The Practice of Psychosynthesis

This lecture presents an overview of the practice of psychosynthesis as taught by Roberto Assagioli and in which he presents seven essential methods.

By Roberto Assagioli, (Assagioli Archive – Florence). Course of Lectures on Psychosynthesis LESSON XI – YEAR 1933 (Unedited notes). Original Title: La Practica della Psicosintesi Translated and Edited with Notes by Jan Kuniholm[1]

Abstract: This lecture presents an overview of the practice of psychosynthesis as taught by Roberto Assagioli. It emphasizes the importance of self-exploration to understand and integrate the various elements of our personality, both conscious and unconscious. Assagioli outlines several methods for accessing the unconscious, including hypnosis, free association, stimulus words, dream analysis, image contemplation, writing, and drawing. He highlights the significance of symbols in expressing the unconscious and stresses the need for careful interpretation of these symbols, as they can have multiple meanings. The text encourages individuals to engage in inner research to recognize and harness both lower instinctive elements and higher, unexpressed potentials within themselves, fostering personal growth and self-realization.

The first practical task is to study and get to know ourselves, so that we can clearly understand everything that is within us, from the lowest to the highest levels of our personality. It is a matter of making an inventory of our inner resources, or rather an exploration of the vast and varied regions that make up our inner world.

But it is not enough to find, bring to light, and list these psychological elements; we must also learn to interpret them and understand them correctly. This understanding will enable us to correctly frame the various problems we have to solve and the various tasks that lie before us.

In this way, we will be able to make a clear and orderly plan of inner work; that is, of the reconstruction that will lead us from scatteredness, conflict, and disorder to coordination, unification, and the discovery of ourselves.

Let us begin our exploration with the discovery of ourselves.

As we have said, much of our personality is not present in our ordinary consciousness but usually remains unconscious. The first practical problem we face is therefore to bring the light of consciousness into that dark area, or — which is the same thing — to bring to the surface of consciousness the elements that usually remain below.

This is possible, given the constant exchanges between the conscious and the unconscious. There are several methods that can be followed in this work.

I – HYPNOSIS. In hypnosis, waking consciousness is suspended, leaving the unconscious free to surface. However, this method has several drawbacks: first, it can be harmful to the subject. Moreover, it is not a necessary method, as there are others that are much easier. It can be useful for special laboratory experiences, for supernormal experiments, but great caution is required in its use.

II – FREE ASSOCIATION. This is the basic method used by Freud. It consists of putting oneself in a state of relaxation, of complete physical and mental détente, and saying everything that comes to mind in such a state, without exercising any control or criticism. Usually, the unconscious is repressed; there is a certain censorship, like a psychic customs office at the border between consciousness and the unconscious. If we want to study ourselves, we must open the doors of this border and let out a quantity of unknown and unexpected elements. Applying this method seems easy, but in reality it is not because most of the time, when all the disparate elements in our unconscious emerge in a disorderly manner, the absolute lack of any connection between them disorients us; and then we oppose them, almost to defend ourselves. This resistance must be completely abolished; if we succeed, we can extract a lot of material from our unconscious.

But sometimes even this method is insufficient, because at a certain point the source dries up. Other methods are then used to stimulate the emergence of those repressed unconscious elements. This brings us to another method.

III – METHOD BASED ON “STIMULUS” WORDS. This is well known in experimental psychology and has been taken up and used for the exploration of the unconscious, especially by Jung. It consists of using a single series of very varied words, which are said one by one to the subject, who is in turn invited to say the first thing that the word spontaneously brings to mind, without exercising any criticism or inhibition. The study of the results of such experiments is very interesting. It is advisable to measure the “reaction time;” i.e., the time the subject allows to elapse before expressing the idea that flashes into their mind when they hear one of the stimulus words. At the same time, it is also useful to study other indicators of so-called “psychic complexes.” Reactions vary greatly from one subject to another. Some are rapid and superficial: certain words barely touch the unconscious. Others, however, “touch” it in a particular way: and it is precisely with these stimulus words that the painful and sensitive points of our psyche are “touched.” This can be easily recognized by the prolonged reaction time, because the emotion we feel when we hear a word that evokes a memory or an impression, especially a painful one, causes a pause, either because the emotion paralyzes us or because too many things crowd the mind in response to a given image. Thus, for example, hearing the word “water,” many people may remain indifferent or give an immediate, purely automatic response; while a person who has been in danger of drowning either does not react at all or, if they do react, does so with a long delay, with difficulty, pain, and emotion.

