Symbols of the Supernormal,  Part I-III

By Roberto Assagioli, Conference of Dr. Roberto Assagioli in 1957, from the Assagioli Archive Florence. Translated by Jan Kuniholm and Francesco Viglienghi. Original Title: Simboli del Supernormale I-III

[…] I will say something more about language. Now, fortunately, we have realized the difficulties of language, and a whole semantic science has developed, as well as the science of communication, which takes this matter into account. And that is what I am going to do today. In the title of this talk we speak of the supernormal, so we must understand the meaning of this word. But in order to be able to talk about the supernormal, we must first agree on what is meant by normal. This is very controversial.

What is normal?

Generally, the average man is considered normal, obedient to the social standards of the environment in which he lives: in other words, the “conformist”. Well, this normality is something very insufficient, very unsatisfactory. Above all, it has the serious defect of being a static and exclusive conception. The standard of normalità, i.e. of conformism — of “normality”, as they say in America, of being “adjusted” — of being settled, in tune with the environment, is in fact synonymous with mediocrity. It excludes, and more or less condemns, all that is outside the norm with a more or less explicit assumption that it is  ab-normal or subnormal, while ignoring the fact that many so-called apparent anomalies are actually signs, attempts or even sensations of a supernormality.

As a heartening sign, there is fortunately a reaction among the best thinkers and scholars against this petty and short-sighted exclusivism of so-called normality. And I will mention two very authoritative and decisive voices. One is of the scientist Jung, a well-known psychologist and psychiatrist: “To be ‘normal’ is a splendid ideal for the unsuccessful, for all those who have not yet found an adaptation. But for people who have far more ability than the average, for whom it was never hard to gain successes and to accomplish their share of the world’s work — for them restriction to the normal signifies the bed of Procrustes, unbearable boredom, infernal sterility and hopelessness”.[1] And another scholar, Prof. Cattegno, professor of mathematics at the University of London, and also a psychologist, has gone even further: he in fact considers the average ordinary man as a being actually pre-human, and reserves the word “Man”, with a capital M, only for those who have transcended the ordinary or common stage, and who are precisely, compared to this, supernormal.

In other times this fact was more recognized, and the cult of superior beings was the norm. The geniuses, the sages, the saints, the heroes and the initiates were recognized as the vanguards, the representatives of true humanity, the great promise of what every human being could become. This is indicated in Jesus’ great affirmation, “be perfect as your Father in Heaven is perfect,” and “greater things than I have done, you will also do.” These Great Beings, far from despising common humanity, have tried to arouse and awaken in it the urge and the yearning to transcend its normality or mediocrity, and to develop the possibilities latent in it; among which — I tell you now — there are also a range of parapsychological faculties and powers.

Here, too, we must remember something that has already been said many times — namely, that parapsychological faculties are not in themselves an absolute sign of superiority. So much so that they can be found at every evolutionary level, and two Sundays ago Prof. Istomin pointed out the existence of parapsychological faculties even in primitive people, as well as in those who turn their faculties to evil and evil purposes.

Therefore, although parapsychological faculties as such are not a sign of superiority, it must be said that the higher Beings in some way have demonstrated these faculties, have had them, and have used them beneficially. Therefore we do not exalt the normal man, who has been called a “rational animal”, but who perhaps it would be more realistic to call “a sometimes rational animal”.

Now, to speak of the supernormal aspects, of the supernormal possibilities of Man (with a capital M), we are faced with a serious difficulty, namely that of the inadequacy of human language. The human language is in fact practical, and especially modern language is rational, and tends to be rational and objective. This is why all words that designate psychological and spiritual conditions or realities end up being reduced to metaphors or symbols of something tangible. Soul [anima in Italian] derives in fact from anemos, which means wind. Spirit [spirito in Italian] is from soffio, breath. Thinking [pensare in Italian] from physical weight [pensare  “to weigh” in Latin], and so on.

But this is not an insurmountable difficulty, if we are careful to keep in mind the symbolic nature of every expression, whether verbal or otherwise. Symbols — as is well recognized and understood — have in fact a great value: they are evocative and arouse direct intuitive understanding. Thus the fact that I have just mentioned — that words indicating higher realities are rooted in sense experience — actually serves to highlight the wonderful analogical correspondences that exist between exterior and interior, between microcosm and macrocosm. However, symbols can also be hazardous, in the sense that man can also make a wrong use of them: if he takes them literally, if he makes idols out of them, or if he stops at the symbol and does not go through it to the reality that it veils.

Another limitation of symbols is their one-sidedness; that is, the fact that each symbol can only express one aspect, or mode, or perspective of a given reality. But this can be remedied  — at least partly — through the diversity of symbols; that is, by making use of different symbols to indicate the same reality. Then the sum and the convergence, indeed the synthesis of these various points of view, of these various aspects, can give us a greater, if not integral, understanding of the reality they symbolize.

Now, I shall immediately have occasion to put this rule into practice, for — in speaking of the higher experiences and achievements open to man — I shall use precisely eleven different classes of symbols, which will give, I hope, a more complete view of this admirable potential. They are symbols which partly interpenetrate, partly overlap; but this is no obstacle — quite the contrary. Today I shall list them, and begin to illustrate them briefly.

The eleven supernormal symbols

The first class of symbols is that of depth, of descent from the surface to the bottom of our being. […] The second is that of introversion, of internalization, of the passage from the periphery to the center. The third is fundamental, and it is the most widespread: it is that of elevation, of the ascent from the ordinary level upwards […] higher is basically the indication of ascent in the symbolic sense. The fourth — or the fourth class of symbolic expressions — is extroversion, enlargement, expansion from the small to the great. Expansion is twofold: in a horizontal sense, as greatness, and in a temporal sense, from the cycle to the eternal.

The fifth symbolism — widely used — is that of the spiritual awakening of the soul. The sixth is that of illumination, of spiritual light. The seventh, which is very interesting, is that of the development, activation and manifestation of latent potentialities, which include the very beautiful and suggestive symbols of the seed from which a tree develops, and the flower that opens and then gives the fruit. A similar symbolism is that of strengthening, intensification: all that concerns higher powers and magic. The ninth group of symbols is that of transmutation, sublimation, alchemy, new birth and regeneration. The tenth is that of liberation. And the eleventh is that of resurrection and return to the Father’s House.

1. Depth

We will now begin to examine the first class of symbols, which deal with depth and descent. The latter is a symbol that is widely used currently, since psychoanalysis has developed and come into fashion. The exploration of the unconscious is in fact symbolically conceived as descending into the abysses of the human being, as exploring the slums of the psyche. But this was certainly not a discovery of psychoanalysis, since it is actually something much older, and furthermore it was conceived in a much deeper sense. Just remember, for example, the descent of Aeneas to the underworld, described in Virgil’s Aeneid, or Dante’s Inferno. In addition, various mystics speak of abysses of the soul. Some speak of the deep self, which would be found in the deepest point of our being, and its awareness. Also —apart from psychoanalysis in the strict sense — there is now a whole new psychological movement which is called especially in Germany Tiefenpsychologie, depth psychology, and which includes especially the school of Jung, and others.

The fundamental principle of this Tiefenpsychologie is the fact that man must courageously first recognize, and then include in his conscious personality, all these lower and dark aspects of his being, which have also been called “the shadow”. Now this has a positive counter-aspect, a “level realization” […] super-rational. Here too the average man must be transcended, and this gives me the opportunity to point out how super-rational does not mean anti-rational or ir-rational; just as super-national does not mean anti-national or non-national. Rather, it means transcending and surpassing, including one stage in order to move on to the next, and higher, stage. And this is precisely one of the fundamental themes of what I am saying tonight.

That is, it does not mean to deny anything, but only to subordinate the lower, the less developed, the primitive and even the normal, to the higher, the more evolved and the supernormal. Therefore I fully accept the experience of the “supernational”, and indeed I encourage everyone to implement it; that is, to become citizens of the world without betraying their nationality, but rather in its supreme interest. In other words, I encourage us to have a broad vision of the fact that humanity is becoming — and must inevitably become — planetary.

