In this interview conducted by Stuart Miller, who was the head of the Esalen Institute, Assagioli touches on a number of important aspects about the will, and for example how the therapist can use the will as part of the therapist’s role.
A pioneer in psychotherapy examines the will and reveals a liberating power
For approximately 50 years, Roberto Assagioli, MD, an Italian psychotherapist, has quietly worked out an understanding of the will, which he describes in detail in the book The Act of Will. Until recently, the will has not been in fashion. Many intellectuals have felt revulsion at the Victorian idea of the will as «willpower» and joined the revolt against the will which in many ways characterizes our century. Indulgence, spontaneity and liberation became the watchwords in art, psychotherapy and education. In embittered licentiousness, many thinking people accepted their sufferings as the inevitable price of their pleasures. One had to embrace feelings, impulses and longings, as the truth lay in them. The Victorians had repressed their impulses and had to suffer the double punishment of psychological suffering and social hypocrisy.
In recent years, there have been signs that people are taking a fresh look at the will. One of the signs – and not the least – has been a stream of foreign, especially American guests who have visited Dr. Assagioli as Michael Murphy, the director of the Esalen Institute. He simply called Assagioli a «sage».
In 1910, Roberto Assagioli was involved in the beginning of psychoanalysis in Italy. At the same time, he began to work out a larger psychological system, «psychosynthesis», which includes analysis, but put it in a larger context. It includes not only the will, but also the idea of a «higher unconscious».
Freudians have tended to emphasize man’s latent biological drives and inclinations, but have largely ignored man’s other hidden resources: the unconscious sources of creativity, ethical and religious inspiration, and scientific discovery. Assagioli claims that we need a «psychology of height» as much as a «psychology of depth».
For 60 years he worked as a doctor, psychotherapist and teacher. Now he lives in an old stone house on the outskirts of Florence, where at the age of 84 he still works about ten hours a day. His office is full of books and stacks of notes representing decades of activity.
He reads and speaks several languages in connection with his work and keeps abreast of the latest developments in psychology and education. In addition to this, he carries on an extensive correspondence with psychosynthesis centers around.
He speaks very slowly and very casually. Too equal, some of his students think. People who have worked with him have learned to listen and read his writings with great attention, to really ponder what at first glance may seem like relatively obvious points. Instead of being obvious, they are often profound and even revolutionary in meaning and use.
Psychosynthesis is becoming an increasingly important part of the work at the Esalen Institute. Here follows what Assagioli recently said to Stuart Miller, the manager of Esalen and editor of the book series at Esalen, which is published by Viking Press.
Interest in the will again
On the cultural and scientific level, the recurring development of the will is due to humanistic psychology. That is, a scientific psychology that is truly human and includes what Abraham Maslow called man’s «higher understanding». In the past, scientific psychology ignored many basic human themes: love, joy, inspiration, intuition and will .
Among other things, Maslow and Michael Polanyi have expanded the understanding of what constitutes science and scientific method, and I support that. On the general human plane, the return of will can be attributed to our growing understanding of the results of the uncontrolled expressions of drives, needs and emotions. People are now becoming aware of the need for a certain regulation and control, a certain order and harmony instead of chaos in human life.
As a side note, it is important to clarify that I am in no way speaking for displacement, a quality that is often incorrectly associated with the will. Freud taught us the dangers of repression, and there is no place for that in proper psychosynthesis or in the will . The will must be intelligent, not harsh and heavy-handed.
Another reason for the new interest in the will is connected with the broad interest in self-analysis, introspection and psychoanalysis. With these activities one is naturally led to become aware of and analyze all aspects of one’s inner psychological nature. Through this process, man has gained a direct, existential experience of himself, not just as a central reality, but also as a dynamic element.
I think this is a very positive result of the analytical process. The Freudians themselves called this reality the «ego»: it is the knowledge contained in the statement «I am». It is the central point of the person. Introspection has shown us that the changing content of our consciousness (sensory impressions, thoughts, feelings, etc..) is one thing, while the «I», the self, the center is another. This is an important recognition.
