{"id":20470,"date":"2023-11-08T09:15:46","date_gmt":"2023-11-08T08:15:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kennethsorensen.dk\/?p=20470"},"modified":"2026-05-18T18:10:43","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T17:10:43","slug":"moral-education-and-psychagogy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kennethsorensen.dk\/en\/moral-education-and-psychagogy\/","title":{"rendered":"Moral Education And Psychagogy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Moral codes tell young people what to do; self-mastery teaches them how. Assagioli on psychagogy, the neglected art of inner guidance, and why the unconscious changes everything.<\/span><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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By Roberto Assagioli<\/strong>
Assagioli Archive in Florence, Docs. #19549 and #23281 [i]<\/span><\/span><\/a>
Translated and edited with notes by Jan Kuniholm [ii]<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Editorial Note<\/strong>
The abstract and contextual subtitle in this online edition have been added by the editor, Kenneth S\u00f8rensen, to support readability, navigation, and archival consistency. The original wording has not been altered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Abstract<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

In this lecture, Roberto Assagioli identifies a gap at the heart of moral education: young people who want to improve themselves are told what to do, but never how. The rules, sermons, and moral treatises of the culture offer codes but not technique. Assagioli calls the missing discipline psychagogy, the art of self-mastery and inner guidance, and argues that it cannot be developed without first understanding the unconscious. He introduces the fundamental discovery of modern psychology: that beneath ordinary consciousness lies a vast sphere of unconscious psychic life, encompassing dreams, hypnosis, inspiration, and emotional impulses, and at the highest level, the superconscious. The lecture closes with an outline of topics for future sessions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Every young person who does not live in an entirely superficial way, who does not passively allow himself to be carried adrift by the current of external life, feels at some time the desire to be self-possessed, to come to discipline and direct the various elements of his <\/span><\/span>[i]<\/span><\/span><\/a>  personality; in a word, the desire to form one’s own character.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Usually it is some painful and humiliating experience, an instinctive impulse, a burst of anger, a burst of passion, a moment of weakness or cowardice that makes the young person feel keenly how little he is master of himself, how much he is at the mercy of dark and unaccountable forces that drag him where he does not want to go. In the best of them, such experiences provoke a painful reaction and cause the person to make a serious resolution to “take charge” and gain self-mastery. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But when a young person sets out to implement this noble purpose, she soon finds herself perplexed and uncertain. She does not know which way to turn in the face of such an arduous and complex task, grappling with forces unfamiliar to her, which elude her and take her by surprise, which appear and disappear, take turns, and transform so as to confuse and disorient her. Not infrequently, unfortunately, the young person becomes discouraged, hesitates and procrastinates \u2014 and meanwhile new impressions divert her, so that she eventually abandons the undertaking. If, on the other hand, she persists \u2014 and if a new and more bitter experience brings the problem to her again in a more pressing way \u2014 she is naturally drawn to look around for someone to help her, some experienced and understanding guide, some place where this, which is the most useful of all arts, can be learned. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n