Sometimes during such experiments, reactions known as “cover-ups” are observed, when the people questioned want to hide the spontaneous thought that has come to mind. However, this is clearly recognizable and can be discovered either by the subject repeating the stimulus word (as if to gain time, gain or repress the emotion that has arisen in them) or by substituting a similar word. It should also be borne in mind that there are words that have a symbolic or metaphorical meaning; i.e., they are useful for probing the complexity and depth of the subject. For example, the words cold, fall, rich, or sing can be answered in a purely external sense, or by showing that one has grasped an inner, psychological meaning in them. With this very simple method, you can conduct a long unconscious investigation and discover many secrets!

However, it has one flaw: the reaction ceases too soon, being limited to a single word, and therefore the answer does not always indicate the whole complex that the word has stimulated. The method can therefore be supplemented with “serial associations.” These consist of taking a “stimulus word” and following it with a series of associations, for example ten to twenty words. In this case, if there is no hidden check or barrier, a thread is produced, like Ariadne’s, which circulates, so to speak, throughout the “complex,” leading to good results in bringing the unconscious to the surface and gaining knowledge of it.

This method has also been used in judicial investigations, and has sometimes served to uncover deception. It is sometimes supplemented by the use of a pneumatic cuff applied to the arm. When an emotional reaction is produced in the subject, the pad inflates and the pen connected to it records it, indicating which word triggered the emotion. In this case, we also have the advantage that if the subject makes an effort to control themselves in order to avoid the emotion, this effort of emotional repression only increases the emotion itself, and therefore the reaction of the pad is even greater: a psycho-galvanic reflex. [2]

From a psychotherapeutic point of view, however, it is much more important to know what a given “complex” consists of, rather than simply knowing of its underground existence. Therefore, it is necessary to carry out an investigation and “excavation work” similar to that required when a dowser has indicated the existence of underground water or metal.

IV – METHOD BASED ON THE STUDY OF DREAMS. The study of dreams has always interested all peoples since ancient times. To carry out this study, dreams must be written down immediately upon awakening, so that the memory is vivid and accurate. Then, in a second stage, they are examined passage by passage with the person who had the dreams. The person must say what each passage brings to mind.

V – A FIFTH METHOD. This consists of presenting the subject with a picture or an image to observe and contemplate, and then reporting without criticism and spontaneously what it suggests to them. This produces a variety of interesting unconscious reactions. This method has been used successfully by the author and by Baudouin,[3] who discusses it in his recent book Psychoanalysis of Art.

VI – A SIXTH METHOD. Another good method of exploring the unconscious is writing. Sometimes we write more with our conscious mind than with our unconscious; but often—when we “let ourselves write,” that is, when we allow ourselves to write everything that is in our innermost being, in complete freedom of expression, as if we were mere spectators of what our hand (guided spontaneously by the unconscious and sometimes by the superconscious) traces—we see a quantity of things emerge that we were unaware of within ourselves, and which surprise us greatly. This method has the advantage over others of being easy to apply. It can be practiced either by writing down one’s impressions in the form of a diary or by answering questionnaires that “touch” and stimulate various psychic complexes.

VII – A SEVENTH METHOD. The method of drawing is also excellent. It is very suitable for some people and can give very satisfactory results in certain cases. After all, writing was originally “drawing;” writing was ideographic. This method allows much deeper elements to surface, elements that escape all criticism and censorship. It is a method currently used extensively by Jung, and also brings out the collective unconscious. The examination of drawings obtained by applying this method has sometimes revealed a surprising similarity with ancient oriental drawings. This comparison is made by Jung in his very interesting book, The Secret of the Golden Flower.[4]

Important elements of knowledge about what lies deep within our souls are also provided by the impulsive reactions that arise in us in certain cases, by certain forgetfulness and by certain mistakes we make in speech, behavior, etc. These have a symptomatic and symbolic meaning, as Freud recently showed in his book Psychopathology of Everyday Life.

