{"id":10865,"date":"2019-01-15T21:49:28","date_gmt":"2019-01-15T20:49:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kennethsorensen.dk\/?p=10865"},"modified":"2026-03-04T12:02:45","modified_gmt":"2026-03-04T11:02:45","slug":"the-gentle-synthesizer-assagioli","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kennethsorensen.dk\/en\/the-gentle-synthesizer-assagioli\/","title":{"rendered":"The Gentle Synthesizer"},"content":{"rendered":"

An Interview on the Future of Psychotherapy and Psychosynthesis<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/h2>\r\n

\"Roberto<\/em><\/p>\r\n

Interview with Roberto Assagioli<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong>
By <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>Vin Rosenthal<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong>, Editor of VOICES, with <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>Pat Rosenthal<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong>
Originally published in VOICES, 1973 <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>
Assagioli Archives \u2013 Florence<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\r\n

Editorial note<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong>
This text is an extended i<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>nterview conducted by Vin Rosenthal, with Pat Rosenthal, and published in VOICES magazine in 1973. Roberto Assagioli is the interviewee and subject of the text, not the author of a written article. The title, abstract, and cross-sections in this online edition have been added by the editor, Kenneth S\u00f8rensen, to support readability, navigation, and archival consistency. The original wording of the interview, including its narrative introduction, has not been altered.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\r\n

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Abstract<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/h3>\r\n

In this extended interview, Roberto Assagioli reflects on the future of psychotherapy, the foundations of psychosynthesis, and the necessity of a humanistic\u2013transpersonal approach to psychological healing. Speaking with Vin Rosenthal and Pat Rosenthal, he discusses health as wholeness, the uniqueness of each individual, the centrality of rapport over technique, the development of all human functions, and the integration of biological, psychological, and transpersonal dimensions. Assagioli addresses education, meditation, will, aggression, sublimation, therapeutic cooperation, group therapy, creativity, and the ethical formation of therapists. The interview offers a comprehensive late-life articulation of psychosynthesis as an inclusive psychology oriented towards self-actualization and service.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n

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In the taxi on our way to his home on the Via Domenico to interview Dottore Roberto Assagioli, we wonder what he will be like; feeling like intruders even though he has been so graciously helpful in our contacts through correspondence and in yesterday’s telephone call confirming our coming. We know little about Assagioli himself other than that he is a physician-psychotherapist who at 85 years of age still works long hours each day with patients, students\u2014and visitors; that in 1910 he had been an early pioneer of psychoanalysis in Italy, later founding Psychosynthesis, incorporating and moving beyond analysis in a direction which today would be called humanistic-transpersonal.<\/p>\r\n

From the dark entry way of the stone house we are led to a tiny sitting room to wait; then on to his study. What a contrast between the height and expanse of the bookshelves and the delicate-appearing man they surround. He greets us with just the slightest hint of formality in unhesitating English, and after a few preliminaries we settle down to being with one another. Although our interview is punctuated by ringing telephone bells and messages from without, nothing disturbs our flow. Since Professor Assagioli has a severe hearing loss, we must write each question and comment we put to him; giving him ample time to reply, requiring us to be precise and to the point. We soon experience his gentle strength, delightful humor, his wise and moving presence. Suddenly we are so full\u2014we feel it is time to leave; a warm, fulfilled\u2014peak\u2014moment.\u2014Instituto di Psicosintesi, 16 Via San Domenico, Florence, Italia.<\/p>\r\n

VIN ROSENTHAL:<\/strong> I read your book on psychosynthesis”* and I feel that it is most appropriate for our subject, “The Future of Psychotherapy in the World.” And I would appreciate if you would focus some of your ideas in that direction.<\/p>\r\n