I was saying that the descent into oneself, and the subsequent inclusion of the underworld, or lower dark side of one’s personality, has its own very dangerous yet positive side. It is positive in that it is an act of humility, and at the same time an act of power. One who has the power to embrace and courageously acknowledge these sides without being pulled down or overwhelmed does indeed accomplish a true spiritual achievement. But this is very difficult. The story of the sorcerer’s apprentice warns us: it is relatively easy to arouse the underworld, and to unleash the waters, but then it is very difficult to rein them in and command them to withdraw. In this regard, I will limit myself to quoting a brilliant psychotherapist, Robert Desoille, who has developed a very good method of psychotherapy, a method he calls du rêve éveillé, or the waking dream, that is, the guided dream. He is a psychotherapist who has no academic baggage, but who still heals the sick, so he claims, and who also uses descent as an imaginative technique to do so. As we shall see, he actually uses mostly ascent, but also descent.

(reading…)[2]

So, this is not something to be done lightly, precisely because it is something very real, and in any case it should never be done in isolation. As far as I am concerned, I have found it opportune to do it fractionally; that is, beginning with other higher realizations, and then gradually as the person grows stronger, carefully exploring some area of the lower unconscious; but I repeat: fractionally. The real usefulness of this method is first of all to overcome the conflict between the conscious mind and the lower unconscious, a conflict exacerbated by repression and condemnation on the part of the conscious mind out of its unwillingness to admit, from presumption and fear, that such an element exists in us.

Repressing it and denying it is useless — that does not abolish it, but rather exacerbates it. Secondly, our task is precisely that of redeeming this lower part of ourselves. Recognizing it certainly does not mean approving of it, nor does it mean putting ourselves at its mercy; rather, it is with the presupposition of being able to redeem and transform it, and we will see this better when I speak of the symbols of transformation. For the moment, I will only mention that the profound meaning of this is expressed by Christ’s descent into the underworld — into hell  — precisely to redeem its inhabitants. This process can be easily introjected by saying that each of us, as a spiritual center, can descend to our own underworld, to redeem and transform it.

2. Introversion

Let us now move on to the second group of symbols and symbolic indications, that of introversion. This introversion is an absolutely urgent necessity for modern man, and not only to become supernormal; but also not to become abnormal, not to become psychologically ill. In fact, our present civilization is so exclusively, and exasperatingly extroverted that as a result man gets caught up in such a frenzied jumble of activism that he often has no purpose. This becomes an end in itself, as it does for those who race cars at dangerous speeds without having any goal . . .  This is a perfect symbol of modern man.

The normal man can be said to be psychologically and spiritually outside of himself. The expression “beside himself” — once used for the mentally ill — is now actually a perfect representation of modern man. Modern man lives everywhere — perhaps in the future even in interplanetary spaces — except within himself. Therefore, not only for supernormal achievements, but also just to preserve his normal health and balance, it is necessary even here not to abolish the external life, but to counterbalance and balance it with a growing internal life. Come back into ourselves!

Another scandalous expression for the normal man — but which is very true — is that “the normal man is eccentric”, in the sense that he is outside his center […] he is centered in the world, making money, and having external success. But from the psycho-spiritual point of view he is ec-centric; that is, off-center, as expressed with a beautiful French expression (désaxé), off his axis. Therefore, his task is one of internalization and re-entry into himself, renouncing the multiple evasions and multiple escapes from himself, which have been well indicated by modern scholars.

It is a matter of knowing what has recently been called “inner space” in America, of recognizing that there is not only outer space, but also inner space.  There are not only outer worlds, but also inner worlds — in the plural. It is the task and duty of a  human being worthy of the name to know, explore, and conquer them. This, I repeat, is no longer simply an aspiration for spiritualists, mystics and people beyond so-called reality — which in fact, as understood by the average man, is actually very illusory — but rather there is a a need for balance and health. Moreover, a man who was a great artist — and not only of literature, but also more generally of the art of living — a man who knew how to live very well […] on the outside, who knew how to play the part of the normal man when he wanted to, Wolfgang Goethe, said the following: “When we have played our part on the inside, the outside will unfold automatically.”

This is a very deep and very wise saying. Because man, the good man who knows so many things and has so many material powers that he uses so well, does not realize that everything he does on the outside actually comes from his inner states: passions, desires, instincts, impulses, programs and plans. All this is psychological activity; that is, internal.

Every external action is nothing but the result of internal motives: and therefore it would be worthwhile to analyze them, to know them and to discern them a little better, these motives. But the interior life provides much more than equilibrium and human wisdom: it also gives supernormal results. To go back into ourselves, to rediscover the center of ourselves, our true being, that which is found in the most intimate part of us — this is both a revelation and an empowerment. It is what Jesus called the pearl of great price, that whoever finds it and recognizes its value, buys it by selling everything else. So it is a supernormal achievement.

3. Elevation and Ascent

The third group of symbols is the most spontaneous, the most natural and widespread, that of elevation and ascent. To this refers especially the conquest of inner space understood in an ascending sense, because there are a whole series of successive ascending levels, of inner and higher worlds, each of which has its own specific characters.

The first level is that of emotions and feelings. And here we must immediately say that in each of these worlds there is a lower aspect and a higher aspect: in fact, from the blind passions to the higher feelings there is undoubtedly a great “ascending” distance, but always remaining within the same sphere. Then there is the world of intelligence and mind, but even here, from the concrete and analytical mind to higher and philosophical reason, to the Nous, there are several intermediate levels within this mental world. Then there is the world of imagination, the higher or lower one; then there is the world of intuition, the world of transcendence.

This symbolism of internal elevation has been witnessed in every age. In every religion, temples have in fact been built especially in elevated places, on the tops of mountains; and the same symbolism of climbing, of ascending the mountain, has been much used in all religions. The symbolism of the sky as a higher region, home of the gods and destination of human aspirations, is absolutely universal. In fact, many mountains were considered sacred: Mount Meru in India, the Himalayas and others. Then symbolisms like the Pyramids, and the symbolic legends like that of the Grail: Titurel ascending and building the Grail Castle on the top of the mountain. Then, for us especially, the Divine Comedy.[3] In the Divine Comedy there is first of all the descent into Hell, then the ascent of the mountain of Purgatory, and finally the ascent to the various heavens of Paradise.

A modern symbolism, but very effective, is given by mountaineering. The passion for mountaineering is symbolic of this yearning for ascent, expressed in concrete terms; and various mountaineers realized this. Among them the Himalayan climber, who in his report speaks precisely of this thrill of ascent, of climbing. Then there is a psychological article in Action et Pensée,[4] entitled Ad summum per quadratum,[5] which speaks of the symbolism of the pyramid with a square base, which then culminates at the apex.

This is a very evocative symbolism […] and it is curious that a hint of this same symbolism appears in today’s daily newspaper. Sometimes in newspapers — between one crime and another — there is something constructive. In this morning’s Giornale del Mattino — I mention it with praise — there is such an article. Also there is an interesting column by Adolfo Oxilia on the meaning of words, and the title of the column is: The Word, This Unknown Thing. Basic semantics, but very useful.

Today’s topic is: “asceticism and ascent”. These are two words that are very similar phonetically, but have different roots. “asceticism” or “ascesis” comes from the Greek aiskesis, which means “exercise,” or “discipline.” First it referred to athletes in its concrete meaning, and then it was used by God’s athletes, the horsemen of the spiritual life. “Ascent,” on the other hand, comes from another source, the Latin root ad scandere, meaning to climb one step after another. Yet these two words, of such different origins, are related to each other not only phonetically, but also spiritually, for it can be said that in a spiritual sense ascent is the fruit and reward of asceticism. Provided that it is not understood in the sense of asceticism as self-flagellation, but in the original psychological sense of inner discipline.

4. Extroversion – Enlargement – Expansion

We now come to the third direction. We have spoken of descent, internalization and ascent;  now we shall speak instead of enlargement and expansion; that is, of extroversion. I hope that from what I am saying — from all this multiplicity of various symbolisms — it is clear that these symbols, which are apparently and literally contradictory, actually integrate with each other perfectly. The descent into hell does not in fact exclude the ascent; indeed — as I have said — it is good to first ascend a long way before being able to descend without danger. Internalization does not exclude expansion, the broadening of consciousness. But even here — in order to expand one’s consciousness without risking losing oneself or getting lost in the vastness — one must first perform a centering; that is, establishing a firm position at the center of one’s being. One could even say that the possibility of conscious expansion is a direct result of the strengthening of the center. In other words, these two concepts complement without excluding each other, whereas they seem to be antithetical to each other — if they are seen in a strictly and purely logical sense.

