Psychosynthesis: A Manual of Psychosynthesis

in different conditions. The following is a clear instance of this. The exercise for evoking serenity is obviously most useful in counteracting the excessive tension, emotional stress, and anxiety so widespread nowadays among not only nervous patients but also "normal" people. Indeed, it should constitute a daily practice of psychological hygiene in modern life. But it would be a great mistake to make it, or similar exercises, the central part of a treatment, neglecting the use of other and quite different procedures.

If used opportunely, this exercise can eliminate obstacles to deep analysis (such as an excessive anxiety) and support the patient during the inevitable crises and upheavals produced by the analysis. But if it is used as a psychological "tranquilizer" it might produce a false sense of well-being and security, and therefore give the illusion of a cure; which would be only superficial and unreliable, because the real issues have remained unresolved.

A similar warning should be made concerning all other techniques and methods. For instance, the main contention of psycho-synthesis is that no mere analytic treatment is sufficient to bring about true integration and growth, which requires the use of active techniques and of the other helps indicated in this Manual.

In conclusion, we as therapists, while utilizing to the full all existing techniques, should bear constantly in mind that they, per say, are not enough, and that, as L.W. Dobb has warned, "technicians tend to fall in love with, and then be corrupted by, psychological weapons." (Personal Problems and Psychological Frontiers, p. 274)

However, in the case of psychosynthesis this danger can and, we hope, will be offset; first, by the very multiplicity and variety of the techniques which prevents giving undue importance to any one of them; second, by the steady cultivation and use of the synthetic spirit, by the constant endeavor to keep the entire picture in view, to relate always the part to the whole; last, by emphasizing in theory and in practice the central, decisive importance of the human factor, of the living interpersonal relation between the therapist and the patient. 0

"Note: Most of the techniques and exercises described in this Manual can also be used for psychosynihetic self-realization and for educational purposes both by teachers and parents."

General Assessment and Exploration of the Unconscious

The preliminary step in psychosynthesis, as indicated in Dynamic Psychology and Psychosynthesis (see Chapter 1), is a thorough knowledge of the conscious and the unconscious aspects of one's personality.

Psychoanalysis with its emphasis on the unconscious generally starts with the exploration of the unconscious through its specific techniques —free associations, interpretation of dreams and so on —in order to release the forces repressed in the unconscious. In our opinion, it is advisable to start with an inventory and assessment of the conscious aspect of the components of the personality, not only to follow the general rule "from the known to the unknown," but because it is imperative for each man and woman who wants to live consciously to be well aware of those elements or components of their personality —not a dim, passive awareness, but a deliberate assessment, valuation, understanding and control of them.

Moreover, the distinction between conscious and unconscious components is much less sharp than psychoanalysis asserts. It is a relative distinction; there is a constant osmosis going on between the field or area of consciousness and that of the unconscious. Further, the strengthening of the conscious personality pre- pares it for easier assimilation of the unconscious aspects. There are real dangers in the premature irruption of unconscious forces in an unprepared and loosely knit personality.

The assessment requires on the part of the patient a certain degree of the attitude of the observer. In the first stage, the subject assumes this attitude unconsciously, obliged by the task itself or —during the sessions —aided by the therapist. Later, in the course of therapy, the attitude can and should be assumed more and more consciously, deliberately and fully. By "attitude of the observer" we mean an attitude analogous to that of the scientist observing an experiment through his instruments, or the attitude of a detective observing the scene of a crime and noticing the objects existing in the room where the crime happened.

This means that the patient begins to realize that his psychological experiences and functions can be looked at objectively. Also, it means a certain dis-identification of the self from the contents of the conscious personality. This develops an increasing self-awareness which is the chief characteristic of the personal "I" or self.

Therefore, while being used and developed in and through the work of assessment, this dis-identification serves also as a technique for acquiring pure self-awareness, the pure sense of self-identity (see p. 112). This—in a sense —means the "I", or point of self-awareness, observing one's foibles, one's abilities, difficulties and conflicts in as detached and unemotional a way as one can achieve, recognizing that, of course, we are bound to be emotionally concerned, since we are dealing with ourselves; but little by little we may acquire more of a scientific attitude, and emotion may become less of a disturbing and distorting element.

Let us remember that the assessment at this stage refers primarily to the past history, to the biography of the patient. By this he is enabled to see his own life history objectively, to consider its development and to recognize the chain of causes which have operated —and may still operate.