The self as will and consciousness
This center is also experienced as having a dynamic aspect. That, to use an analogy, power and energy. When we experience ourselves as «self», as subjects, we often have an experience that can be summed up in this sentence: «I am a force, a cause». This is an experience of the human will .
The star chart (below) shows the central position of the self and the connection of the will to it. The will simply serves as the guiding energy for all other psychological functions. We find that the recognition that the self has a will – that in a wise way it is still a will.
THE WILL, THE CENTER, OF CONSCIOUSNESS AND THE PSYCHOLOGICAL FUNCTIONS.
The triangle emanating from the middle circle represents the psychological functions:
- Sensation;
- Emotion – Feeling;
- Impulse – Desire;
- Imagination;
- Thought;
- Intuition;
The will (7) occupies a place shown by the circular area outside the point of self-awareness (8), the «I» or Ego.
As with other important experiences, such as the aesthetic or the religious, the recognition of the will must also be experienced. For example, how can one pass on to others what the aesthetic sense is and how it is awakened? It can be a sudden revelation by immersing oneself in a particularly beautiful sunset, the play of colors in the sea, the view from a mountain top. It can come by looking into a child’s eyes, or by looking at the Mona Lisa, or reading The Divine Comedy or listening to Vivaldi, Bach or Wagner.
That’s how it is with the will. It can appear in consciousness when you are confronted with a danger, when self-preservation tells you to flee, or fear paralyzes the body; at such moments a force from the depths of our existence can unexpectedly make us take the dangerous step forward or bravely confront an attacker.
Faced with the threats of an overlord, when our self-love tries to entice us to surrender, sneaks up on us, the same force can break out, shake us, and above all set us free. Will is freedom. That is what is important.
In most cases the discovery of the will is not so dramatic, but we reveal it in action. When we make a physical or mental effort, when we are exposed to an obstacle, we can feel a strength, a special energy in us and we experience the feeling of will or that we want. It is also in some cases mixed with a jumble of impulses, desires and hopes.
The qualities of the will
As I said, freedom is one of the basic principles of the will – freedom to choose and to act as we wish. For example, during the war I was imprisoned by the Fascists for a month. For many reasons I was put in isolation. I could freely choose an attitude: rebellion, or sullen submission, or indifference, or cheerful acceptance.
No one could interfere with my inner reaction. I chose acceptance and asked myself how I could get something useful out of the situation. The biggest benefit was using it as a retreat. The conditions were ideal! No noise. No interruptions. Regular meals. I meditated, read. Completely carefree. And I got good results from my meditations. The central experience can be summed up like this: freedom gjennom akcept .
Choosing one of the stages in the act of will, one of the most important. And this illustrates that an act of will often happens without any effort. I did n’t have to use any willpower to make the decision. It was completely spontaneous, authentic; it was just using my general attitude to life. Then it was an act of will , because it was a choice, a conscious choice , but without the slightest effort.
The will is usually considered to be associated with strength and effort, and it often is, but not necessarily. Let me repeat that: the will is not something hard, rigid, unconditional and exclusive. In the deepest sense, it actually has a regulatory function. It is the psychological function that directs and regulates the leeway of all the others. An analogy is the conductor of an orchestra who does not play himself, but also controls those who play the various instruments.
This helps to separate the will from what the Victorians called «willpower». Another analogy may help: the car. The Victorian will that gave the term such bad publicity was like a man who, in order to get to his destination, stood behind his car and tried to push it towards the goal.
The intelligent will, the well-trained will, corresponds to the more efficient and sensible procedure, where the man gets into the car, adjusts himself, turns on the ignition and steers the car so that he can use the energy of the petrol to get to his destination.
The will as part of the therapist role
It is clear that the will can have a central function in all the different human affairs – education, business, everyday tasks and so on. In therapy, as point one, you can explain to the client the true nature and workings of the will , and point two, awaken his own will to get well.
This is very important. Because of the diversity of human nature and our ambivalence, a client may want or need to get well, but not want to. The client may be clinging to the benefits of being ill.
