{"id":18684,"date":"2023-02-22T10:42:11","date_gmt":"2023-02-22T09:42:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kennethsorensen.dk\/?p=18684"},"modified":"2026-03-06T17:59:38","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T16:59:38","slug":"exploration-of-the-unconscious","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kennethsorensen.dk\/en\/exploration-of-the-unconscious\/","title":{"rendered":"Exploration of the Unconscious"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

How it should be done; <\/span><\/span>Dangers and harms to be avoided<\/span><\/span><\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
\"Explore<\/a><\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

By Roberto Assagioli<\/span><\/span><\/strong> , <\/span><\/span>Course of Lectures on Psychosynthesis<\/span><\/span><\/em> , Lecture XII 1933 ( <\/span><\/span>Unrevised notes<\/span><\/span><\/u> ). The Practice Of Psychosynthesis. Original Title: La Pratica Della Psicosintesi: <\/span><\/span>L’esplorazione dell’inconscio, come va fatta. Pericoli e danni da evitare<\/span><\/span><\/em> .Translated with Notes by Jan Kuniholm. From the Assagioli Archive in Florence.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n

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In beginning to carry out the practical part of our Course, we indicated the various methods by which the unconscious can be explored so that its elements, the psychic forces it contains, can enter the circle of our knowledge. But those who undertake this work of exploration are often stopped from the outset by a strange reluctance and resistance, which can variously manifest itself to consciousness with a sense of uneasiness, bewilderment, and sometimes even anguish.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

It is an impression similar to that felt by a child who is alone in the dark in an unknown room filled with unfamiliar objects, or in a forest full of shadows, whispers and noises. And indeed modern man \u2014 so strong and bold, so confident in the outside world \u2014 is generally similar to an unsuspecting and bewildered child when he is forced to turn within himself, to face the dark and tumultuous abyss of the inner world. In this reluctance to do so there is certainly moral laziness and cowardice; that is, a shying away from a task that presents itself as arduous and strenuous; but there is also a legitimate sense of self-protection, the intuition that one lacks the necessary preparation.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

It is appropriate, therefore \u2014 before embarking on that work \u2014 to clearly realize the drawbacks and dangers involved in it, and to make adequate preparation that will enable one to avoid them and to reap all the good fruits one can receive from that adventure.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

To do this, let us recall briefly how our conscious personality is formed. It has a slow and gradual development, a gradual differentiation from the formless psychic mass of the collective unconscious with the formation of self-consciousness: the juxtaposition of the \u201cI\u201d with the \u201cnot-I;\u201d egoism and self-assertion are appropriate as a stage of development. I-consciousness is not only egoistic, but also social. Social coexistence has brought limitations and corrections: a social sense, the restraint of instincts and impulses by means of prohibitions (taboos in primitive societies) and condemnation by society: parents, leaders and judges; public opinion, religion.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

To these social brakes, these external inhibitions, were added \u2014 increasingly \u2014 a series of inner restraints, of freely accepted inner principles. Moral standards gradually became internalized; they became part of consciousness. Thus, little by little the personality formed, defended itself more or less satisfactorily against unconscious forces with barriers, dams, and protective inhibitions; it built a more or less thick and impermeable barrier between itself and its unconscious.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Now, opening the doors, breaking down those dams and barriers without proper and necessary precautions is dangerous in several ways. The first danger consists in being overwhelmed by passions and instincts, by the eruption of lower forces that one does not know how to “keep in hand,” with a resulting lowering of moral tone; also rash and impulsive actions with all their related reactions and feelings. In my opinion, this is a danger of which psychoanalytic has not taken sufficient account; in fact, it tries to remove barriers without reckoning the dangers it faces.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n