We should be just as concerned with the quality of the psychological environment as we are with the physical environment because the psychological poisons stemming from advertising and propaganda is also harmful to our well-being. Assagioli recommends “psychological advertising” in this article.
By Roberto Assagioli, translated from Italian by Gordon Symons. Original Italian title: Feleni e Farmaci Psicologici. The article is from a course of lessons on: “The latent energies in us and their use in education and medicine”. (1934) Image: From the Synthesis Center San Francisco. (See also Assagioli’s article: The Technique of Evocative Words. )
We are like a cine camera that is working continuously, in which at every moment a new section of the film is formed by the images that gradually find themselves before the lens. And the impressions thus formed do not remain inert: they operate in us, they are living forces that arouse other internal forces and which tend to produce the moods, the corresponding physical states and the external actions.
To use another analogy, how the body continually absorbs vital elements from the outside world: from the air, from water, from food, which modify it according to their nature, and are beneficial or harmful to it according to whether they are pure and healthy, or corrupt and polluted; thus our unconscious continuously absorbs vital elements from the psychic environment via our sense organs – and probably also directly, telepathically – it constantly inhales, as it were, ingests and assimilates psychic materials, and from the nature of these, useful or harmful effects on our mind and on our body are produced.
An effort of vigilance and choice is needed to arrive at a methodical use with regard to influences and the psychic atmosphere, a series of precautions, standards for hygiene and psychic therapy, like those of hygiene and physical therapy. The former, like the latter, should have two objectives:
1. Elimination of harmful influences.
2. The wise and methodical use of nutrients and beneficial stimuli.
Physical hygiene has made great progress in the past 50 years. The gross mistakes of the past are now avoided; bodies are increasingly exposed to the healing contact of natural elements and fed with more suitable foods. As for psychic hygiene, … we are still where we were 50 years ago. This field is still governed by great ignorance, great unconsciousness, great levity: every element of caution is lacking.
Who would eat food without caring if it is healthy or bad? Who would ingest medicines and choose them only on the basis of their more or less pleasant taste, and without being careful about their composition and their effects? Yet we continually do just that, with those medicines and those psychic poisons that are gatherings, shows, readings, etc. We do this believing that we cannot be influenced, that we are not “suggestible”, but this is a wrong idea, a dangerous illusion. Even if we reject certain influences with the conscious part of us, they still operate on our unconscious. It is therefore a fundamental norm of healthy psychic life to avoid harmful environmental influences as much as possible.
To do this, it is not necessary to estrange oneself from life, to be closed off in anxious isolation. The doctors and nurses spend long hours in the hospital, among the sick, but they safeguard themselves with appropriate caution and disinfection. Thus, whenever our duties oblige us to expose ourselves to the numerous psychic infections existing in modern life, we should be vigilant and make frequent “washes” and energetic “psychological disinfections”!
We now come to the methodical use of beneficial external stimuli. Just as in hydrotherapy, the body is exposed to the healing radiations of the sun and special phototherapy devices, so we should expose our unconscious to suitable heliotherapy and psychic phototherapy, to the beneficial psychological “rays” emanating from the sources of spiritual light.
There are easy and effective ways to do this:
The use of mottos, phrases, “suggestive” passages. The suggestion exercise described in the previous lesson consists in repeating to yourself, or listening to others, words or phrases expressing suitable suggestions. But we can also make use of words and phrases in different ways, for example we can let ourselves be influenced and penetrated by them visually as well. That is, we can write them down or have them written clearly and clearly, and then observe them somewhat in a state of relaxation, calm, recollection, of unconscious receptivity, so that their meaning can penetrate and operate deeply within us. Even in the past, the effectiveness of mottos and phrases had been intuited, so much so that they were often written on the walls of buildings, churches and convents (this is also linked to the use of knightly and noble mottos). Some of these constituted very effective reminders, warnings, psychological and spiritual incitements.
We remember among the many: “Ad sidera vultus” (facing the stars), of the Ingarami. Think of the Albani of Orvieto. “Bien faire et laisser dire”, of the Caroli of Saluzzo. « Percussus elevor” (hit, I get up), of the Orsini. “Semper vigilans”, of the Minks. “Omnia dies, dies melior”, by Govone (which precedes the well-known formula of Coué). “Don’t miss the moment”, Piccardi (which many people who are not punctual should adopt!). “J’y parviendrai”, by Filippo di Cory. “In tutto armonia”,(Harmony in all things) of the Marignoli, etc.
It is a question of approaching such use in a methodical, frequent and appropriate way. We should adopt mottos, or short, incisive, arousing phrases, which express the moral quality, the idea, the mood that we want to awaken or strengthen in us. Everyone can choose and formulate the phrases that most correspond to him individually, which arouse in him a “response”, a kind of “internal vibration”, which can be perceived and recognized.
We should prepare some signs with suggestive writings, preferably in large and marked characters, and put them in our rooms, in our workplace, among our papers, so that the eye is forced to fall on them, that the chosen warning phrase, is strongly imprinted on us. Even without our realizing it, it will become a beneficial and operating force in our mind. However, after some time it is often noticed that the phrase used will have lost its effectiveness, that we are no longer interested in it: a saturation has occurred in us. It is therefore appropriate to put it aside and replace it with another. But if we later take up the previous one, we find that it is more effective than before, that we realize its meaning in a deeper and more vital way. This is an interesting example of the law of assimilation and unconscious psychic processing.