Biography

In order to get a preliminary picture of the patient on the one hand, and to orient him towards introspection, or self-observation, on the other, it is well to begin with a biography. Some- times a verbal biography at the very start of the sessions will suffice temporarily, but in addition it is advisable to get a written biography from the patient. This has both practical and therapeutic advantages: practical, because it saves time, it saves sessions; therapeutic, because it helps the patient to make a review of his own life. When the patient first consults the therapist he usually gives various spontaneous disconnected biographical items. This provides a good opportunity to suggest to him that he makes a written biography in chronological order, so that he will be helped to know himself better and to furnish useful information to the therapist.

There is a further important advantage of a qualitative nature. In writing both conscious and unconscious factors are active; therefore, it often happens that, while the subject starts writing down what he is consciously aware of, later on things come up which he had not thought of before and which sometimes surprise him. They emerge from unconscious levels; to speak metaphorically, "the unconscious takes hold of his hand." There is a wide range of emergence of unconscious contents, including occasionally the strange cases of automatic writing. There often is a surprising qualitative difference between oral and written expression; we find that people express different aspects of their personality in writing from those they express verbally.

Diary

Whenever possible the patient should be asked to keep a diary during the treatment. This is useful in two ways: it saves time in the sessions, because the therapist can read the diary rapidly; secondly, because of the different elements which come out in the process of writing; many patients are more outspoken when they write without the presence of the therapist. This written diary gives a psychological film of the dynamic development of the patient's psychological state, of his mind-stream—using mind in the larger sense. The patient can be asked to send in the diary either one or two days before the interview, or the same morning if it is not long, furnishing thus fresh material for the session.

The technique of writing is therapeutically useful in various ways: it serves 1) for the assessment, 2) as a means of self- expression and 3) as a technique of active training in concentration, attention and will.

A complete assessment includes the following points or parts:

1. The origin of various personality traits.

2. The recognition of existing complexes. There are complexes of which the patient is often painfully aware.

3. The recognition of polarities, ambivalences and conflicts.

4. The recognition of the various "selves"; this in the sense given to them by William James. We may call them sub-personalities.

5. The persistence of traits belonging to preceding psychological ages: a) infantile, b) adolescent, c) juvenile.

A systematic questioning on these five points is made. The patient is asked, for instance, what traits he thinks he may have derived from his father and family, his mother and family. Questions on each of the five points can be asked by the therapist in the opening session or sessions, or —if the patient prefers writing because it is an easier way of expression for him, or if there are time limitations—he can be presented with a list of questions which he may then answer at home.

Origin of Traits

It is of value to the patient to know the sources of the psychological forces and qualities he is using. Therefore, the therapist should explain to the patient that there may be similarities between himself and his parents and ancestors, and that these similarities — or dis-similarities — have a bearing on the family situation; and further, that they constitute parts of his own psychological set-up. Very often patients come with some family problems — the relation to family, mother or the sibling. To know how alike, or how different, the family members are gives important clues.

The "origin of traits" means chiefly finding the characteristics of the parents and their similarities in the patient. It is such similarities of characteristics that can create a conflict between the patient and a parent, or cause them to become overly attached to each other.

But the patient should also recognize the traits that cannot be attributed to family sources. He should be asked where he sees obvious dis-similarities from the family members, or indirectly, in what way he feels apart from them or not understood, for example, artistic tendencies in a patient who is a member of a "business family." Many such non-family traits or incompatibilities may be found existing in the general environment or in particular groups to which the patient belongs. Some traits, however, have a solely individual source; one finds clearly defined tendencies or traits which have no source in the family or the general surroundings at all. These lead to the inner, more individual side of the person.

The systematic questioning on this first point, of the origin of the traits, should bring about a clear picture covering more or less fully the following points:

1) Family influences

a) from the father and his family

b) from the mother and her family

c) ancestral, from ancestors and in general from collective sources in the past

d) from siblings

2) Group and Collective Sources of the present

a) the present collective psyche of humanity as a whole

b) race-characteristics

c) national traits

d) class or social traits

e) psychological influences of any other groups to which one belongs

3) Individual characteristics not traceable to and different from family and group sources listed above.

Whenever possible, information on all these points should also be collected from the patient's family and friends.