These methods lead us to talk about symbolism. The unconscious thinks, acts, and expresses itself naturally through symbols. The symbol is the original language, and it is therefore natural that the most primitive and spontaneous part of our being expresses itself preferably through symbols. Everything is indicative and symbolic. We cannot express ourselves except through symbolic means; any expression can only be allusive and metaphorical. What is “internal” can only be expressed symbolically. The word GOD derives from a root meaning “the Shining One,” or “the Sun.” SPIRIT comes from words meaning “Breath,” “Wind,” etc.

With the development of the mind, we have lost the sense of symbol. Ordinary concrete language has great practical value, but for everything that is vital, symbol is far superior. In fact the highest language is based on symbols. To speak of symbolism is also to speak of the interpretation of symbols: in order to be understood, symbols must be interpreted. As works of art, symbols can fascinate even without being mentally understood, since they operate on the unconscious without the intervention of the conscious mind. Many people have been fascinated by a work of art without understanding it; and there is even more. In fact, it can happen that the artist himself does not know the full meaning of his work, and sometimes he only comes to recognize it in the light of the interpretations of others.

Symbols are not easy to understand: it is a difficult and complex matter, both because it is very easy to build imaginative constructions on this terrain, and because the same symbol can have different meanings that are not mutually exclusive. Knowledge of the laws of the unconscious and of many aspects of human experience is necessary. Being “multi-meaningful” is one of the specific characteristics of symbols, as it is also a characteristic of art. Dante Alighieri deliberately and admirably wove into the Divine Comedy the various meanings in which a work of poetry should be read. He did so and said so clearly, but posterity has often failed to understand. In his Convivio (Treatise II), he says that there are four meanings in a work of art: the literal, the allegorical, the moral, and the anagogical (or spiritual). In interpreting symbols, numerous interpreters may be right, each in the light of the meaning that appears evident to them. The difficulty of interpreting symbols is also aggravated by the preconceptions of interpreters, who should not have any, but they too are human . . . For example, in psychoanalysis there is a sexual preconception, and there is a tendency to interpret almost everything in that light.

When it comes to symbolism, it is not possible to establish too close a correspondence between symbol and meaning. We often tend to attribute the same meaning to a symbol, whereas its characteristic is that of being [related to the] individual. Therefore, in interpreting symbols, it is necessary to have a thorough knowledge of the previous experiences of the subject who is interested in them, because their past can give them a very particular value.

We should not believe that the field of inner research is exclusively reserved for specialists. Everyone should begin to study their unconscious. In this study, we must turn both upward and downward within ourselves, always with the calm attitude of spectators. In all of us there are lower, instinctive elements that we must know and discipline, without allowing ourselves to be disturbed or dismayed. Their existence in itself is not evil. The important thing is to recognize them sincerely and then make good use of them. But it is not enough to discover the innermost part of ourselves; we must also turn upward. There are a number of unexpressed higher (superconscious) elements in each of us. They are ready to manifest themselves, to blossom in joy and beauty. This is the side of light, as opposed to the shadow of the unconscious. And these elements must not only be found, recognized, and affirmed, but also helped to expand and blossom like those most rich in promise . . .

[1] Interpolations by this editor are shown in [brackets]. Ellipses . . . are shown as found in the original. —Ed.

[2] This is a variety of “lie detector test,” also known as a polygraph test. —Ed.

[3] Charles Baudoin (1893-1963) was a French psychoanalyst. —Ed.

[4] The Secret of the Golden Flower (A Chinese Book of Life) was translated and explained by Richard Wilhelm, with a commentary by C.G. Jung. It was originally published in 1929 and editions are still in print, translated into English by Cary F. Baynes. —Ed.