{"id":5260,"date":"2017-06-02T22:31:16","date_gmt":"2017-06-02T21:31:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kennethsorensen.dk\/?p=5260\/"},"modified":"2026-03-04T14:42:53","modified_gmt":"2026-03-04T13:42:53","slug":"the-golden-mean-roberto-assagioli","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kennethsorensen.dk\/en\/the-golden-mean-roberto-assagioli\/","title":{"rendered":"The Golden Mean of Roberto Assagioli"},"content":{"rendered":"

An Extended Interview on Will, Self, and Psychosynthesis<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/h2>\r\n
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<\/strong> Interview and philosophical portrait by <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>Sam Keen<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>
<\/strong> Conversation with <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>Roberto Assagioli<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong>
Originally published in <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>Psychology Today, 1974.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em>
Assagioli Archives \u2013 Florence<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\r\n

Editorial note<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>
<\/strong> This text is an extended journalistic interview and philosophical portrait written by Sam Keen and originally published in Psychology Today. It consists of a sustained dialogue with Roberto Assagioli, interwoven with Keen’s reflective commentary. Roberto Assagioli is the interviewee and primary voice, not the author of a written article. The abstract and cross-sections in this online edition have been added by the editor, Kenneth S\u00f8rensen, to support readability, navigation, and archival consistency. The original wording and structure of the interview have not been altered. the golden mean<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\r\n

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Abstract<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/h3>\r\n

In this extended interview and philosophical portrait, Sam Keen explores Roberto Assagioli’s life, work, and psychological vision through a sustained dialogue conducted in Florence. Assagioli discusses the foundations of psychosynthesis, the limitations of psychoanalysis, the central role of the will, the nature of the Self, disidentification, creativity, transpersonal experience, and the harmonization of masculine and feminine principles within the psyche. The conversation ranges across psychotherapy, education, religion, and ethics, addressing themes such as responsibility, forgiveness, suffering, and death. The text offers one of the most comprehensive late-life articulations of Assagioli’s integrative psychology, presented through an engaged and philosophically reflective exchange.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n

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\u00a0More than half a century ago, when Freud was creating psychoanalysis in Vienna, Roberto Assagioli, MD was developing psychosynthesis in Italy. Until recently his work was not much known either in or outside Italy, but in the last decade institutes of psychosynthesis have been blossoming around the world and Assagioli’s books are being translated into many languages. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span> Estimates of his accomplishments vary widely.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\r\n

Some believe he has returned the fact of will to psychology, elaborated a viable notion of the transpersonal self, and assembled a therapeutic technology that reflects the best wisdom modern psychology can offer. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>Mike Murphy and Stuart Miller of Esalen think psychosynthesis provides a comprehensive vision that is likely to effect a marriage between humanistic, transpersonal and research-based psychology. Others see Assagioli’s idea of \u200b\u200bwill as a Victorian throwback, his transpersonal self as a thinly disguised borrowing from idealistic theology and his techniques as an eclectic mish-mash.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\r\n

First Impressions and the Question of Balance<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/h3>\r\n

On first reading I found <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>Psychosynthesis<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i> and <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>The Act of Will<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i> inclusive, ponderous and soporific. Assagioli’s analyzes were so balanced, his diagrams so inclusive and his solutions so global that everything bogged down in a miasma of moderation. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span> Aristotle’s golden mean may produce a mellow life but it makes for undramatic prose. The vision of “a complete and harmonious development of the human personality” and “the elimination of all conflicts and obstacles that might block this development” seemed optimistic at best and na\u00efve at worst. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span> And what do you make of a psychotherapist who borrows the best insights and techniques from a dozen competing varieties of psychology?<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\r\n

On the American therapeutic scene we are accustomed to psychological warfare, regular shootouts at the “you’re-not-OK” corral between members of the American Psychological Association and the Association for Humanistic Psychology. (Is it all right to touch? Is shock therapy more humane than sleeping with a client?) Balance and harmony seemed tepid fare compared to primal screams, M&Ms, and free ($$) association. I wondered what an aristocratic gentleman with a spirit of conciliation could say to us aggressive ones. Psychosynthesis did sound grand and methodical but a little too heroic. Shouldn’t psychotherapy be more modest? It might be better to avoid grand visions and concentrate on the glory of coping. I had my doubts about psychosynthesis. But the alternatives are even less promising.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\r\n