{"id":18823,"date":"2023-04-11T14:36:48","date_gmt":"2023-04-11T13:36:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kennethsorensen.dk\/?p=18823"},"modified":"2026-01-17T17:10:34","modified_gmt":"2026-01-17T16:10:34","slug":"the-mystery-of-the-i","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kennethsorensen.dk\/en\/the-mystery-of-the-i\/","title":{"rendered":"The Mystery of the \u201cI\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

What we call the “ordinary self” is as much, or as little, of the “higher Self” as the waking consciousness can take in, assimilate and implement at any given moment.<\/span><\/span><\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
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By Roberto Assagioli <\/span><\/span><\/strong>[1] <\/span><\/span><\/a>,<\/span><\/span><\/em> Translated and Edited with Notes by Jan Kuniholm. From the Assagioli Archives \u2013 Florence, (Doc. 27481), Original Title: <\/span><\/span>Il Misterio dell’Io<\/span><\/span><\/em><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n

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Editor’s Note: There are several versions of this document going back to a hand-written manuscript dated 1928, including lectures given at the<\/span><\/span><\/em> Istituto di Psicosintesi <\/span><\/span>in Florence in the 1930s and transcribed at a later date; there are also a few published versions. These were of varying length and there are slight discrepancies in the word choice and order between versions. It is believed that Doc. #24781 was of latest date (after 1956) and most complete content, since it was the only version in the archives that showed the well-known \u201cegg diagram\u201d in its final form (as it appeared in the book<\/span><\/span><\/em> Psychosynthesis <\/span><\/span>in 1965, and later publications) rather than the earlier versions that date from the 1930s through 1956. This is a corrected translation of Archive doc. #24781, changing only obvious errors of transcription from the typed manuscript using the previous version, doc. #24780 as a reference. Editor’s insertions or interpolations are indicated by the use of<\/span><\/span><\/em> [brackets].<\/span><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n

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There are two ways of studying the human soul. The first is that of empirical, analytical and experimental psychology, which examines the human psyche and the elements and forces that compose it, considering them as they were from the outside, objectively. But there is also another way of studying and knowing ourselves; a more direct and vital way, which starts <\/span><\/span>from within, from the center of our being<\/span><\/span><\/em> . This way studies not so much the psychic <\/span><\/span>[2]<\/span><\/span><\/a> \u201cphenomena\u201d in their multiplicity <\/span><\/span>as the deep unity that connects them, the living subject in which they take place and without which they could not exist.<\/span><\/span><\/em> This method of inquiry does not eliminate but appropriately complements the other method, which alone would remain too naturalistic and external.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

With the internal method we start from the surest experience, the most direct observation, the most immediate certainty we have: that is, <\/span><\/span>the consciousness of ourselves, of our self<\/span><\/span><\/em> (our \u201cI\u201d). In fact, we can doubt everything except that we exist and feel we exist. <\/span><\/span>[3]<\/span><\/span><\/a> But if from this simple and direct awareness of us, we then want to move on to a deeper knowledge, to a clear realization of the nature, essence and powers of our \u201cI,\u201d there immediately arises a crowd of doubts, uncertainties and apparent contradictions.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

We say \u201cI\u201d at every moment; yet if we stop to grasp it in us, if we try to feel it in its purity, it seems instead to elude us and vanish. At moments it seems to us that this \u201cI\u201d represents our most immediate and certain reality; at other moments it seems to us something vague, elusive, nonexistent \u2014 almost a mathematical point, something as distant as the coincidence of countless parallel lines at infinity. <\/span><\/span>[4]<\/span><\/span><\/a> At times we have a vivid and clear sense of our personal identity through every external and internal change; at times, however, we feel transformed, different and estranged from our “self” (“I”) of yesterday; we seem to no longer recognize it.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Sometimes we strongly feel the unity of our being, the cohesion of its parts into an organic whole, into a \u201cpersonality;\u201d at other times, however, we perceive in ourselves deep differences and sharp contrasts, and it seems to us that two souls dwell in our chest and tear it apart with their fierce struggles. Sometimes it seems to us that our “self” is intimately connected with our organism, dependent on it, subject to the action of every influence. On the other hand, sometimes we feel clearly and sharply the difference between the \u201cI\u201d and the \u201cnon-I;\u201d we see an abyss without bridges between us and others; we seem to be terribly alone, like islands far from any land (the existentialist experience). <\/span><\/span>[5]<\/span><\/span><\/a> Sometimes, on the other hand, we seem to merge intimately, to become one with a beloved being, with nature or with God. Every evening our “self” seems to fade away and vanish into sleep, and every morning it miraculously reappears, as if rising from nowhere. . .<\/span><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n