Expansion is also a much used symbolism. Urban,[6] our psychiatrist friend from Innsbruck, talks about the spectrum of consciousness, and he says that we are conscious only of a limited band of consciousness, equivalent to the light spectrum ranging from red to violet. And he says that just as there are also infrared and ultraviolet rays, which are not visible to the eye, so too our consciousness can expand and widen, including a much wider spectrum of vibrations and psycho-spiritual impressions. This expansion can be understood as an inclusion in our consciousness of ever larger contents, as an identification of self with something ever larger. Ultimately, this expansion is to be conceived of as taking place spherically in all directions. In one sense, I would say it is horizontal: it is always a matter of symbolism. The expansion goes from the individual to the group, and then to society and the whole of humanity, beginning with the couple, the family, various communities, nations, continents, humanity, up to the expansion to the universal Franciscan fraternity with all creatures. In this sense it is a recognizing oneself in the totality of things, and should not be understood as losing oneself in it.

These two aspects are symbolized by two Italian poets. Leopardi[7] in Infinity speaks of losing oneself in the whole, of dispersing oneself in the whole. Carducci,[8] on the other hand, had a much deeper insight, that of a truly great spiritual experience. In his Canto dell’Amore (Song of Love), which everyone will remember, there is in fact this expression: “Is it I who embrace the heavens, or does the universe reabsorb me from within…?” which indicates this universal communion in its two aspects: the expansion of one’s own being, and then being reabsorbed and included — without however consciously losing oneself in the universe. I repeat this because it is a theme to be meditated upon and actualized: “Is it I who embraces the heavens and who expands spherically to the heavens, or is it from within that the universe reabsorbs me into itself?” And not only the outer universe, but also the inner universe, the Universal Spirit that includes us in that moment of grace and participation.

Another set of symbols of greatness are based on the Sanskrit root Mah, which means “great.” From Mah comes Sanskrit Mahatma, meaning “great soul,” to indicate initiates and Masters. But it is also the same root of the word “magician” [Italian mago], meaning powerful, the one who is more than others. And also [the same root] of “magister”, maestro, the one who knows more than the schoolchildren. Here we are talking about great men, there is this sense of greatness and supernormal expansion, compared with normal little men.

This expansion, this inclusion of other beings in oneself, brings us to a related but specific symbolism — that of love, communion and union. It has been said that human love itself  — and in a certain sense also sexual attraction — has the psychological meaning of an attempt or desire to get out of oneself, in a good sense, to go beyond the limits of one’s existential  solitude; that is, a form of escape, an attempt to transcend one’s loneliness and to enter into living communion between “I” and “thou,” between God and another being. And this is all the more true in the love between two beings, understood however in a wider sense, lived at all levels; as well as in the wider communion of souls, in the communion of those who are united by a spiritual bond, that which has been beautifully symbolized as the “communion of souls”.

Now, I just want to mention at least one more of these symbols. As I expected, I won’t be able to finish the subject today, so I reserve the right to speak about it again at another meeting. However, one thing comes to mind: that I did not talk about the expansion in time. This is very important.

There is in fact another important form of expansion, which is that of time. Normal man generally lives in the present moment, engrossed in and, so to speak, captivated by passing interests. However now we are beginning, even collectively, to broaden our vision to a sense of the cycle, to the fact that man’s experience does not consist only in the moment, in the present, in the atom of time; but also in a temporal continuum of various dimensions: small, large and even larger. It is recognized, for example, that the meaning of a human life does not reside in any particular moment, day or episode, but in the overall process from birth to physical death (at least), and that therefore only at the end of this cycle can the meaning, value and spiritual success of a life be grasped.

And there are several cycles: the annual cycle, the monthly, the daily… And each period of life then has its own specific cycle. Because there is not only the overall life cycle that goes from birth to death, but there are also various internal sub-cycles, so each age and each stage of life has its own specific meaning and value. There is usually a crisis in the transition from one cycle to another. For those who believe then in the continuity of consciousness, and of life, even one single cycle of life from birth to death is nothing more than an episode, a day in the larger and longer life of the soul, a cycle of incarnation on the same planet […].

But beyond this realization, this broader scope, this enlargement of consciousness in a temporal sense, there is also an almost vertical expansion, I would say, that goes from time to eternity. Eternity, however, is not conceived as an indefinite duration, but as an extra-temporal dimension — as something permanent, absolute and transcendent, in which our spiritual center exists and remains through the flow of the temporal current. And I believe that the eternal is a good point at which we can stop.

SYMBOLS OF THE SUPERNORMAL,  PART II

5. Awakening

The symbol with which we will begin, one of the most suggestive, is the symbol of awakening. As I believe I mentioned last Sunday, the ordinary man’s state of consciousness  can be described as a dreaming state, a state of rêverie (a state of illusion) — a double or triple illusion. First, there is the naive and coarse illusion of the reality of the external world. By now, the refutation of this alleged reality as it presents itself to empirical consciousness is no longer a philosophical conception, no longer a mystical intuition, but a scientifically established fact. In fact, modern chemistry and physics — and especially the most advanced — have simply abolished [the concept of] matter. The matter of materialists does not really exist. What seems to us, to our senses, to be concrete, stable, inert mass, has been scientifically demonstrated only as the appearance of a dizzying array of numerous dynamic energies governed by amazing laws: electric charges, states of matter and antimatter, ions, protons, neutrons, neutrinos — in short, a whole complex set of infinitesimal elements, or rather not elements, but pure energetic forces.

And these centers or foci of energy are separated from each other by enormous distances, in relation to their infinitesimal smallness — distances comparable to the astronomical distances that divide one planet from another, one sun from another. Therefore matter does not exist; there is only energy, dynamism, movement and life. So we can really say that the world as it appears to us is only phenomena; that is, only apparent. We can therefore say that modern science has in fact returned to the ancient spiritual view according to which everything that appears outside is maya, or illusion; that is, to what is the fundamental doctrine of India.

But in this overall illusion there is one in particular, or rather a group of illusions, which concern us more intimately and directly, and which condition and often ruin our lives; and these are the emotional and mental illusions. Here, too, the most recent science has only ascertained what ancient wisdom had always maintained, namely that man is prey to internal fantasies, images, and attachments — what psychoanalysis calls “complexes”. He lives life through a thick veil of colorings and distortions due precisely to these emotional reactions, to the effects of impressions from past psychic traumas, the suggestions of other people and collective psychic currents — not to mention other more subtle parapsychological influences. Human consciousness is overwhelmed and overrun by all this, and therefore man does not know himself. This also results in a distortion of his objective faculty of thought, and causes him to be influenced in many ways by his unconscious. These are the famous “idols” of Bacon: they are all pseudologisms, which in an expressive phrase are called in English “wishful thinking” — that is to think that what you want is actually true. This kind of activity also corresponds to thinking of what you fear. All this creates a dense network of illusions and errors; that is, a dream world.

The modern writers who most thoroughly highlighted this truly humiliating human condition were Hermann Keyserling[9] and the Russian philosopher Ouspensky.[10] […] At this time I cannot describe exhaustively the means necessary to reach spiritual consciousness. I will only mention that the first thing needed is an act of courage: that is, to have the courage to look this reality in the face, and to embark resolutely on the work of awakening. The first step of this process consists in realizing the existence of psychological multiplicity; that is, of the plurality of the “I” in us, of the various subpersonalities that exist within us and that make each of us a Pirandellian[11] character. As Ouspensky says, when we simply take ourselves as we are without thinking about it, we are almost asleep.

So, the first stage is to become aware of what we are not, of what is present in us, and of this plurality of conflicts, images and subpersonalities. The second is the discovery of the opposite — what we are: the Self, the spiritual I, the spectator of that tragicomedy. But the doctrine and practice of awakening has an ancient and noble origin. The Buddha especially insisted on it, and was called “The Perfect Awakened One.” He speaks of the “path to awakening” — of seven awakenings, seven bojangas. Over time many others have used the symbolism of awakening to indicate the attainment of a higher consciousness.

A modern author expresses herself as follows, speaking of meditative silence as one of the most effective means to reach higher consciousness: “The miracle of silence is that without losing any of our faculties, it seems that everything that seemed real before has fallen asleep, and that we awaken to another Self that before seemed unreal, and almost a shadow.” One can condense this into […] a shift in the sense of reality. Even in the Christian tradition, especially among mystics, there is continuous talk of awakening.

