We Operate Our Inner Life Like a Machine We Do Not Understand – Assagioli on Psychological Ignorance and the Transformation of Inner Energies
By Roberto Assagioli
Assagioli Archive, Florence — Doc. #22426
Published in Darshana International Quarterly [1] (Moradabad, India) August 1963.
Re-formatted with notes by Jan Kuniholm
Editorial Note
The abstract, contextual subtitle, and cross-section headings 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 article, Roberto Assagioli diagnoses the widespread ignorance most people display toward their own psychological life, an ignorance he compares to operating complex machinery without any knowledge of how it works. He surveys the most common inner errors: repression of instincts rather than their transformation, flight into distraction, uncritical acceptance of unconscious impulses, neglect of intuition, misuse of the will, and failures of understanding across family, educational, and social life. The article closes with a call for universal psychological education and the intelligent, practical application of psychological methods as the path to reducing suffering and wasted human potential.
Ignorance of Our Inner Life and the Waste of Vital Energies
As the discovery of one’s own ignorance is the beginning of wisdom, it is good to get an idea of how ignorant we generally are about our inner life.
To put it bluntly, the fact is we are still in the barbaric stage, or just at the dawn of civilization, concerning the knowledge and use of our inner faculties.
This can be illustrated by some analogies. What would you think of someone who disbelieved the fact that the earth travels round the sun? Or, in the practical field, of one who attempted to drive an automobile without knowing at least the construction of the machine and having no knowledge of driving? Or again, of a man who wanted to run a farm without any knowledge of agriculture? Well, a similar ignorance is displayed by the average man and woman concerning their inner constitution, the laws which govern it, and the methods to deal with it.
We are constantly making mistakes in handling our own inner strengths and those of others. One of the most frequent and harmful errors is that of repressing the vital and psychological energies, instead of working at their transformation in such a way that they can be utilized constructively. This attitude of repression is as stupid and doomed to failure as that of the farmer who has a torrent of water rushing through his field and who tries to reduce its course by throwing stones into it, or by building a dam in the middle of its bed. The water must inevitably overflow and finally break the dam or, if he succeeded in driving the water back, barrenness would be the result. The proper method would be, of course, to build dams on the sides and make use of the water for irrigation, or for mechanical purposes, such as the construction of an hydraulic station or a mill. But with the inner waters of our instincts, passions and feelings we have not yet arrived at this simple wisdom, and the result is an enormous waste of vital and psychological forces with a corresponding amount of unnecessary suffering.
Also, a great mistake is the chase after excitement and diversion, in order to drown sorrow or to evade difficult or unpleasant problems and situations. This is just as unwise and useless as the conduct of a business man who neglects his business during a crisis and goes on a vacation.
The Misuse of Will, Intuition, and Our Relations with Others
Another frequent source of trouble is the fact that we often accept, without question or consideration, an impulse to act or to choose, which may arise within us. In this respect we behave as the man who, in his business or profession, follows the advice of incompetent individuals or the suggestions of an agent who is acting on behalf of his competitors. The impulses which prompt us to act are often dictated by incentives of which we are not aware and which would surprise us, and in some cases cause us shame or indignation; yet sometimes these promptings may appear to us as ideal and unselfish.
The systematic neglect and stifling of one of our most precious inner faculties, the intuition, is another serious mistake. In this respect we are as foolish as someone who, in spite of having access to the guidance of a very wise and experienced teacher, makes no use of the opportunity.
Many gross errors are also committed in regard to the use of the will. How stupid we should regard the conduct of a man who owned a car if, instead of driving it in the usual way, tried to push it from behind. Or, of a woman who, having the luck — so rare nowadays — of possessing willing and intelligent servants, distracted them and created chaos in her home by constantly nagging and interfering with their work. Yet we do the same with our subconscious servants, our inner energies, which we force and confuse, instead of handling them with wise methods of suggestion and imagination.
Equally gross and harmful are the mistakes which we continually make in our vital associations with others. The relationships between parents and children, and so on, furnish numerous examples of blunders which create much suffering and many complications. There are several factors, of course, which tend to increase the difficulties and unhappiness in this respect; for instance, the pressure of the present social structure and its economic demands; psychological disturbances and conflicts arising from the selfishness of individuals and from other causes. But the lack of psychological understanding creates just as much, if not more, trouble and sorrow.
Understanding Ourselves and the Mistakes of Family Life
It is difficult enough to understand oneself, and even more difficult to understand another person, especially when that person is the opposite sex. There are certain fundamental differences in the psychological make-up of men and women which are as great and much more subtle and intricate than the physical differences. The attitude and the reactions to conditions, to events, and other individuals differ considerably in the two sexes. This creates an endless series of misunderstandings, confusions and conflicts which embitter and spoil some fine characters and thwart lives which were full of promise.
