{"id":20485,"date":"2023-11-08T09:03:55","date_gmt":"2023-11-08T08:03:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kennethsorensen.dk\/?p=20485"},"modified":"2026-05-18T19:14:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T18:14:08","slug":"problems-of-adolescence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kennethsorensen.dk\/en\/problems-of-adolescence\/","title":{"rendered":"Problems of Adolescence"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The adolescent dissolves like a chrysalis before becoming a butterfly; adolescent education means learning to love the contradiction, not resolve it. Assagioli on sudden mutations, will, and spiritual possibility.<\/span><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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By Roberto Assagioli<\/strong>
Unrevised notes, 1930, Assagioli Archive in Florence, Docs. #22044 and #23769 [in]<\/span><\/span><\/a>
Formatted and edited with notes by Jan Kuniholm<\/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 these unrevised working notes, Roberto Assagioli maps the psychological landscape of adolescence with characteristic breadth: the twelve pairs of opposing characteristics identified by G. Stanley Hall, the Law of Sudden Mutations that explains the abrupt revolutionary character of the adolescent crisis, and the butterfly-and-chrysalis analogy that captures the dissolution and rebirth at its heart. He surveys the new elements that irrupt during adolescence: awakening sexuality, the emergence of genuine self-consciousness, new emotional attachments, religious experience, and the possibility of direct contact with the superconscious. His educational prescriptions follow from the analysis: inspire enthusiasm, understand and love rather than impose, cultivate the will, and provide sexual and spiritual education suited to the age. The notes close with a visionary claim: humanity itself is collectively entering adolescence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Adolescence is a very strange age \u2014 full of contrasts and contradictions which make it appear chaotic and almost incomprehensible \u2014 an age in which the lowest and highest aspects of human nature flourish simultaneously and follow one another rapidly \u2014 a troubled and tormented age, even if lighted by dazzling flashes and by almost ecstatic joys \u2014 an intolerant and rebellious age that strains the intelligence, patience and affection of parents and educators, and which also offers the greatest and most decisive educational possibilities. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

To give an idea of \u200b\u200bthe multiplicity of contrasting elements which agitate the spirit of the adolescent, I shall quote the list of twelve pairs of opposing characteristics enunciated by Stanley Hall, <\/span><\/span>[1]<\/span><\/span><\/a>  author of the largest and most important work we possess on adolescence (a two-volume work of nearly one thousand four hundred pages).<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

PAIRS OF OPPOSITES (according to Stanley Hall).<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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  1. excitement – laziness<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. pleasure and gaiety – sorrow and sadness<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. conceit – distrust of self<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. altruism – selfishness <\/span><\/span><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  5. virtue – sin<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  6. misanthropy – sociability<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  7. sensitivity – insensitivity and cruelty<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  8. curiosity – indifference<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  9. reformer – conservator – revolutionary<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  10. love of literature – frenzy of action<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  11. open to sense impressions – reasoning about abstract and general problems<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  12. general intuitions – mental shortcomings and stupid aspects<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    and the list could go on…!<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n