{"id":22879,"date":"2025-05-08T13:47:05","date_gmt":"2025-05-08T12:47:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kennethsorensen.dk\/?p=22879"},"modified":"2026-05-04T20:35:25","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T19:35:25","slug":"assagiolis-letter-to-friends","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kennethsorensen.dk\/en\/assagiolis-letter-to-friends\/","title":{"rendered":"Assagioli\u2019s Letter to Friends"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Stand Firm, Embrace Synthesis, Become Pioneers \u2014 Assagioli’s Wartime Call to Spiritual Action and a New Civilisation<\/span><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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By Roberto Assagioli<\/strong>
Written during the final period of World War II \u2014 exact date unknown
Assagioli Archive, Florence
Original title: Lettera agli Amici <\/em>[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, contextual subtitle, and cross-section headings 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 wartime letter, Roberto Assagioli writes to friends and fellow aspirants at a moment of global crisis, offering spiritual orientation and practical guidance. He frames the upheaval of war within a larger spiritual vision: civilisations rise and fall, but through every destruction, consciousness evolves and the Divine Plan advances. He urges his readers to stand firm inwardly against fear, despair, and hatred; to disengage from the collapsing old order and become pioneers of a new civilisation characterised by synthesis. He describes this synthesis as operating in two directions: the vertical integration of personality and soul through psychosynthesis, and the horizontal development of cooperation, goodwill, and group unity across humanity. The letter concludes with a call to regular meditation, prayer, and the use of the Great Invocation as practical instruments of spiritual service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Spiritual Meaning of the Present Crisis and the Divine Plan<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In this age that is so grave for humanity, I feel impelled to address you in a brotherly way. It is good to try to help each other to see clearly and thus to act correctly. There are attitudes and decisions to be made that can have much spiritual significance and on which our external activities depend. The present situation tests us, raises problems, offers opportunities and imposes tasks on each of us. I will tell you in a simple and sincere way what I think, and be glad if my words can bring you some light and be of comfort and encouragement.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let us first try to understand the spiritual, that is, the <\/span><\/span>real<\/span><\/span><\/em> meaning of what is happening. In order to get there \u2014 albeit within the limits of our present development \u2014 we must not let ourselves be disturbed by the immediate events, but frame them within a larger whole and penetrate them with deeper insight. It is necessary to go back to the basic principles of any spiritual worldview.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the tumult, travail \u2014 and even moments of personal fulfillment \u2014 of earthly life, we too often forget that this life <\/span><\/span>is not an end in itself<\/span><\/span><\/em> . Its main purpose is to promote the development <\/span><\/span>of consciousness<\/span><\/span><\/em> , by means of a series of experiences, lessons, training and “trials.” Individual and collective cycles follow one another with alternating fortunes: we are born, live on earth and then our bodies die; civilizations and cultures arise, have their period of greatness and glory, then decay and end; continents emerge from the oceans and then sink again. But all this is not in vain. Through the appearance and disappearance of forms, souls awaken, develop, and become <\/span><\/span>liberated<\/span><\/span><\/em> . Humans thus ascend from their primitive semi-animal state, through various stages of physical, emotional and mental evolution, to the superhuman level, about which the Prophets, Heroes, Saints, and Geniuses give us testimony and promise.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In all this is revealed a wonderful Divine Plan <\/span><\/span>that cannot fail<\/span><\/span><\/em> , because it is inspired by Love, arranged with Wisdom, and actuated with Power. We certainly cannot, with our “short range of vision,” comprehend it in its entirety, but with the help of spiritual conceptions and our intuition we can and must try to glimpse at least its closest and most accessible aspects.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Current Life Seems Chaotic: The Transition Between Civilisations<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Current life seems chaotic, contradictory and frightening to us. This is because we are in a period of transition: a civilization, a culture \u2014 the one which we have belonged to and which has nourished us \u2014 is in rapid decline: its forms are wearing out, or collapsing thunderously, covering the ground with wreckage. At the same time we are witnessing the disorderly and confused beginning of a new era, which has rough, violent, sometimes almost barbaric aspects. The dust rising from the rubble mixes with that produced by the feverish activity of the workers, so that our vision is blurred and our breathing becomes labored. Not a few people have an impression of regression, of decay, and out of their mouths come heartfelt nostalgia for the “good times,” bitter criticisms of the present, and gloomy predictions for the future. But this negative attitude is not right, much less spiritual. It is not right to compare the best products of the present culture with the first outlines and tentative steps of the new civilization.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In any case, it is futile to cling to the past: we must be persuaded once and for all that the old forms have had their day and must now perish, or be transformed, to serve as a base for the new building, as a trunk on which to graft the new plant. For those who have a spiritual conception of life and who aspire to “live it,” it is easier (or, perhaps it is more accurate to say, “less difficult”) and at any rate more appropriate, to set to work decisively to disengage themselves from the old and to welcome the new spirit into themselves, fostering its best manifestations and its “incarnation” in suitable forms.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Most Serious Manifestation: War, the End-of-Cycle Reckoning, and the Surgery Analogy<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The most bitter and violent struggles that are taking place now in every field \u2014 not only in those on the battlefield \u2014 are mainly due to the fact that people, both individually and collectively, through selfish attachment, through fear, or through ignorance, refuse to loosen their hold on their material, emotional and mental possessions. In the outer world this is unfolding before our eyes with dramatic evidence; but in a less visible way it is happening in so many other ways: parents who love their children with possessive affection are doing it; all those who do not want to leave old habits and ways of living, who do not want to change their ideas are doing it \u2014 in fact, it is these ideas, doctrines, preconceptions that possess people and hold them captive.