In the face of these facts, it is clear that a serious study of those differences should be considered, not as a special department belonging to the professional psychologist, but as a part of the education of every intelligent young man and woman.
Deplorable mistakes are often committed by parents in regard to their children. Today we are appalled at the thought of the ignorance of hygienic rules and proper treatment of children’s physical bodies which existed in the past. But parents, generally speaking, do not realize that they arc still committing similar mistakes in regard to the minds and souls of their children, psychologically crippling them through mental “tight-bandaging,” subjecting them to harmful suggestions through careless or unfit examples; soul-starving them through the neglect of their higher aspirations and intuitions. And we are speaking here of parents who are regarded as intelligent, cultured and loving.
Suppression, through constraint or ridicule, of the spontaneous activity of the mind and the imagination of the child, and artificial and hard methods of training often produce morbid repressions or violent reactions and create separation instead of the most needed confidence, loving understanding, and friendship between parents and children.
But also the other extreme on the part of the parents, namely their permitting uncontrolled license, their yielding to the child’s every whim and caprice, robs it of the needed constructive discipline and therefore also proves harmful.
These are only a few of the most obvious errors prevalent in family life, and which are the cause of many subsequent nervous and psychological problems.
From the Classroom to the Nation: Misunderstanding Across Human Groups
The same, more or less, is true of the relationships between teachers and pupils. In fact, the misunderstandings and frictions arising in every department of human life are the result of the psychological ignorance of the difference existing between the various types of human beings. Thus, the practical man does not appreciate, and will often despise the artist, the theoretical scientist or mystic. The artist, in his turn, rarely appreciates the relative value of the “bourgeois” virtues of the ordinary man. And the scientist often considers the mystic a useless crank, while the latter is prone to undervalue the right use of reason.
Specific kinds of difficulties arise, too, from the lack of understanding concerning the relationships between “superiors” and “inferiors.” For instance, the servant problem is not only a domestic and social problem, but also a psychological problem. In our day, the personality of the servant is undoubtedly changing, and to persist in dealing with these “new” personalities in the old way and by the old methods is bound to produce discord and failure. The only way to arrive at a solution is to face the fact, however reluctant we may feel about it, and to change accordingly our behavior and methods.
Another field, where this ignorance sometimes has grave consequences, is the social and political life of the nation, where a lack of mutual understanding among groups is so often apparent. The very real conflicts arising from the clash of economic interests and the pursuit of different ideals are often complicated and sharpened by the lack of understanding between different political parties, religious denominations, nationalities, races. Important steps could be taken towards avoiding these conflicts and in establishing harmony and brotherhood in the world, if all psychological causes of strife and hatred were eliminated.
The Urgent Need for Psychological Education
This brief survey of some of the chief kinds of mistakes arising from psychological ignorance are sufficient, I think, to show the urgent necessity of an adequate knowledge of psychology, and of a general application of the practical methods by which the waste and the suffering arising from those mistakes, can be avoided. In other words, we must realize the necessity of a new intelligent organization, and the economic and efficient use, of the psychological energies, parallel with that which is not being extensively used in industrial enterprises, ie , “Taylorism, ” [2] applied in the field of psychology.
In the last decades psychology has made rapid and important progress. The discovery of the existence of a vast realm of psychological activity going on in ourselves below the threshold of consciousness — the study of hypnotism, dissociation of the personality, suggestion, the investigation of the instincts, the emotions, and their various transformations made by psychoanalysis; the study of the higher levels of the human soul made by religious psychology, the super normal phenomena disclosed by psychical research — all these reveal to us how vast is this inner world; now many hidden treasures and latent powers lie concealed in it, and how wonderful are the possibilities open to those who will intelligently use them.
The “tools” for this inner work are already available. Parallel with the scientific progress in the field of psychology there has been the development of practical methods which enable us, if we apply them with the necessary care and perseverance, to achieve a profound reorganization of our personality, [2] the healing of many mental and bodily troubles and the development of a greater power to help others.
Thus the study of Applied Psychology, the knowledge and practice of its methods, should not remain confined to special students and scientists, but should become part of the education of every man and woman.
[1] “Taylorism” is a term coined to refer to the theory of scientific management that analyzes and synthesizes workflows to promote efficiency and productivity, developed by American mechanical engineer Frederick Winslow Taylor (1856-1915). Taylor focused on industrial efficiency and was one of the first management consultants. His work helped develop the discipline of industrial engineering. -Oath.
[2] The author’s psychosynthesis, developed in articles and books published from 1927 to 1974, is one approach to this work of reorganizing the personality. -Oath.