There is a beautiful chapter on the awakening of the Self in the classic work Mysticism by Evelyn Underhill, which describes the phases: sudden awakening, gradual awakenings, and all the related phenomenology […]. It is about awakening to what is eternally present and what was hidden and veiled by what the Orientals call the “700,000 veils of Maya”. From this point of view,  what those who practice morning meditation already do is an exercise in spiritual hygiene. That is, not to be content with the normal awakening, from sleep to the so-called state of wakefulness; but then to move from this to the spiritual awakening, understood as a real second awakening. This could be arranged […] a process that stands in relation to spiritual wakefulness as sleep is to ordinary wakefulness.

6. Illumination

Now let us move on to a second and very widespread symbol: that of light, of illumination. Just as in ordinary awakening one passes from the darkness of night, or the darkness of closed eyes, to the ordinary light of the sun; so the attainment of spiritual consciousness has been called “illumination”: that is, the passage from the darkness of illusion to the light of reality. The first stage of it — which corresponds to what has been said of the first stage of awakening — is simple but not easy: seeing clearly in ourselves and about ourselves. And this expression, which is used not infrequently, namely “seeing clearly”, has a deeper meaning than is ordinarily understood.

A second effect of illumination consists in the solution of problems that seemed insoluble. This happens through the specific organ of spiritual vision, namely “intuition”. Etymologically intuition means “to see inside”, to see in depth, to see the reality of things. And then we discover that a number of problems that were, or seemed to be, insoluble to the concrete mind, to the logical mind, actually solve themselves; they disappear. The two apparently opposite poles, which seem to exclude each other, in reality do not exclude each other at all, but are only elements of a higher reality that includes both and transcends them.

Here there would be a long discourse of gnoseology,[12] which I will spare you. This word simply refers to: 1) the methods of sensory knowledge, which is the most illusory, as we have said; 2) intellectual, logical and rational knowledge; 3) intuitive knowledge, that allows one to see within, that leads to identification with what is seen or contemplated; that is, the recognition of the intrinsic unity existing between object and subject. Intrinsic unity is simply the manifestation, the reflection of the unity of life.

But in addition to the light of knowledge, this cognitive penetration, there is also something more: there is the experience of a blinding light. The most powerful account of this is provided by what happened to St. Paul on the road to Damascus. He is said to have been blinded for three days by this inner light, which then profoundly and radically changed his whole life. In some cases, sensations of fire are also associated with the light. Everyone will remember Pascal’s “Feu” when he had his illumination. “For an hour and a half,” he says in a concise account, “I was in a state of fire, I felt myself in fire, surrounded by fire”. […] He describes this experience as a sudden, intense and joyful perception of God as immanent in the universe, of the divine beauty and ineffable splendor in which the individual is immersed.

These are but poor verbal indications of an ineffable experience. This experience has also been realized in every time and place. The greatest accounts come from India, speaking of Brahamanic Samadhi, of Buddhist Dhyana; these are states of spiritual enlightenment, and the Buddha has been called “the Enlightened One”.

Then there is a particular form of later Buddhism, Zen, which developed in China and Japan, and which curiously has become somewhat fashionable lately — but I don’t know whether [it works] in a very genuine way and with true understanding — they talk […] about this sudden enlightenment and revelation of transcendent reality, which they try to reach by even violent and somewhat strange means.

But the one who was most able, and perhaps more than any other, to give voice to the ineffable, to suggest and express this illumination, was Dante.

His Paradiso is entirely a poem of light. I would have to quote much of it; I will limit myself to two triplets which, however well known, are always heard and pronounced with joy:

Luce intellettual, piena d’amore.

Amor di vero ben pien di letizia,

letizia che trascende ogni dolzore.[13]

Here “intellectual” is not to be taken in the modern intellectualistic sense. Intellectual had a higher meaning for the ancients, the meaning of intelligere, which corresponds to that spiritual understanding of which we spoke earlier. And it ends with a note of joy taken up later in another triplet:

oh gioia! oh ineffabile allegrezza!

oh vita intègra d’amore e di pace!

oh sanza brama sicura ricchezza![14]

This brings us to another aspect of spiritual achievement — the joyful aspect. Joy, bliss and happiness are fundamental aspects of genuine spiritual experience. They are the internal climate of that height and depth. And in the testimony of Pascal quoted already, along with  Feu, he repeats the word joie, joie, joie many times. Joy that corresponds to a sense of fullness and superabundant life, of participation of individual life in universal life.

7. Evolution – Development

Yet another symbolism — this one I would say is closer to the level of average humanity —  which relates more directly to our experience even as humans, is the symbolism indicated by the words “evolution” and “development”. In a sense these are synonymous. In fact, evolution means development, that is, coming out of “the tangles”[15]; something that opens up, that comes out of entanglement, and that corresponds to the passage from potential to actual. The implementation and activation of what is latent and inert, but which has the potentiality of becoming active. The two main symbols of development are the seed and the flower. The seed: the process of development from seed to tree. We have become so accustomed to this that it no longer has any effect or wonder for us. But the transition that takes place from the child on the one hand, to the enlightened Philosopher on the other —  this is actually one of the greatest wonders, one of the most wondrous mysteries. Where is the tree in the seed? From the acorn comes the oak: but where is the oak?

Aristotle has spoken of entelechy; others have spoken of pattern, but where is it? Evidently there is something, perhaps a pre-existing state of reality that governs the various stages of development from seed to tree. Basically there is an ideal model, and it is interesting that if we take the germ — the biological embryo of animals, or even that of man — we see that in its evolution the growing organism temporarily takes on the successive forms of the various previous stages of evolution. In the fetus, for example, there is the hint of gills, and so on. It is as if there was a model according to which the organism in the process of becoming is molded, shaped and formed. In short, an immanent and wonderful intelligence, that is the exact opposite of entropy. Here we have the organization, the empowerment of energies for a superior synthesis.

The other suggestive and poetic symbol is represented by the passage from the bud to the flower. This too has been widely used in the Far East in the form of the lotus; and in France, and then in Europe, in the form of the rose.

The symbolism of the lotus is the closest to what takes place in the human being. As the Orientals have well pointed out, the lotus has its roots in the earth, the stem growing in the water, and the flower that opens to the air by the action of the rays of the sun. The Orientals see in this the symbol of man who has a physical body, his earthly base, and who psychologically develops in the sphere of the emotions, the water; he then has a mind which emerges from the level of the emotions, into the air; but whose blossoming is determined by the life-giving action of the sun, the symbol of the spirit. You can see that this is a very beautiful symbolism. But there is more. In the oriental teachings it is said that the soul itself, in its own right, is like a lotus flower composed of nine main petals, that is, of three groups of three petals. The first group corresponds to spiritual knowledge, the second to spiritual love, and the third to spiritual power. And in the center of this lotus, and which becomes visible only when it is fully developed, is what is called the “jewel of the lotus”, the “divine within the soul”.

Many meditations, many methods of development are based on this very suggestive and anagogical use of this symbolism of the lotus. The same thing happens with the rose. Especially in Persia, this symbolism of the rose garden was widely used, and the Persian mystic poets speak of the rose with this meaning. And from Persia it seems that this then came to Europe: we have in fact the “romance of the rose”, which is entirely symbolic. This symbolism was then adopted by Dante in the mystical rose, and by certain more or less secret movements, especially that of the Rosicrucians, who place the cross in the center of the rose, and develop this symbolism per crucem ad lucem.[16]

These symbolisms — as we mentioned last time — are intertwined and joined together. Symbols do not present logical incompatibilities; on the contrary, very often they combine, strengthen and complement each other. In the human being we can say that the same developmental symbolism occurs in two stages: first in the child, and then in the ordinary adult. This seems trivial, but it is not at all, and it has been demonstrated to us — I would say in a real and revolutionary sense — by what has been admirably demonstrated and consequently put into practice by Maria Montessori.[17] She says that “the child actively develops the man in himself.” The child joyfully performs the task, when not prevented by a foolish adult, of forming the adult in himself. And this leads to a revolution in education. In the sense that it is no longer the adult who, from the height of his wisdom, grants his more or less questionable treasures to the unsuspecting and stupid child; instead, it is the human seed — just as in the acorn there is the oak, so the potential adult is already in the child. […] the child is actually the soul, it is a spiritual center, only it is enclosed — and must, will and can develop.