Or he wants to be cured by external means, by the doctor or by medicine, and does not do his part to get well. As point three, the therapist can help the client to train himself and use his will , and not rely on the therapist.
The therapist essentially has two roles: the role of the mother and the role of the father. The therapist’s maternal role is fine in the first part of the treatment, especially in more serious cases. It consists in giving a feeling of protection, understanding, compassion and encouragement. What a wise mother does. It is a direct help from the therapist to the client.
The father’s role, on the other hand, can be summed up as training for independence . The real father’s role, as I see it, is to encourage, to awaken the child’s inner energies and show him the way to independence. The father’s function is therefore to awaken the client’s will .
Some people feel that the concept of will is in conflict with much of today’s teachings, such as psychoanalysis, encounter groups, Zen, primal therapy, etc. The idea behind these methods claims that the real self is brought to light by freeing the self from resistance, complexes, the body’s inhibitions and blockages. It is the path that constitutes letting go, allowing liberation. It has been called a left-hand path, as opposed to the right-hand path of the discipline. These people ask me if the return to the will and psychosynthesis in general is a movement towards the psychological right.
First I want to say that these two paths are not opposites. They can integrate each other and have their respective goals and functions. In the past, especially in Victorian times, the right-hand path, the path of discipline, was abused. Active techniques of personal development which are so important in psychosynthesis and in the training of the will were imposed on people from others. But these techniques, these targeted techniques, must rather be used voluntarily by the individual or group. The techniques should just be learned, not imposed: in this lies the change of the Victorian view. The individual can freely decide whether he wants to use these techniques or not, how he wants to use them and which ones he wants to use, also to what extent he wants to use them. After that comes the problem of combining them with what is called the left-hand path.
The great utility and necessity of the left-hand path, the path of liberation, is to free people from all narrow ties and inhibitions and prepare the way to realize the Self (with a capital S), the experience of the Transpersonal Self . I think this is the goal itself and an important goal. The peak experiences, experiences of great joy, ecstasy and enlightenment that people often tell about in encounter groups. For example, it has something to do with them coming into contact with their Transpersonal Self, albeit rather briefly
This Transpersonal Self is different from the personal self or ego we talked about earlier. It can be called a «Higher Self», although the new word Transpersonal is better, as it is not so obviously valued. In the old days, the Transpersonal world was called the spiritual world, but I do not mean only the world that contains special religious experiences, but all experience that has values that are higher than the average: aesthetic, heroic, humanitarian and altruistic.
Well, the experience of the Self which is often realized by the left-hand path is not a goal in itself. When they have felt the liberation and experience of the Transpersonal, people face the real practical problem of harmonizing their entire existence, their entire being, including the body, with this planet. And that explains the fact that people who two or three years ago sought total liberation now feel that it is not enough. They feel like adding something to their liberation techniques, namely active techniques to develop a fully integrated human being. By completely cast I mean the central goal of psychosynthesis:
Development of all the psychological functions (see the star diagram) in harmony with a completely completed and realized personality, a human being where the body is included.
The many tasks of the will
In many areas, especially in social relations, these are urgent tasks for the will. The first is to control and harness the aggressive and combative tendencies – the will to dominate that is so prevalent in our society, either overt or disguised. Here one must take into account the different and even contradictory aspects of the will. It is the good will , or the will-to-the-good that must control the selfish or egocentric will .
The will is directly related to the big problems like war and peace. I have little faith that agreements, pacts, armies, balance of power and other external measures will produce any solution to that problem. From a psychological point of view, it can be said that war gives free vent to aggressive and combative energies. One must find the will to first master, then control and finally utilize those energies in many constructive ways. When you recognize the methods for awakening and training the will, you get the clearest understanding that war is the most primitive, stupid, wasteful way of trying to solve problems. I think we will only see an end to war when man learns to control both individuals and small groups. They can easily be used to a greater extent to obtain a peaceful solution to collective human conflicts. This means working towards and eventually achieving psychosynthesis for humanity.
[1] The article was written in 1972
[2] Published in Danish 2005: The psychology of will
