In this short article, Assagioli describes how we can experience immortality as an inner fact beyond doubt. He gives examples of some of the most important experiences of the transpersonal world.
By Roberto Assagioli
Translation: Annabritt Jakielski
The longing for immortality is of crucial importance to humans. Perhaps this longing is rooted in the drive for self-preservation or in a desire that stems from the fear of death; perhaps it is a sign, a more or less clear intuition of a fundamental truth, a glorious reality?
The question has two different answers – it is about freeing ourselves and others from materialistic denial and doubt about immortality.
1. The scientific proof of our survival
The amount of evidence found throughout the world through metaphysical studies seems so overwhelming that if a person were to read, with an open mind, all the books on the subject, he would be able to conclude with certainty the survival and functionality of the human mind after the death of the physical body. Intelligent people trained in scientific methodology, such as the physicists William Crooke, Oliver Lodge, the philosopher Charles Richet, and many others, could, after repeated experiments, draw these conclusions.
Their conclusions could, in my opinion, carry the same great weight as the importance attributed to other scientists in various fields of scientific research.
The evidence for human survival is promising, as it lifts the limitations of material life and points towards planes or invisible realities where people with psychic abilities or other beings live and work.
Yet the evidence of survival is not sufficient to dispel the inherent mystery of the human psyche, so we must look deeper still and follow the second lead.
2. The direct attainment of immortality
If we want to achieve immortality, we must ask ourselves: “What or who is immortal?” The answer to this question includes an analysis of or knowledge of the different sides and levels of our psyche, which have been described in different ways throughout history.
The following classification is, in my opinion, in accordance with both esoteric teachings and modern psychological discoveries.
The levels are as follows:
The instinct planet
The emotional plane
Mentalplanet
The spiritual plane
The instinctive plane is almost entirely unconscious or subconscious; the second and third planes are partly conscious and partly subconscious, and the fourth plane is almost entirely superconscious. The attainment of immortality can only be achieved through – or in – the spiritual psyche.
We can therefore only solve the problem by raising our consciousness to that level, or by opening our minds to the revelations that come from there. A few people have been able to do this at all times and in all places.
Founders of religions, initiates and masters, mystics and prophets, philosophers and poets are found among the members of this great “cloud of witnesses.” The Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita, the Old and New Testaments, Plato, Plotinus, the mysteries of all religions, and, in modern times, the testimonies of intuitive men such as Walt Whitman and E. Carpenter, as well as the contributions of Busk, James, Winslow Hall and Ouspensky, bear witness to this and strengthen the overall picture.
It is possible for us to deduce all the elements which this evidence has in common, by omitting all the differences and inequalities in temperament and character of those who contributed.
We can thus derive the following similarity factors:
1. An inner sensation of light, sometimes so intense that it can be described as a dazzling splendor and a sea of fire. This peculiarity leads to the word “enlightenment,” which describes superconscious states. This form of enlightenment is often reflected in the outer world, so that we can perceive it in a way that it can change its expression and be filled with a brilliant light.
2. A feeling of liberation from the ordinary subconscious and ordinary self-centeredness, associated with a feeling of expansion and elevation of consciousness.
3. A feeling of the unity of all things. This kind of fulfillment is peculiar because – although it is connected with the aforementioned feeling of loss and forgetfulness of personality – it is at the same time possible to have the feeling of a more fulfilled, more comprehensive and real life.
4. A feeling of beauty, both an inner and formless beauty and the hitherto unexperienced revelation of the outer world in all its most common and ordinary aspects (which in a sense can be compared to falling in love when everything seems luminous. NDR)
5. Feelings of joy, peace, love in varying degrees.
6. The loss of sense of time: rising above what is to come, above what has been, above the present and the future, recognition of the eternal now and the permanent, the indestructibility of the transpersonal Self, which is the core of our being.
7. A strong certainty and a deep inner certainty that the said inner experience is genuine.
8. An urge to speak, to convey the experience of illumination to share our precious treasure, and a feeling of love and compassion for people who are groping in darkness.
Here another question comes into play: “How do we reach this realization?”
Sometimes it occurs spontaneously and suddenly, so that many are amazed and experience it as a miracle. At other times it may arise as a reward for inner discipline or a carefully performed practice, the performance of yoga, or oneness with the transpersonal reality.
Ways and paths to this kind of realization include, among others:
Prayer (emotional or as an expression of devotion)
Meditation (mental)
Contemplation (intuitive)
Making statements (use of the will)
Invocation (the effort to gather and unite all the voices in a synthetic inner action in the psyche).
Among the many excerpts that aim to promote transpersonal realizations, I chose the two most beautiful and powerful:
More radiant than the Sun,
Purer than snow,
Finer than ether
Is the Self
The spirit in my heart.
This myself is me,
I am this Self.
(Rudolf Steiner)
My soul shall never die,
My Soul shall never cease to exist.
There was never a time when it did not exist.
The end and the beginning are dreams;
Unborn, immortal, unchanging is the Soul forever.
Death has never touched it, even if its “house” seems a lifeless home.
(Bhagavad Gita)
As I see it, it is possible to achieve an inner, spiritual experience of immortality, and the paths to it are well-known and accessible to people who wish to tread them.
How to move forward
Here you can receive seven free meditations where you develop different aspects of yourself.
Also read the article Psychosynthesis an Integral Psychology and the biography of Roberto Assagioli
Read the introductory article about integral meditation