Therefore, the adult does not have to educate him, to instruct him: he has only the main duty of not troubling the child, of not obstructing him, and this already represents half if not the most of education. But let us also think of the etymology, which is often very revealing and instructive: to educate would mean e-ducere; that is, to bring out, to develop. As opposed to this, education usually means giving from outside, pouring something into an empty vessel. But Plutarch has already said it: “Man is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be aroused”; just as we are doing now, fire is evidently being stirred up in schools. However, we must be fair that not hindering the natural development of the child constitutes only half of education, but it is not the whole of education, because the child is not the marvelous being dreamed of by Rousseau.

One could say that Rousseau was the great precursor of […], precisely in celebrating the wholesomeness of nature against the artificiality of civilization, but he exaggerated. In fact, the child’s task is not only to become an adult, but to become an adult who is integrated into the current historical-social human condition. Therefore, the adult must help him to fit into existing life, hoping that he will then change it, and make of it something better than what it is at present. However, apart from this, we can and must help the child in his development, but in a slightly different way than usual; that is, by offering him models and external examples to which he can adapt.

The child needs them, he requires them. And after all, even the adult human being is always looking for a model, an ideal of life, which unfortunately, however, almost always turns out to be an idol such as movie stars, sports champions, or the like — classic examples of modern idolatry. All this, however, confirms this innate need of the human being to imitate or emulate a living model.

Now, this is exactly what the adult does, for example, with a misbehaving child. So the active part of education on the part of the adult should essentially consist in becoming an ideal model for the child. That is very uncomfortable for the adult, because in order to do that he would have to educate himself first, which he doesn’t want to do at all; because he doesn’t have time. He has to earn money, he has to do many other things, and therefore he doesn’t have time to educate himself. Whereas his first duty would be simply to show the child himself what he should become. This is what education should consist of: first of all family education, and then school education. And in a secondary way, and indirectly, also to inform the child and to vividly present the great ideal models to him, the various models of superior men. Because there is not only one model of spiritual being, there are several: there is the hero, there is the sage, there is the artistic genius. And therefore, according to various psychological types and various constitutions and temperaments, there are various ideal models.

Now, in order to discover the true vocation and potential of a child, instead of puzzling over so many psychological texts, a much more effective and clear-cut means would be to present him with a number of different ideal models, and see to which of them his deep nature intimately responds. So I will summarize in two words this work of the educator. It is about making invitations and offering opportunities!

The second stage of development is that of the adult man, his transition to the better man, to the spiritually awakened man, to the one who has accomplished the great adventure, the great spiritual breakthrough. This is truly the passage to the stage that can be defined as superhuman. It is the entry — again using other symbols — into the kingdom of God, into the fifth kingdom of nature, which is different from the fourth human kingdom, just as the fourth kingdom is in turn different from the third, the animal kingdom, without abrogating it. Just as we have a body that is animal, yet we are self-conscious beings, however bad a use we make of our self-consciousness; so the superhuman being, the genius, the saint, the sage, and the hero also has an animal body and a human personality, but has and is something more: namely, a spiritual being. And the culmination of this development is the deified man, the divine man, the God-man.

8. Empowerment

Another series of symbols, which are mostly modern ones, are those of empowerment, intensity and dimension. Spiritual attainment can in fact be indicated, if not expressed, also as an empowerment, as an intensification of the consciousness of life — a tension, a spiritual voltage that is different from the average one in which ordinary man lives. In this regard Keyserling used a very evocative expression: “The dimension of intensity”; that is, associating the symbolism of intensification with that of moving along a different dimension, which he called the “vertical” one, while the other dimensions are in a sense horizontal. He speaks of the vertical dimension, but not in the sense of height, according to the first symbolism of which we spoke the first time, but of a verticality that rises from the world of becoming and flowing, towards the world of being and transcendence. And with regard to time, it is not the passage of time that constantly unfolds [“horizontally”] in duration, towards an eternity that would be an indefinite extension of temporal flow; but rather the vertical passage in the dimension that goes from temporal flow directly to the extra-temporal eternal. These are all babblings of human consciousness, always to indicate […]. 

Empowerment also has two stages or degrees. The first consists in the strengthening of all latent energies and functions that are underdeveloped or poorly developed in man. There is a beautiful study by William James on this subject, “The Energies of Men,”[18] in which he describes the many energetic possibilities that exist in man when he wants and knows how to activate and implement them. It would already be a lot to do this.

[…] the second degree, the one that corresponds to what we said a moment ago, that is, the passage from the human kingdom to the superhuman kingdom. And precisely here we have the development of the various supernormal powers. Some or all of these powers have always been ascribed to the enlightened, to the awakened, to the initiates, to the magicians, in every time and in every place.

From Moses to Pythagoras, from Buddha to Jesus, to the Saints — not only have they been credited with superior spiritual ethical gifts, but also with real magical powers. Many times these were used deliberately and consciously; or in the case of mystics and saints, they manifested naturally and spontaneously, even against their own will, for they did not care about them at all, they did not seek them. I do not need to talk about them here, everyone knows what they are and what they consist of. I only wanted to say that these powers are a “byproduct,” so to speak  — a natural and spontaneous effect of the attainment of spiritual experience.

9. Transmutation

Let us now quickly move on to another very interesting group of symbols, namely all the symbols of transmutation. When talking about alchemy, everyone thinks of the attempt to make gold, an attempt that seems less fantastic and absurd since man began to manipulate atoms and transform one so-called element into another. But that is not what interests us here. Arabic and medieval books on alchemy adopted a symbolic language to express the truth in psycho-spiritual alchemy; that, is the transmutation of man himself. By this time various authors have pointed this out, but in particular Jung — a positive modern psychologist and psychiatrist — in the later part of his life (he is still alive and well at 83 years old) has devoted much time and many writings to alchemical symbolism. Those interested in the subject can read with much profit — among Jung’s works — the last one published in English, a large volume entitled Psychology and Religion,[19] in which he talks a lot about this symbolism that he finds in the dreams of his patients, and in the drawings of both the sick and the healthy.

I will only mention that the process of transmutation implies a total regeneration of the human being, beginning with the physical body. The body itself can and must be transmuted, and the psyche harmonized with the spirit, so as to achieve what I have called biopsychosynthesis; that is, an organic and harmonious unity of all aspects of the human being. This is quite different from the ancient separative and dualistic asceticism and mysticism, which involved the condemnation and contempt of the body, almost a warfare against the body and its instincts. The body can and must be included, through a process of psycho-spiritual appropriation and regeneration — a process in which psychophysical and  parapsychological powers are developed. This regeneration leads to what is actually a new birth. Already in India the Brahmans called it Dwija, that is, a second birth. But also in Christianity this symbolism has been much used and the concept of new birth is often used. It is that birth of the inner Christ, the birth of the Christ in the heart. Actually, the new spiritual being is like a new being arising, and more or less gradually, replacing the ordinary man.

10. Liberation

Another symbolism similar to that of development, but more vivid and stimulating, is that of liberation […] development; that is, the illumination of developments, there is the process of liberation. Liberation, first of all, from all those illusions of which we have spoken, from all our false identifications with the body, with the emotions, with the various subpersonalities, with the various masks; that is, with the various autonomous complexes existing within us, with the various idols, and with the various collective entities. This suggests that initially there is a stage of conflict in disidentification, in which it is necessary to experience a dualism, and in a sense this justifies asceticism and mysticism as a process. In fact, at first it is necessary to oppose our body, our emotions and our false self, before we can re-assemble, reabsorb and transmute them. One cannot lift oneself up from the ground by pulling oneself up by the hair, so to speak. Therefore, in order to transmute the body, the emotions and the mind, one must first distance oneself from them; and we have the synthesis only later. Therefore, a process of liberation, of spiritual liberation. Liberation from limitations, and a release in the etymological sense, that is, coming out of prison[20] through the unleashing of the potentials that are latent in us, passing from dependence and weakness to power and mastery.

