral norms. It is conceived as a transmutation of all normal elements of the personality, so that it is completely regenerated and finally transfigured. Therefore, this process has been called the “new birth”, and in past times it has been presented in various symbolic forms.
The best known is the process of spiritual alchemy. The symbolism used by alchemists is very complicated and often confusing and therefore difficult to interpret. However, there are some fundamental points in it whose meaning is clear. The regeneration work is referred to as Magnum Opus, The Great Work, and is carried out within the Athanor, the cup, man himself. There are three principles: sulfur, salt and mercury, which correspond respectively to human nature, the mind, and the spiritual spark that resides there. It is Athanor who implements the transmutation of natural man into spiritual man.
This process takes place in three stages. The first is that of Nigredo, or putrefaction. The “black beast”, the personal element, or the lower nature must first manifest itself, and then be “treated” and dissolved. “Solve et Coagula”, “destroy what you have built”, is the alchemical rule. In the language of an alchemical text – quoted by Evelyn Underhill – it says: “There is a black beast in our forest, whose name is Putrefaction; its darkness is called the “Crow’s Head”, when it is cut, the Albedo appears. “This […] the state of the Moon, or Silver – Underhill writes in her comment – corresponds to the second stage, or stage of enlightenment. The third and final stage is the achievement of Red, the color of perfection, or Alchemical Gold, a stage sometimes called: “marriage of the Moon and the Sun”, that is:
1) the fusion of the human and divine spirit, or
2 ) the fusion of man in the divine Spirit.
With this image the final secret of mystical life is conceived: the ineffable union of the finite with the infinite – the reception of the vital influx, or of the vitality of God – the fulfillment of the Magnum Opus: the spiritual or divinized man. “(Evelyn Underhill, Mysticism, p. 173)
It is important and interesting that in its most recent developments psychology has discovered on its own account, or rather rediscovered, the reality of psychological transmutation, as well as the need to extend it for curative, educational and social purposes.
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