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In Assagioli’s view we may become more and more aware of the superconscious, and more attuned to the forces of love, beauty, tenderness, power and true knowledge that are always present if we can discern them. As awareness of the ’I’ and the Higher Self grows, the field of consciousness can enlarge to become aware of more superconscious material… But the personality has to be strong enough to cope with the power of superconscious material… Knowledge and awareness of the soul can only be coped with by a strong and growing personality, which has come well enough to terms with the forces of the lower unconscious and is well centred in the strength of the ‘I’. (Hardy, 1987, p. 28)
Psychosynthesis: the formation or reconstruction of the personality around the new center. “When the unifying center has been found or created, we are in a position to build around it a new personality – coherent, organized, and unified. Once an inner ideal model of the self has been formed that is both realistic and authentic in line with the natural development of the given individual and therefore capable of realization, then the actual construction of the new personality begins. This is the actual psychosynthesis” (Assagioli, 1993, p. 26). According to Assagioli (1993, pp. 28-29), the carrying out of this inner program of psychosynthesis involves
(a) the utilization and transmutation of inner unconscious energies, forces, emotions, and impulses to bring about the desired changes in ourselves,
(b) the development of those aspects of our personality that are either deficient, underdeveloped, imbalanced, or in conflict for the purpose we desire to attain, and
(c) the coordination, subordination, integration and organization of the various psychological energies and functions of the Self into a harmonious whole.
Models and their eccentric versions of the self. The pursuit of any given model or “ideal picture” of ourselves that we intend to become actually changes the conscious self into a new knowing self, which inevitably calls forth a new goal or ideal model of ourselves. Each variation upon the model or ideal self is a new revelation, bringing about change and further development in the previous “known” personality.
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Endless bank of alternate models of the self. As transpersonal writer and mystic Jane Roberts (1976) points out, the psyche is so richly creative that it constantly presents us with an endless bank of potentials and alternate models of the self. “The adage ‘Know thyself’ presupposes a model of the self that is stationary. For knowing the self at any given time actually changes the self into a new knowing self, which must again be known and thus changed” (Roberts, 1976, p. 95). The recognition of the ideal self by the immediate self is a creative mutation that instantly brings further ideal models into play, automatically creating new versions of excellence for the known self. Moreover, the ever-changing model is the energy behind its own variations. Through its interactions with the known self, the model is eternally replenished as the known self reconstructs itself around the new center.
The superconscious realms are in constant renewal. Just as there is no single stable, permanent state of “enlightenment” or “liberation,” the transpersonal self is no unchanging, constant, unmoved mover who moves, “a timeless essence…perceived as unchangeable, silent, pure being” (Ferrucci, 1982, p. 131). Assagioli’s comment that “the superconscious realms are in constant renewal” implies that the transpersonal self is itself a dynamic, alive, vital, growing and developing portion of our identity. It learns from the experiences of its outer conscious egoic self just as the personal egoic self changes, learns, grows, and develops from its own experiences and projections.
Psychosynthesis is capable of being scientifically tested and verified. Assagioli (1991, 1992, 1993) believed that his model of the person, especially in relation to transpersonal areas of the psyche, was capable of being scientifically tested and verified according to empirical method, broadly defined to include experience. The transpersonal, Higher self is known to exist because it is experienced, and it influences the thoughts, images, sensation, emotions, and behaviors of the conscious “I.” All one has to do is to create the conditions for having the experience.
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