The liberation which is most important, decisive and difficult is the liberation from our personal self: from our sense of personal identity, not from spiritual identity. Fortunately from the spiritual point of view — but in a very painful way for the human being — the sense of the personal self, that is, of being limited, isolated and opposed to others in the world, gives a sense of anguish. It is what is now called the existentialist experience, understood however in a superior and serious sense, and not the literary masquerades that came out of Paris.[21] It is this sense of anguish and loneliness that now troubles modern man above all, precisely because he has locked himself up in his ego. He has perhaps embarked on the study of his consciousness of self, but in a painful, negative, separative and polemical sense. Therefore there is a yearning for liberation from this sense of the self. In this regard, there is a beautiful poem by Zucca,[22] the one about the steel cabin, but there is no time to read it now; maybe on another occasion. I’ll just say that it begins like this:

I live in a narrow, narrow cabin, without any openings.

A cube measuring two by two by two meters.

The inside of its faces are lined with tempered steel,

and polished, so that they act as mirrors: Me, Me, Me.

It clearly shows this sense of oppression, limitation, and imprisonment of the self within itself. Therefore the symbolism of the practice of liberation has always been proclaimed, and implemented by some.

Here, too, India has insisted much on this […] Brahmanism. An effective phrase of the Buddha’s is this: “As all the water of the sea is saturated with salt, so all my doctrine is saturated with liberation.”

In Christianity, too, much has been said about the freedom of God’s children. The holy concept of free will: no longer the need for external norms, but the holy freedom of the children of God, who only can make good use of it. Dante speaks of “freedom; how dear that is the man who gives his life for it best knows.”[23]

In the modern world the theme of freedom […] occurred during the dark period of the last world war, with Roosevelt’s proclamation to the world of the four freedoms: freedom of expression, freedom of religion, freedom from want and freedom from fear. These are external and internal freedoms, but the most important is the last one, the internal freedom; that is, freedom from fear, because basically the others represent the fear of need.  So whoever is free from fear is truly free.

This irrepressible yearning for freedom is manifested in individual and collective rebellion against individual constraints and collective authoritarianism: individual against parents, especially the father; collective, against totalitarian regimes. A very interesting expression of this yearning for freedom can be found in a surprising way in a modern song: Libero, by Modugno.[24] It really expresses it in a genuine way. I will recall a few lines: “I hear a sweet echo calling me: it’s life calling me”. Now this is interesting; it is not only a rebellion, but he also feels the call of a wider, freer life. He says, “Memories — throw them to the bottom of the sea”; that is, free oneself from all the internal constraints of the past. “My sailboat races, it races along the sea. Who can ever stop it! … with the wind it goes towards freedom. Free, I want to live. It is fantastic, incredible! I am free.” This is a primitive and simple but genuine expression of this revelation of freedom, of the possibility of liberation.

But even here, there is a big “but”; that is, one of those paradoxes and contrasts that constitute the drama of human life. In fact, although there is in the human being this spontaneous and irrepressible yearning for freedom, at the same time there is also the fear of freedom, the evasion of freedom. And why? Because freedom implies responsibility; it implies commitment. Because it implies self-mastery, as has been well said: “the price of freedom is continuous vigilance”. It is not enough to free oneself once and for all; that would be too convenient. Instead, freedom must be regained every day, in every moment; because the enemies of freedom — internal enemies and external enemies — are always ready to attack. Therefore, freedom implies light, it implies tension, it implies the other aspects of spiritual life indicated by the other classes of symbols.

Therefore, even the man who does not clearly realize this nevertheless feels it and senses it, and therefore is afraid of freedom. He has a fear of freedom which, using a different  language, manifests itself in a strange refusal to grow: it is as if a small tree did not want to grow. The tree, which is wiser than man, tries to grow in every way. Man does not.

Psychoanalysis at its best sense has demonstrated the importance of the refusal to grow, of the fear of living, la peur de vivre of which the novelist Bordeaux[25] speaks, and of always wanting to remain at a pre-adult stage. Or even of regression to proceeding stages of development: taking refuge in childhood.

And how many men are misbehaving children and brats, who have not actually grown up to adulthood. If we are honest with ourselves with a minimum of self-analysis, we can certainly still find in ourselves many infantile (in a negative sense), childish or adolescent elements. This is actually not a discovery of psychoanalysis. All the symbolism of an earlier golden age, and therefore […] all the nostalgia for various pasts, the most distant or the most recent and coarse, are indicators of what I have called a psychological torticolli.[26] Now, any attempt to arrest the powerful and grand course of life in us or around us is futile. It is useless and dangerous. It is useless because it cannot succeed, and dangerous because it can only produce conflict and neuropsychic disturbances.

11. The return

However, there is also the positive symbol of the return; but in this case it is not really a return, but a double return. The first is that symbolized so well in the Gospels as “The Return to the Father’s House,” the return of the Prodigal Son. And before that, it can be said to be present in the myth of Ulysses, in the Odyssey. But in these cases it is not a question of a return to previous states, but of a return to primordial and original being; a return which at bottom presupposes a whole theory of the emanation of the spirit, which has descended and immersed itself in matter, and which then returns to its origin, its heavenly homeland. But not as it was before, but enriched with all the experiences of self-consciousness matured in labor, suffering, struggle and conflict, from which man frees himself and returns to the Father, to his home, to his divine origin.

But even this is not the end of the journey, the end of the adventure. Once this return has taken place, there is in fact still another return to the world and in the world. But in this case it is the return of one who is free, of one who has completely and freely decided to return as an act of love and compassion towards those who are still prisoners, blind, asleep and enveloped in the veils of Maya.

In Buddhism, this return is symbolized by the renunciation of nirvana;[27] in Christianity, by the work of redemption. Redemption is the return of free and liberated spiritual beings who have nothing more to learn, to ask and to desire in the world, but who return to redeem others. [28]

Thus they become free collaborators with God, liberated liberators.

SYMBOLS OF THE SUPERNORMAL,  PART III

In my previous conversation two weeks ago I spoke about the relationships that can be established between the higher zone of the psyche —the highest part of the unconscious, called the superconscious — and our consciousness, or more precisely the conscious “I”. On that occasion I briefly examined relations of a descending type, namely, the influxes and irruptions of the higher psychological elements into the field of consciousness, by means of what may be called “vertical telepathy.” Such phenomena are: intuition, inspiration, brilliant creation and impulses to humanitarian and heroic action. There are also phenomena more specifically parapsychological, in which we can assume or believe that influences, messages and impulses having extra-individual origins through the superconscious come to consciousness. Today, however, we will examine together the other type of relationships and contacts that we can establish with the superconscious, namely the ascending ones.

They consist in the elevation of the conscious “I” — and therefore of the field of consciousness — to higher and higher levels, until we penetrate into the area that we normally ignore, because it is above the ordinary level of our awareness.

I have called this ascent an “inner mountaineering”. This designation is not just a more or less ingenious metaphor. Rather, it represents a substantial analogy. It is a symbol that has a profound meaning, and that gives us, among other things, the key to explain the intense attraction and fascination that mountains have always aroused; the sacred character attributed to them by all peoples; and the moods and enthusiasm for inner ascent felt by mountaineers.

Here are some significant expressions, recalled in an excellent study by E. Monot-Herzen on this theme, entitled Ad summum per quadratum,[29] published in Action et Pensée.[30]

As the guide Joseph Pession entered the Matterhorn’s upper shelter, he told me, “On entering here, we abandon all earthly miseries. Now we will enter a whole new world.” And a porter, when he reached the summit, said that he could hear the voices of angels, and that he could now die happy.

The painter Roberto Gross — reports his son Carlo — for about 50 years had a passionate love for the Matterhorn, transfigured by a sort of mysticism. This — says Monot-Herzen — applied to Carlo Gross himself, and to Guido Rey, who both wrote a book on the Matterhorn, and to myself —adds Monot-Herzen, who over 50 years made 19 ascents up the Matterhorn, each time bringing back a new revelation and a new enchantment.

It is also well known that the Indians considered the Himalayan peaks to be the abodes of the gods, and that for the Greeks their divinities lived on Mount Olympus. More than a hundred times the great Japanese painter Hokusai painted the sacred Mount Fuji, considered as the temple of the deity called “The Princess of the Flower-blossom”.

The pyramid was also considered as a symbol of spiritual ascent, so Monot-Herzen says ad summum per quadratum.

The symbolism of the mountain and the ascent has found use in various psychotherapeutic methods. and has proven to be very effective. For example, it has already been used by Desoille[31] in his technique of the rêve éveillé,[32] which consists in making the patient lie down in a state of détente[33] and imagine all the details of an ascent of a mountain, and sometimes even to ascend further into the sky. In this imaginative ascent, accidents occur, obstacles are encountered, there are beings in caves that block the way. All these elements indicate the obstacles put in the way of this inner ascent by the unconscious, and provide the occasion for psychoanalytical unraveling. This is a very interesting technique that I have also used and that gives excellent results.

