Many paths to the universal ask you to dissolve the self entirely, but Assagioli holds that individuality and universality are one synthesis: the center of awareness widens, it never disappears.
By Roberto Assagioli
Commentary on the enclosed diagram, during a meeting with Lama Govinda, Castiglioncello, August 1972
Assagioli Archive, Florence, Doc. #23978
Original title: Il Sè
Translated from Italian by Gordon Symons
Editorial Note
The abstract and contextual subtitle in this online edition have been added by the editor, Kenneth Sørensen, to support readability, navigation, and archival consistency. The original wording has not been altered.
Abstract
In this commentary on his diagram, Assagioli warns against trying to reach the universal by erasing the personal self, the extreme he sees in Zen and southern Buddhism. The spiritual Self, he argues, perceives the universal without ever losing the center of self-awareness. Individuality and universality are not opposites but a synthesis, a living center of consciousness in which bliss, the ananda of sat-chit-ananda, becomes possible.
The most frequent mistake that is made is that the I, the personal self, tries to reach God, or the Absolute or the Universal, not through the spiritual Self or Soul, but directly. The attempt is unsuccessful, and is therefore a source of many errors. This is what happens in southern Buddhism and in Zen. They do not recognize the existence of the spiritual Self. In their desire to overcome the limitations of the personal self, they go to the other extreme.
Perhaps the most important part, the strategic point in my diagram is the fact that the Spiritual Self is half in and out of the periphery of the personality. When the spiritual Self is reached, then the universal aspect is spontaneously perceived, because the spiritual Self is aware of the universal aspect of the Self without losing the Center of Self-consciousness. Self-awareness must never be lost. One of the most important goals of evolution is precisely to develop this Center of Self-Consciousness: it is a precious achievement and must not be diminished or denied. Wanting to make a geometric analogy: the Center always remains; it is the circumference that must be widened more and more. So all the doctrines or methods that are purely negative with regard to self-consciousness are wrong, or – at least – unilateral. Their effects are NOT good. There is no reason to lose the Self-Consciousness Center to eliminate personality limitations.
Self-awareness must never be lost. One of the most important goals of evolution is precisely to develop this Center of Self-Consciousness: it is a precious achievement and must not be diminished or denied.
Govinda highlighted it well: there is no contrast between individuality and universality. On the contrary, true spiritual awareness is a wonderful synthesis of individuality and universality. And this is expressed in the Indian formula: sat – chit – ananda: SAT means Ultimate Reality; CHIT is self-awareness; and universal awareness gives bliss, ie ANANDA. How could there be bliss without a Center of Consciousness? There is no bliss in the abstract: there is a center of consciousness that is in that state …
