Introduction - The Legacy of Roberto Assagioli

The training growth and development of a psychosynthesis trainer is a continuous individual process lasting a lifetime. The uniqueness of this process is captured by the Jungian term individuation. This special process also affirms a larger Mind of which the individuated mind is only a sub-system. This process is empirical, scientific, and philosophical, seeking universal law in human psychology. This process is guided by the methodologies of modern science and the principles of the ancient wisdom tradition. In the light of these considerations the great pioneers of “depth (height) psychology”; Freud, Jung and Assagioli lived their lives and manifested their creative careers.

Roberto Assagioli (1888 – 1974), a Jewish physician and theosophist was the founder of the psychosynthesis movement. He was raised and lived in Italy, the home of Latin/Roman culture, the Catholic Church, and the Western Renaissance. Assagioli introduced Freud's psychoanalysis to Italy. Assagioli, a product of the upper middle-class intellectual society, was given a classic humanistic education. He was trilingual; being fluent in Italian, French and English. He also studied Greek, Latin, German, Russian and Sanskrit in his student years. As a student of Theosophy Assagioli was a student of the ancient wisdom tradition which included Rosicrucian, Hermetic, Masonic and Qabbalistic thought.

One has only to look at chapter one of Assagioli's first book (1965, Viking Press) in English to see the extremely broad collection of sources which Assagioli felt were important to consider for an adequate modern human psychology. These sources included the field of psychotherapy, psychosomatic medicine, psychology of religion, investigation of the supra-conscious, parapsychology, Eastern psychology (especially RajaYoga), creative understanding, holism and the psychology of the personality, social psychology, anthropology, the 'active' psychologies including clinical hypnosis. Assagioli believed that all these approaches to psychology and many approaches he may have failed to mention, provided "sufficient material for an attempt at co-ordination and synthesis...." Assagioli finally arrives at a "plural-dimensional conception of the human personality which ... though far from perfect ... is more inclusive and nearer to reality than previous formulations."

Assagioli believed that psychological scientists and clinicians should seriously explore all this wide range of psychological knowledge. They should extract psychological methods and exercises from this information. Then these methods and exercises could be used for individual self research and then for clinical and experimental research on others. When possible, results of this research should be documented and measured.

Since Assagioli's death in 1974, Western psychology has seen a remarkable development of healing and research "schools". Hundreds of gifted healers/teachers (M.Erickson, Feldenkreis, Rolf, Perls, Reich, Berne, Progoff, etc.) have attracted many gifted students. Good training programs were established which have contributed many valuable methods and techniques to the field of experimental psychology, psychotherapy and healing. These methods and techniques have been adapted and used by psychosynthesis trainers in their work on themselves, teaching, clinical practice and research. Synthesis of the best from the various earlier and newer "schools" of psychology and psychotherapy defines the theoretical context of the ongoing process of being a psychosynthesis trainer. To master and teach this process defines the psychosynthesis trainer. To catalyse community building of all psychosynthesis trainers is the ultimate purpose of the AAP Trainer Development Program.

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