Even with the method of spontaneous drawing, images of mountains to be climbed or already conquered often present themselves. I can illustrate this with some very significant drawings of an American lady whom I treated. Here we see precisely the various stages of the cure and its […].

(shows drawings)

Many symbols of ascent, and others which are effective for therapeutic purposes, prove to be no less effective for all in helping to reach the luminous heights of the superconscious, to discover its wonders, and then to utilize its treasures. I will give a necessarily brief and schematic outline of the stages of this breakthrough.

The first phase — which is still on the plain or level ground, so to speak — is that of recollection and concentration. These are two beautiful, significant words. To gather up all the dispersed and extroverted tendencies and energies, especially now in today’s world, and then bring them back to the center: concentration. At the center do the disidentification, that is, the liberation of the field of consciousness from ordinary contents. That is, do what might humorously be called a psychological cleansing of this area, so as to eliminate all debris and foreign elements. Freeing the field of consciousness, and so you then acquire self-consciousness: always at the level at which you are, it is true, but in any case now it is the consciousness of being, the consciousness of an “I” that is no longer identified with the body, with its emotions, with the mind, but that perceives itself and feels conscious of itself.

Next, a state of alert relaxation is needed. This may seem a contradictory suggestion, but it is not, and I can say so because I have had direct experience of it. In other words, it is a question of abolishing all tension, all impulse to ordinary action, all tension of the body, and of placing oneself in a state of rest; but with the “I” acutely alert. In other words, it is about creating inner silence. It is certainly not easy to be silent with the tongue, but it is even less easy to be silent with the mind. Swami Vivekananda described the unmastered mind, comparing it to a drunken monkey stung by a scorpion. We say that one must strive for, if not perfect silence, at least relative silence.

After this stage of preparation, the actual ascent begins, which in psychological terms can be expressed as upward aspiration. It has been defined as the force of desire that is directed upward, rather than horizontally toward things or people. It is above all an impulse of feeling, an act of love: but it is not only this, because there is also a mental aspiration, that is, the ardent desire to know, to penetrate the mystery. These two forms of aspiration can be seen symbolically as the two wings that carry one upwards.

After this first phase, or stage of elevation, there must follow what can be called meditation, about which there would be much to say, but here I will limit myself to a few essential points. Meditation has various forms. First, meditation on a theme, formulated in a sentence or indicated only by a word. This includes, as its first stage, intellectual reflection, but in reality it is something deeper and more vital, difficult to express in words. It is a conscious perception or realization of the qualities, meaning, function and value of the object of meditation, so that we almost feel it living and acting in us. One can meditate on very different objects, according to the purposes one sets for oneself. In our case, it is clear that the object of meditation must be something of a higher level, acting as a magnet, as an ascending and attractive force on the center of consciousness.

Another type of meditation is that done through the use of an image, or a symbol observed or visualized. Here we have the situation in a certain sense opposite to the previous one. In the first case the unconscious or superconscious itself offers a symbol, creates it or finds it, and presents it to the waking consciousness. Here, on the contrary, it is the waking consciousness which, knowing the symbolism and the efficacy of the image, chooses symbols suitable for its purpose, which is specifically that of ascending. The symbol in this case may be said to serve as a mirror and a conduit to the superconscious, or even to the spiritual “I”.

(shows diagram).

This external element can not only be a symbol, but not infrequently it can also be a person. In therapy, it is the doctor who acts — or should act — as a conduit.

Another possible analogy is that of a catalyst, which triggers a chemical reaction. In fact, even the teacher, the instructor and the educator — all of them should ideally have only this function of being an intermediary: not to give something to the person or to shape them in their own image and likeness, but to be pure and clear intermediaries between the consciousness of the person and his or her highest and truest part.

Among the many anagogical symbols, there are first of all those of the mountain top; then that of the sky, which is widely used in China; then those of the teacher, the instructor, of an ideal figure. Here I limit myself to the purely psychological ones, without going into the specifically religious ones. A series of very effective anagogical symbols — that is, those that help one to ascend — can be drawn from the Grail legend.

Many years ago in Rome I did a whole series of these exercises with a group in which there were some sick people and several healthy people, and the results were really effective. Each week was devoted to a symbol: we had the group meeting, and then each person continued to do this meditative and visualization work for a week.

The first image, or symbol used was that of Titurel[34] climbing the mountain, starting from the plain. The second, that of Titurel spending the night in prayer on the top of the mountain, invoking the higher help and receiving the answer, that is, the angelic cohort that brings him the cup and the spear, symbols of spiritual power and love; a scene that is among other things represented musically in the Prelude to Lohengrin,[35] which we just listened to after the exercise. Music can also be of great help, especially for those with a musical temperament.

Then I quickly mention that in the third week we worked on the symbols of the “Temple” and the “Castle”; that is, a dwelling — creating a dwelling at that level. In the fourth week, we worked on the creation of the Order of the Knights of the Grail.

In the fifth, on the descent into the level plain to answer the calls for help that rise from it (this is the story of Lohengrin, of the opera). And finally the ceremony — which takes place every year — of recharging; that is, when the Dove descends to recharge the cup or the lance. Obvious symbolism, as long as the ideas are interpreted in this context .

We now come to the fourth stage, which is that of contemplation. Here it is even more difficult, and I would say almost impossible, to say what it consists of in words. One can only suggest that it is a state of such intimate identification with what is contemplated that one loses the consciousness of any duality. When no subject or theme is used, then contemplation becomes a state of perfect calm, of true inner silence; one has the feeling of consisting in the pure consciousness of being. And it is then that one has really reached the true inner region or sphere which is normally superconscious, and one lives there in full consciousness. That is, the consciousness has reached the superconscious, or if we prefer, the superconscious has become conscious.

Superconscious qualities

This state can last for some time, and give rise — sometimes even immediately — to the experience of the various psycho-spiritual qualities and activities of those levels of life and reality. In fact, note well that it is not something abstract, vague or evanescent — as those who do not know it might believe — but something extremely alive, intense, varied and dynamic, which is perceived as more real than ordinary experiences, both external and internal. This is indicated by the symbolism of awakening, which has been used independently by all peoples, and by all who have had this experience. They agree that they have had the distinct impression of awakening to a new life, of waking up as from a dream, from a torpid dreaming state, and of perceiving a new sense of being. So nothing vague and abstract, but something very real. They even say that this is the only reality, in comparison to which ordinary life on the contrary fades and seems unreal.

This is also the basic theme of all Hindu philosophy, namely the famous invocation to the Lord that reads, “Lead us from the unreal to the real.” But this inner reality has its own well-defined psychological characteristics. The first one is generally the most perceptible: that of light, of illumination. Here, too, there are concurring testimonies from every time and every people. A sense of luminosity, of light, sometimes of fire, as Pascal said in his experience: light, both internal and external. Internal light, above all, which also transfigures external reality, making it luminous and marvelous, and indeed transfiguring it. This is an experience that many artists have also had.

The other psychological characteristic of the superconscious world is that of peace, of a sense of absolute calm. But even here it is not a passive and inert peace, an absence of struggle or agitation; but a positive peace, a sense of peace in which all the things that can trouble one seem irrelevant, transient and passing. As I shall have occasion to say later, all of these various qualities are in reality connected with each other, though each has its own distinct psychological features, its own specific tone; exactly as is the case with the various musical notes, which also connect to and enhance each other.

The third characteristic is that of harmony and beauty. Here, too, one could speak of aesthetic ecstasy.

Another characteristic quality of the superconscious, which is never lacking in the genuine experience of it, is that of joy and gladness, resulting precisely by the sense of liberation, the sense of peace and light. Yet another is the sense of love, of spiritual love, provided by the experience of inter-penetration with others and with all. Here we could make a diagram, in which various sets of these representations of an individual interpenetrate, in which one circle interpenetrates the other.

Finally, there is the characteristic of power. The person feels strong and powerful; new energy is released in him, new powers. And finally, the culminating quality is the sense of unity and universality, of one’s participation in the whole, in universal Reality; and therefore a sense of greatness and vastness.

