July 26 marks the 148th birthday of Carl Gustav Jung and I thought it might be a good time to revisit his relationship with Roberto Assagioli and once again take a look at some of the differences and similarities between Jungian psychology and psychosynthesis.
The two men – Roberto Assagioli (1888-1974), the founder of psychosynthesis, and Carl Gustav Jung (1875–1961), the founder of analytical psychology (also referred to as Jungian psychology) – probably first met in 1907, when Assagioli was spending time at the Psychiatric Clinic at Burghölzi, University of Zürich. While studying in Zürich, Assagioli came into contact with psychoanalytic theory and worked directly with Jung and Eugen Bleuler, famous for his discovery and work on schizophrenia.
Carl Gustav Jung around the time he met Assagioli. They both attended the Clinic at Burghölzi, pictured behind.
Assagioli wrote about meeting with Jung at his villa in Küssnacht, during which they had “animated conversations” in Jung’s study, which Assagioli noted was full of books and curious exotic objects. “Among psychotherapists,” Assagioli wrote: “Jung is one of the closest to the conceptions and practice of psychosynthesis”.
To fully explore the similarities and differences between psychosynthesis and Jung, you would need to devote many hours researching the two psychologies and then writing a book. Nevertheless, I have (boldly!) compiled an overview (Also a handy table, see Psychosynthesis and Jung in a Nutshell Table Landscape) to help compare and contrast these two great visionaries’ understanding of the human psyche.
In this blog, I briefly describe a few similarities that the two psychologies share. I then mention two of their main differences. In the next few blogs, I will talk about the two men’s relationship over the years, and then offer some of my own reflections on Jung’s concepts, which were often confirmed by Assagioli’s personal observations.
Similarities
They are transpersonal psychologies.Psychosynthesis and Jungian psychology integrate the spiritual and transcendent aspects of the human experience within their frameworks. Both psychological approaches recognize and proclaim the reality and importance of spiritual needs and a spiritual dimension of the human psyche. This spiritual dimension includes the need to reach an understanding of the meaning of life and to believe that it has a purpose of a spiritual nature.
They include the concept of a collective unconscious. According to Jung, the human collective unconscious contains shared structures of the unconscious mind such as universal symbols, instincts and archetypes. Assagioli included the collective unconscious in his diagram of the human psyche, also referred to as the “egg-diagram.”
The process of psychosynthesis is very similar to the process of individuation. Psychosynthesis and Jungian psychology prefer to understand human beings from the perspective of their health as opposed to their pathologies. Jung aimed to produce for each client a profound transformation of the personality and its integration by means of what he called the “process of individuation.” Assagioli stated that this process and its phases are “akin to psychosynthetic therapy”.
Two Main Differences
Assagioli’s note from his archives about Jung’s view of the unconscious.
Different ways of viewing the unconscious. One major difference between psychosynthesis and Jungian psychology is how each defines the unconscious, including the collective unconscious.
In Assagioli’s model of the human psyche, he divides the personal unconsciousness into lower, middle, and higher unconsciousness. Jung does not make this distinction, which Assagioli says “lumps everything together into a great mishmash”.
Jung undervalued the Will. Jung did not fully believe in free will. He also did not believe in determinism, but rather something in between the two. From Jung’s perspective, we are all capable of making conscious decisions, but, we are not capable of making any decision without some influence from both the personal unconscious and the collective unconscious.
Assagioli’s note criticizing Jung for not giving directions on how to “educate” the will.
This perspective is in sharp contrast to psychosynthesis, in which the will is given a pre-eminent position. Assagioli states that:
“The will has a directive and regulatory function, one that balances and constructively utilizes all the other activities and energies of the human being without repressing any of them”.
Not only does psychosynthesis recognize that the will exists and that we have a will – but it extends even further to the fact that we are will.
In his historical survey of the will, Assagioli criticizes Jung’s omission:
“While he recognized and even emphasized the reality and the dynamic function of goals, aims, and purposes, he did not make an investigation of the various aspects and stages of the will, nor did he include the use of the will in his therapeutic procedures.”
Conclusion
I will end with Assagioli’s thoughts about Jung that are generous in spirit as well as full of admiration and gratitude:
Jung has been a courageous and genius pioneer, who has opened new ways and dimensions to the human mind. His contributions have been of great value, he has most of all liberated us from the narrow limits of objectivism, of purely …descriptive study.
He has immensely expanded the field of psychoanalysis, demonstrating as well the propensity and need for spirituality…Thus he successfully invites one to pursue the course of individuation, that is, to discover and develop one’s own true being, one’s own Self. There he indeed deserves our great appreciation and our deep gratitude”.
Assagioli, R. (n.d.) Archivio Assagioli – Firenze, ID Doc: 1901,13546. Downloaded from archivioassagioli.org.
Assagioli, R. (1974). Jung and Psychosynthesis. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 14: 1, pp. 35-55.
Assagioli, R. (2002). The Act of Will. London, UK: The Psychosynthesis & Education Trust.
Giovetti, P. (1995). Roberto Assagioli: La vita e l’opera del fondatore della Psicosintesi [Roberto Assagioli: The life and work of the founder of Psychosynthesis]. Edizione Mediterranee, Roma.
Jung, C. G. (1966). The Practice of Psychotherapy (R. F. C. Hull, Trans.), Bollingen Series XX. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Jung, C. G. (1969). The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious (R. F. C. Hull, Trans.), Bollingen Series XX. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Jung, C. G. (1989). Memories, Dreams, Reflections, A. Jaffé, ed. (R. Winston and C. Winston, trans.). New York: Vintage Books.