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let us also remember that at the end of every [world] cycle there is a \u201creckoning,\u201d the unloading of the effects of even (what seem to us) remote causes, together with a rapid flooding of the effects due to recent causes. If it were permissible to use joking words in such a serious subject, it could be like a “going out of business sale! \u2014 liquidation at any price!”<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let us now consider the most serious and most striking manifestation of this situation: war. It is natural that every good and sensitive soul deplores the incalculable destruction and terrible suffering it brings. But this should not make us close our eyes to the positive aspects it can have. One of these was pointed out by a Spiritual Teacher with an ingenious and illuminating analogy. Here are his lofty words:<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your vision is often distorted by the pain and suffering to which forms are subjected, both your own and others, both individually and collectively, so that you do not see clearly the purpose and urgency that animates <\/span><\/span>the life within the form<\/span><\/span><\/em> .<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For many of you, for example, war is a supreme disaster, an agony to be avoided at all costs in the future, a terrible event denoting the wickedness of man and the incredible, blind indifference of God. For us who see things from the inner side, war is similar to a major surgical operation, done for the purpose of saving the life of the patient. Speaking symbolically, a virulent streptococcal infection threatened the life of mankind and the operation was done for the purpose of saving the life, not the form.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This operation had some measure of success. Certainly, the germ is not eliminated, and it makes its presence felt in various infected areas of Humanity’s body. Another surgical operation may be necessary, not to destroy the present civilization, but to overcome the infection and eliminate the fever. <\/span><\/span>[in]<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Awakening of Consciousness and the Farmer Plowing the Soil<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Therefore, the sense of dejection and discouragement that some who had most fervently worked for peace through prayer and invocation had in the aftermath of the outbreak of war is unjustified. It is not true that war constitutes a defeat for constructive forces: on the contrary, it is likely, by its very violence and the reactions it provokes, to hasten their advent. To take a right attitude towards war we must understand and always keep in mind that God \u2014 or Life \u2014 has and continually uses a wonderful alchemical power that transmutes evil into good.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The stimulating and awakening function of the difficulties and sufferings brought by war was indicated by the above-mentioned Teacher in the following words:<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What matters is what is happening to humanity <\/span><\/span>as a whole<\/span><\/span><\/em> and \u201cbehind the scenes;\u201d what matters to us, and what we are seeing, is the development of human consciousness, and this is being developed by reacting to the conditions that arise in each country, and I tell you, friends, that under the pressure of the conditions imposed by the present civilization \u2014 the mental preoccupations, the terror of marching armies, the thundering of so many voices, the oppression of economic conditions \u2014 human consciousness is rapidly awakening from its long lethargy; the great and fundamental reality you call “the human mentality,” is beginning to focus on things of value and express itself vividly. <\/span><\/span>That is what is important<\/span><\/span><\/em> , and not what is happening in one country or another. <\/span><\/span>[ii]<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is on the basis of this recognition that those who think can best <\/span><\/span>serve<\/span><\/span><\/em> . They must learn to focus their attention on the awakening consciousness, and not on what churns at the surface. Forms may suffer, but humanity’s inherent consciousness is becoming, during this century, manifestly divine. . . Just as the farmer plows the soil of his field and turns over the clods, bringing to the surface what was underneath, thereby preparing the ground for sowing and for the new harvest, so it is now happening in the world. Everything that happens is preparation for a sowing and its effects. Such effects will build the culture and civilization of the future. In the light of these spiritual conceptions, it is not difficult to discern what our current duties, tasks and great opportunities are.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The First and Fundamental Duty: Inner Stability and the Path of Reversal<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The first and fundamental duty of each of us \u2014 not least because it is the necessary basis for all fruitful action \u2014 is to stand firm inwardly, not to allow ourselves to be swept away by the individual and collective currents of worry, fear, despair on the one hand; and of antagonisms, accusations, hatreds on the other. If we give in to those emotions and passions, we lose spiritual contact, we no longer see clearly, and we cannot give help to others; on the contrary, we become a moral weight on them.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Therefore, first of all, let us work within ourselves: let us cast out all weak self-pity, all petty selfish concerns, that are especially unworthy now when there are so many who suffer bitterly and have lost everything dearest to them. Let us learn the admittedly very hard lesson of living without the props of illusory security, in the uncertainty of tomorrow, with a continuous act of courage and faith. And in our relationships with others, let us not succumb to the tendency to complain, to \u201cblow off steam;\u201d let us not pour out our burdens on others. Nor do we indulge in the impulse to lash out at those who may seem to be the perpetrators of the current ills, for they are but the agents and instruments of much larger forces, of circumstances and effects stemming from the mystery of the past, of necessary upheavals and transformations.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is actually needed is a reversal of the whole customary way of feeling and reacting. Such a reversal is admirably expressed in the “Simple Prayer” that many know, but which I repeat because it can never be said enough until we live it:<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

