Transpersonal Development through Psychosynthesis
The direction of personality development. The direction of personality development is the harmonious inner recognition by the conscious I of the higher inner Self of which it is a part and the realization that the outer ego-self and the inner transpersonal-self are one. The task is to heal the fundamental duality between the outer and inner selves. All levels of the personality must recognize the transpersonal Higher Self. The transpersonal self must become the immediate, conscious self. This unity will put the individual in a position to begin a truly fulfilling existence. The stages for the attainment of this goal are to be consciously realized and experienced with the conscious ego-I highly involved.
The intuitive, transpersonal portion of the self has to have the full cooperation of the rational intellect of the conscious self, in other words. The intellect of the conscious “I” has to appreciate its dependence upon the intuitional wisdom of the inner self and is not to be left by the wayside. The conscious I with its reasoning intellect and the Higher Self with its intuitional wisdom are meant to challenge and develop each other through the following stages (Assagioli, 1993, p. 21-31):
Knowledge of one’s personality
Control of its various elements.
Realization of one’s true Self – the discovery or creation of a unifying center.
Psychosynthesis: the formation or reconstruction of the personality around the new center.
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What must we do to “know thyself”? In order to “know thyself,” we must know more than the changing contents of our waking stream of consciousness. We must undertake an inner journey within our own subconscious regions. “To explore the unknown reality you must venture within your own psyche, travel inward through invisible roads as you journey outward on physical ones” (Roberts, 1979b, p. 350). There is only one way to know one’s personality – by studying and exploring your own personality. “An extensive exploration of the vast regions of our unconscious must…be undertaken” (Assagioli, 1993, p. 21). This means communicating with your subconscious mind (e.g., meditation, active imagination, guided fantasy, drawing, pendulum method, automatic writing, self-hypnosis, dream diaries, music, and so forth) to discover the contents of your personal unconscious – the beliefs that influence those unconscious processes that create our personally experienced reality, the fears and desires that motivate us, and the conflicts that paralyze our decision-making and waste our energies – and the regions of the middle and higher unconscious.
We need to consciously investigate our lower unconscious. In this way we will discover unknown abilities, higher potentialities, and latent psychic energies which seek to express themselves but are blocked or repressed through lack of understanding, prejudice, or fear. “If we wish to consciously encourage our growth we need to investigate our lower unconscious. Otherwise, it may be the source of trouble, storing repressed energy, controlling our actions, and robbing us of our freedom” (Ferrucci, 1982, p. 43).
First Stage of Psychosynthesis:
Personal Psychosynthesis
The first stage of Psychosynthesis is to discover the many different elements of our personality. Myers’s conception of the subliminal consciousness as being composed of innumerable discrete regions containing a plurality of selves and Jung’s conception of “complexes” supports Assagioli’s postulation of the existence of “subpersonalities” within the subconscious portions of the self. For example,
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