Meachem, W. (2016). “Carl Jung’s Concept of Humanity and Theory of Personality,” Owlcation, October 15, 2016,
Rosselli, M. & Vanni, D. (2014). Roberto Assagioli and Carl Gustav Jung, The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 46:1, pp. 7-34
For those of you who have already purchased Roberto Assagioli’s Creating Harmony in Life, below you will find a detailed General Index and Name Index to the book, which were omitted from the final publication. In addition, I have included Assagioli’s “Preface,” my “Introduction” and the Table of Contents.
For those of you who haven’t yet purchased the book, just take a look at the Indices to see how much you are missing! If that doesn’t convince you, then here are 5 reasons to read Creating Harmony in Life.
1. You’ll hear Assagioli’s voice. Since Creating Harmony in Life is a collection of Assagioli’s lectures, it is very different from his other published works. Accessible and very readable, this book beautifully captures Assagioli’s tone, humor, and perspectives in a genuine and intimate way.
2. You will discover hidden gems. The book is full of reflections to ponder and scholars to meet. From Arthur Eddington’s observations of the solar chromosphere to the Buddhist story of Krishnagautami, to reasons why you should pay your taxes, every page of Creating Harmony in Life holds the promise of a special surprise.
3. It’s a book for everyone. For anyone practicing psychosynthesis, Creating Harmony in Life is a great gift for anyone who has ever asked you, “Psychosyn…What? Assa…Who?” The Italian version of the book is actually used throughout Italy by people new to psychosynthesis. Besides having Assagioli’s superb summary about aspects of psychosynthesis in Appendix I, the entire book is an excellent introduction to psychosynthesis. Nevertheless, anyone already familiar with psychosynthesis will appreciate having Assagioli reaffirm their understanding.
4. It includes a brief biography of Assagioli. Appendix II (written by myself) is a brief biography of Assagioli’s life from the perspective of synthesis. I must admit that when my editors’ read it, they exclaimed, “It’s like reading a novel!”
5. You will be supporting the Istituto di Psicosintesi and Gruppo alle Fonti. This book is published by the Psychosynthesis Institute in Florence and realized by Gruppo alle Fonti, the volunteers who have lovingly curated Assagioli’s Archives over the years. When you buy the book, you are sending your financial support to Casa Assagioli, Assagioli’s Archives, and all its volunteers.
Creating Harmony in Life: A Psychosynthesis Approach by Roberto Assagioli
Published by the Istituto di Psicosintesi, Florence Available from Amazon ISBN 979-12-21402-74-2
This is Holy Week for many Christians who are anticipating the celebration of Easter next Sunday. Below is an article of mine that was published ten years ago in the AAP Psychosynthesis Quarterly. I describe a meeting with one of my clients that happened on Good Friday, which also that year coincided with Passover.
During this meeting, so many things started to converge and cross over that I was nearly overtaken by them. This story revolves around the converging life paths of my client and myself, and how we both ended up traveling long distances to witness and help guide our grandmothers towards their imminent death.
“It’s been a week of Passion,” Paula’s voice quivered as she dropped down into the chair in front of me. She had already emailed to say that her grandmother was dying and she couldn’t decide whether to go home. Paula had a long history of not being able to decide. We had been meeting for nearly 2-1/2 years, I as her psychosynthesis guide and she as my client. Together, we had explored her feelings of never being good enough and her consequent control of and search for illusive perfection in everything from shoes to menu items to true love. We had attempted to unravel and unbind her never-ending endings. And we had spent hours peeling away Paula’s habitual lateness to discover the face of cold fear of having to wait for the other and relive a surge of emotions around abandonment.
Her week of Passion was literal and figurative. It had been Holy Week and the day we met in 2011 was not only Good Friday, but also Jewish Passover. The word Pasque for Easter actually comes from the Hebrew word which means to “go through.” This week of ‘crossing over’, of leaving slavery for freedom, of moving from this world to the next, from death to everlasting life, seemed to reflect Paula’s own inner and outer struggle.
Since our last meeting, Paula had been confronted with death, an encounter that cannot be controlled or perfected or tricked into arriving before you or never at all. Her grandmother was dying of cancer and was finally surrendering to its call. Paula’s Nonna, an Italian as well as a private icon, no longer held the energy to sustain the Milanese family as she had for all of Paula’s 30 years.
Nonna had been the family pillar, the Corinthian column of strength and integrity around whom Christmas and birthdays and Holy Communions had been celebrated. This grandmother had finally decided to crumble, leaving everyone else to deal with their feelings of loss and painful loneliness. Grandmother, lucid and detached, was quietly slipping away. Her husband was angry that she had given up and stopped fighting, her family felt in many ways that she was already dead.
Three days earlier, Paula’s mother had called to prepare her daughter for the worst. While insisting that Paula not travel home from the Netherlands to Italy, her mother had wanted Paula to prepare for the imminent funeral. “Don’t come,” said Paula’s mother crying into the phone. “It’s better you remember her as she was. Your brother and sister go in to hug her and she does nothing. Nonna doesn’t care anymore. She doesn’t care if you are there are not. You are lucky not to see her this way. Besides, you will only have to fly back for the funeral. Get ready for that instead. It’s better this way.”
Paula recounted all this in tears. Throughout her childhood, her mother’s mother had been the one to comfort Paula, the one to take care of her while Paula’s mother fretted over Paula’s sickly younger brother, cooed over his comical antics.
Nonna had always told Paula that she was her favorite grandchild, and Paula wanted to go home and see her. But she struggled with her own mother’s wishes along with the fact that another ending was looming in front of her—her PhD thesis which was already late and had to be finished in less than three weeks. Logic and reason, Paula’s major accomplices throughout most of her lifetime, told her not to go home, and yet her heart was telling her otherwise…
You can continue reading this story below. Happy Easter!
Love and Will 