I have spoken of the interpenetration of these characteristics or qualities. Dante expressed it admirably:

Light of the intellect, which is love unending;

love of the true good, which is wholly bliss;

bliss beyond bliss, all other joys transcending. [36]

So light, love and joy, together mixed, connected, distinct and united.

It is very interesting to reread the Paradiso in the light of psychology; that is, considering it as the sphere of the superconscious, as Dante’s internal experience; just as the Inferno could be considered in the guise of a psychoanalysis in which one goes to see all that is lower in human nature; and the Purgatorio as a psychotherapy of purification, elimination and elevation.

You see, the mountain of Purgatory leads to the spheres of the superconscious, of Paradise. The sense of spaciousness, of greatness and vastness, which I would say is symbolically spatial, is accompanied here by the sense of height, and of temporal permanence, that is, the sense of the eternal. In the superconscious, in fact, the sense of ordinary time is lost; there is this sense of the eternal. But even here, paradoxically, this sense of the eternal does not at all take away the awareness of the moment; it is not a state of unconsciousness, of losing oneself in a vague eternity, or forgetting the present. Instead, it has been very well indicated by the expression of the “Eternal Now,” of the eternal present.

Therefore, it is a synthesis, which can hardly be expressed in words, of the eternal and the moment. In the same instant one has this sense of eternal permanence, yet experiencing it now, in the immediate moment. And to it is also added the consciousness of the cycle. We are well up the way, but we are not yet at the summit. And here I emphasize a distinction that is rarely made clearly: namely of the distinction that exists between the sphere of the superconscious and that of the spiritual Self. I repeat, they are two — also distinct — states of consciousness, relating to two different and well-defined levels of reality. Just as the conscious “I” is distinct from the contents of waking consciousness, so the spiritual “I” or Self is quite distinct from the psychological contents, however elevated, of the superconscious. This is an essential distinction, which is rarely made.

(Now there is a passage I will read).

Now, I just want to hint at the existence of a culmination, beyond the Self. I say hint, because here in fact psychology is silent, having fulfilled its task; but I must mention it.

As you see, the spiritual Self is indicated in the Ovoid [“Egg Diagram”] partly within our psyche, and partly outside — in the mystery, in the spirit. Precisely here is where psychology stops, and gives way to philosophy and metaphysics.

I will say just a few words about the results or effects of internal mountaineering. First of all, there is a gradual stabilization of the center of personal consciousness, and of the entire area of normal consciousness at increasingly higher levels. Of course, as in any mountaineering ascent, you can stay on the top for a short time, and then you have to come back down… The forces or powers that come back down — that is, those that the ego brings with it from its ascents — operate in the whole area of the psyche, including the lower unconscious, and gradually transform it. Finally, there is inspired action; that is, the powerful impulse to express, to act, to spread, to radiate, to create, and to allow others to participate in the treasures we have discovered and acquired; and to collaborate with all men of good will to dispel the darkness of ignorance that envelops humanity, to eliminate the conflicts that tear it apart, to prepare the advent of a new and real civilization, in which men who are happy and in agreement realize the excellent potentialities with which they are endowed.

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[1] C.G. Jung, Modern Man in Search of a Soul, New York, Harcourt Brace, 1933. Rather than translate this quotation from Assagioli’s Italian text we have directly inserted the version published in English — Tr.

[2] Dr. Assagioli was probably reading from one of three of Robert Desoille’s books, The Waking Dream in Psychotherapy: Essay on the Regulating Function of the Collective Unconscious, Exploration of Subconscious Affectivity by the Method of the Waking Dream: Sublimation and Psychological Acquisitions, or Psychoanalysis and Guided Imagery: The Directed Waking Dreamwhich have now been translated into English and are available in Kindle editions. —Tr.

[3] Dante, Divina Commedia

[4] Paul Langevin. Thought and Action: Texts collected and presented by Paul Labérenne. Prefaces by Frédéric Joliot-Curie and Georges Cogniot, Les Éditions sociales, Les Éditeurs Français Réunis, 1950.

[5] Latin: “To the top of the square.”

[6] Urban, Hubert Josef (1904-?) Austrian professor of neuropsychiatry who investigated areas of parapsychology.

[7] Count Giacomo Taldegardo Francesco di Sales Saverio Pietro Leopardi (1798 – 1837), Italian philosopher, poet, essayist, and philologist.

[8] Giosuè Alessandro Giuseppe Carducci  (1835 – 1907) Nobel prize-winning Italian poet, writer, literary critic and teacher.

[9] Count Hermann Keyserling (1880-1946) was a Baltic German philosopher whose works were quoted in Assagioli’s writings more than any other single source. He founded The School of Wisdom in Darmstadt, Germany. —Tr.

[10] P.D. Ouspensky (1878-1947) was a Russian esotericist best known for his expositions of the early work of the Greek-Armenian teacher of esoteric doctrine George Gurdjieff. —Tr.

[11] Luigi Pirandello (1867-1936) was a Nobel Prize-winning Italian dramatist, poet and novelist whose work often explored psychological issues. One of his best-known plays, Six Characters in Search of An Author, could be interpreted as six fragments of a person searching for their core self. —Tr.

[12] Gnoseology — the philosophic theory of knowledge:inquiry into the basis, nature, validity, and limits of knowledge (per Merriam-Webster.com) —Tr.

[13] Canto 30 v.40-42: “Light of the intellect, which is love unending; love of the true good, which is wholly bliss; bliss beyond bliss, all other joys transcending.” — translated by John Ciardi

[14] Canto 27 v.7-9: “O joy! O blessedness no tongue can speak! O life conjoint of perfect love and peace! O sure wealth that has nothing more to seek!” — translated by John Ciardi

[15] The Italian the word Assagioli uses for “development” is sviluppo, and for “tangle” it is viluppo.

The connection is not clear in English. —Tr.

[16] Latin: “Through the cross to the light.” —Tr.

[17] Maria Montessori (1870-1952). Italian physician and educator best known for the philosophy of education that bears her name. Montessori schools are now found worldwide. —Tr.

[18]  Proceedings of the Meeting of the American Philosophical Association, December 27-28, 1906. Volume 6 pp.1-20. Accessible at https://www.jstor.org/stable/44747241. Newer, expanded edition: New York, Moffat, Yard and Co.1914 (38 pages) accessed at https://openlibrary.org/books/OL7030921M/The_energies_of_men. —Tr.

[19] New Haven: Yale University Press, 1938. See also Volume 11 of Jung, Collected Works. Princeton University Press, 1975. —Tr.

[20] In Italian prigione is prison, and release (sprigionamento in Italian) is literally a coming out of prison. —Tr.

[21] This is a reference to the French existentialist philosophers, playwrights, and novelists of the time. — Tr.

[22] Guiseppe Zucca (1887–1959), Poem titled Io or “I.” —Tr.

[23] Purgatorio  Canto I vv.71-72. Translated by John Ciardi.

[24] Domenico Modugno  (1928 – 1994) was an Italian singer, songwriter, actor, guitarist.—Tr.

[25] Henry Bordeaux (1870-1963) author of the novel La Peur de Vivre or The Fear of Life. —Tr.

[26] Torticollis, also known as wryneck, is a twisting of the neck that causes the head to rotate and tilt at an odd angle. www.hopkinsmedicine.org —Tr.

[27] In Mahayana Buddhism, a boddhisattva  is a person who has attained prajna, or Enlightenment, but who postpones Nirvana in order to help others to attain Enlightenment: individual Bodhisattvas are the subjects of devotion in certain sects and are often represented in painting and sculpture. —Tr.

[28] In most Christian teachings this is done by Jesus.—Tr.

[29] Latin: “To the top of the square,” or literally “to the top through the square” or “to the top walking the square.” —Tr.

[30] Paul Langevin. Thought and Action: Texts collected and presented by Paul Labérenne. Prefaces by Frédéric Joliot-Curie and Georges Cogniot, Les Éditions sociales, Les Éditeurs Français Réunis, 1950. —Tr.

[31] Robert Desoille (1890-1966) was a French psychotherapist and author. —Tr.

[32] French: Waking Dream —Tr.

[33] French: relaxation —Tr.

[34] A valiant and pious knight in the Grail legend.—Tr.

[35] One of two operas by Richard Wagner which are centered around versions of the Grail legend. .—Tr.

[36] Paradiso Canto 30, vv.40-42. Translated by John Ciardi.The Divine Comedy, New York, New American Library 2003.—Tr.