SIMPLE PRAYER<\/span><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

O Lord, make me an instrument of Your Peace.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where there is hatred, let me place Love,<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where there is offense, let me place forgiveness,<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where there is discord, let me place union,<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where there is error, let me place truth,<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where there is doubt, let me place faith,<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where there is despair, let me place hope,<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where there is darkness, let me place light,<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where there is sadness, let me place joy.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

O Lord, let me seek not so much<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

To be understood, as to understand;<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

To be loved, as much as to love.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For it is in giving that one receives,<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In forgetting that one finds oneself,<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In forgiving that one is forgiven,<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In dying that one is resurrected to Eternal Life. <\/span><\/span>[iii]<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, someone might ask, \u201cBut how do you acquire the power to carry out this great reversal?\u201d One acquires it through the fervent and constant use of all the well-known methods of inner spiritual development, through which we come into contact with our soul and with Spiritual Reality, with God, drawing Light and Strength from it. Among these methods, I especially recommend the regular use of meditation, by which we discipline our emotions and mind, and gain a growing awareness of our true spiritual I or Self. <\/span><\/span>[iv]<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thus one can come to inwardly stay <\/span><\/span>au-dessus de la m\u00eal\u00e9e<\/span><\/span><\/em> . <\/span><\/span>[v]<\/span><\/span><\/a> This, it should be noted, does not constitute evasion or \u201cspiritual egoism\u201d at all. It would be so only if it led us to become uncaring of the pains of others or of the travails of the world by enclosing ourselves in a separative shell. But that is at the opposite end of all true spirituality, which instead gives a growing sense of union with all that lives, and arouses active love. On the contrary, rising above the levels of struggles, passions, and illusions is a necessary condition for exerting beneficial action on those levels. It is a general law of life that \u201c <\/span><\/span>to master a plane one must transcend it<\/span><\/span><\/em> .\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pioneers of the New Civilisation: Synthesis in Two Directions<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

But as we try to do this, we can also set ourselves other more specific tasks. The central one \u2014 suggested by what I set out earlier \u2014 is to become pioneers of future civilization. Therefore we must first try to catch a glimpse of what its characteristics, its qualities, and its virtues are; and then work hard to develop them <\/span><\/span>in ourselves<\/span><\/span><\/em> , and to <\/span><\/span>live them<\/span><\/span><\/em> , so as to radiate them around us and promote them in others. On this occasion I can only briefly mention that, according to various teachings and clear indications, the main character of the new age will be <\/span><\/span>synthesis<\/span><\/span><\/em> . This synthesis is to be implemented in two directions:<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. In a vertical sense,<\/span><\/span><\/em> with the integration of the three aspects \u2014 physical, emotional, mental \u2014 of our personality with each other, and then with the Soul. Thus the painful conflicts between mind and heart, body and spirit, that plague so many human beings are overcome and resolved. With this \u201cpsychosynthesis,\u201d a person truly becomes one; and at the same time capable of discerning and feeling the essential unity of the grand life that animates the universe. In the field of culture, the trend towards Synthesis will manifest itself in an increasing reconciliation and integration of science, philosophy, religion and art.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n