With a little practice, and through the intuition that is refined with the exercise, everyone can find when it is useful to change and when to re-use the phrases used. This method could be called a kind of “psychological advertising”; in fact, there is a significant analogy between the procedure suggested and that used by commercial firms. These too generally use short and “suggestive” phrases, printed in large characters and displayed on numerous signs, and they publish them repeatedly in newspapers and repeat them tirelessly on the radio. If the merchants advertise their soaps, their machines, their cheeses, their medicines, with such success as to justify the expense of large sums, why don’t we do “advertising” just as assiduously for Calmness, for Energy, for Courage, for Joy? Maybe we don’t believe in it enough? Or are we more interested and attracted to the things that tickle our palate and offer comfort or drugs to our body, than those that heal, strengthen and cheer the mind?
How materialistic we still are in practice, even though we deny in good faith that we are in theory! And how blind we are in not yet recognizing the ancient truth, but still new for most, that we can be content and happy even without material comforts and conveniences, and that all earthly goods are worth nothing to those who are tormented by doubt, troubled by passion or beset by fear.
Another easy procedure to impress healing and regenerative suggestions on our minds is to write the appropriate words and phrases every day, many times in a row.
The effectiveness is due to the addition of the motor images to the visual ones, at the time during which you are obliged to pay attention to the phrase, adding to the great power of repetition. As proof of this effectiveness, I will cite a case in which the result was surprising: a young man managed to abandon the use of drugs (which, as is known, is very difficult) by writing a verse from a psalm 7000 times. The phrases to be used in the various ways indicated, that is, by pronouncing or listening to them, reading or writing them, can be short mottos and affirmations, such as the heraldic ones, already mentioned, or others; e.g. “Work happily”, “Smile”, “Be energetic and resolute”, “Persevere to succeed”, “Hasten calmly” (this is particularly suitable in modern life!), etc. But even slightly longer formulas or passages, whose form is particularly expressive, can be effective. These qualities are found above all in poetry, which also adds the effect of rhyme and rhythm. Among the verses which are very suitable for the purpose I will mention the following: For “getting going in the morning”: “
Non appena l’augel pìa – e giulìa – ride l’alba alla collina – ei col mantice ridesta – fuoco e festa – e lavor nella fucina “
(Carducci “Il Poeta”)
For Peace, the solemn quatrain of Amiel:
“Dans l’eternel azur de l’insondable espace
S’enveloppe de paix notre globe agité.
Homme, enveloppe ainsi tes jours – rêve qui passe –
Du calme firmament de ton éternité “.
For Energy and Tenacity of Will, the strong Dante triplet:
“Che volontà se non vuol, non s’ammorza.
Ma fa come natura fece in fuoco se mille volte violenza il torza”.
For Joy, the winged triplets of Il Paradiso:
“Luce intellettual piena d’amore.
Amor di vero ben pien di letizia,
letizia che trascende ogni dolzore”
or even,
“O gioia! O ineffabile allegrezza!
O vita intera di Amore e di Pace!
O senza brama sicura ricchezza”
These poetic quotations lead me to say a few words about the influence that art in its broadest sense has on our mind, namely literature, painting, plastic arts, music, theater and cinema. Everyone recognizes that art, with the charm of its beauty and its representative power, deeply touches and stirs men, arousing intense emotions in them, igniting their imagination, making their nerves vibrate. But from this recognition we do not draw, for the most part, the consequences, however obvious, that derive from it. What are the effects of this influence? Are they beneficial or harmful? Could we not use them methodically for curative, educational and psychagogical purposes?
In this regard, certain points should be made clear, to avoid the misunderstandings that have arisen in various discussions on art and morals. First of all, we must realize that aesthetic judgment, and what could be called “psychological hygiene”, are completely independent of each other. The fact that a work of art can be harmful from the medical and educational side does not in fact exclude that it has real and singular aesthetic qualities. And conversely, there are writings, paintings, etc. whose authors were animated by the best intentions of moral construction, but whose artistic value is lacking or nil. With this, I believe I have safeguarded the rights of art, of which artists are so jealous!
But it is equally true that the “pure” artist is a fictitious abstraction; every artist is – and cannot fail to be – a man. The work of art is therefore a product in which the forces of a whole man are introduced and vibrate and which not only acts on the aesthetic sense, but on the entire humanity of readers or listeners or spectators, including their body. Therefore the doctor and educator have every right to examine and judge the work of art from their point of view also; that is, to examine and decide whether, to what extent, and to whom, a work of art can act as a drug or as a poison, can have an uplifting or degrading, beneficial or harmful effect.
It is simply necessary to keep the two points of view distinct, which has often not been done. Some have, through excess of zeal, tried unfairly to devalue the works of art they considered harmful in toto, thus giving good play to the artists’ retaliation. But, we repeat, there is no parallelism between the two judgments. If anything, the opposite is quite true: a depraving novel is all the more damaging the greater its representative efficacy or its aesthetic appeal, while certain pseudo-artistic works disgust and may be ineffective for their own vulgarity and formal sloppiness. Thus having established the right to apply medical-psychagogic criteria to works of art, we must note that there is still much to be done in this field! On the one hand, we often expose ourselves and others – even young people and children – to the most disparate influences without worrying if they are harmful. On the other hand, we neglect to use the powerful suggestive action of works of art, an action that, used in a conscious and methodical way, could constitute a precious curative aid, a powerful means of training and psychospiritual elevation.
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