Conscious Complexes

The second question, the recognition of existing and conscious complexes, requires first a definition of the term "complex." It is used here in the standard sense of being a conglomerate.

eration of psychological-to use a debatable word-"elements" which have developed a strong emotional charge, revealed under certain situations as typified in the inferiority complex.

The recognition of such complexes by patients is rendered easier because such terms as "inferiority complex," "father" and "mother complex" are so well known and current these days. So it is simple to quietly tell a patient that he has such a complex, and then follow up with the question: "Tell me what you know of its original beginning; from what circumstance was it derived, or from what condition? Was it in school, in the family situation, etcetera?"

Everything that is conscious or attainable in the memory of the patient can be exhausted in this way before we need turn to the unconscious contents.

In general it could be said that every phobia is a complex, but this does not necessarily constitute a problem in the person's life. For instance—to take a simple example—there are some people who are identified with their complex of inferiority to such a degree that they do not fight it; they simply have no conflict, for they are convinced that they are inferior to others. The way that they have accepted consciously that they are inferior can be masochistic, in a psychological sense. Such persons may come to the therapist with some psychosomatic complaint or to get rid of a phobia, but when they are confronted with it they may feel guilt, despair, self-pity, etcetera, but without conflict. For this the word "character-disorder" has been used.

This term with its static, permanent connotation gives a wrong impression, because as soon as the patient is made aware of the fact that he is a victim of a conflict and that there is a way out, he jumps at the opportunity, and it is of therapeutic value that he feels there is a solution to his problem. This illustrates false identification; the patient is identified with his complex but as soon as he sees that it is a complex, then in that recognition there is a beginning of dis-identification, and he can then be told that he can get rid of the complex through the techniques of psychosynthesis — thus instilling hope.

We have, of course, all kinds of sexual complexes, such as the complex of impotence; or, on the emotional level, women often have the complex of being ugly (the inferiority complex in its aesthetic aspect). Then there is the father complex in both its positive and negative manifestation—the urge to become like the father or the hatred of the father. Again, there is often a jealousy complex towards the next child, or towards the first and preferred child. In all these the characteristic is an intense emotional charge —either positive or negative; the "voltage" is characteristic of the complex, for the whole question is one of psychodynamics. Wherever there is a strong emotional voltage, enclosed in a series of ideas or one object, there is a complex.

Polarities, Ambivalences and Conflicts Polarities and ambivalences have to be distinguished from conflicts. They are not the same thing. Conflict is a stage in which the patient has recognized his complexes as such, and wants to get rid of them but is unable to do so unaided. Ambivalence, in contrast, is vacillation between two extremes —not due to his effort to be rid of one of the extremes, but simply to his oscillation between the two.

For instance: love and hate, inferiority and superiority, aggression and masochism, activity and passivity. These are polarities and ambivalences because they are spontaneous. A conflict exists only when there is an actual fight between different parts of the personality.

Very often laziness, unwillingness to act or difficulty in doing so —for instance in writing —can be due to such a situation.

Sub-Personalities

At first glance it might appear difficult to the therapist to introduce the concept of sub-personalities to the "innocent" patient. But practice has shown that the concept is easily accepted by him if presented in some way similar to the following: "Have you noticed that you behave differently in your office, at home, in social interplay, in solitude, at church, or as a member of a political party?" In that way he is easily brought to recognize the differences and even the contradictions in his behavior.

There are the two classical types: the he-man in the office and the milquetoast man in his family life, and vice-versa. Thus he can be led to the conscious recognition that, as a son, he acts differently than as a husband, or as a father. Of course, it should be explained to him that these differences are normal, because each one of us has different selves —according to the relationships we have with other people, surroundings, groups, etcetera, and it is well for us not to identify ourselves with any of these "selves," and to recognize that these are all roles that we play. And that although it seems paradoxical it is yet true that the less we are identified with a particular role the better we play it.

It is good to emphasize this "playing of roles." Actually the role is a point of arrival, not the starting point. The starting point is the complete immersion in each sub-personality, with degrees of awareness of the incongruity of the situation. The goal is the freed self, the I-consciousness, who can play consciously various roles.

William James dealt with this concept of sub-personalities — which he called "the various selves." The functions of an individual, in whom various psychological traits are not integrated, form what we consider to be sub-personalities. It is probably better to use the word "roles" instead of "functions," to avoid semantic confusion. The patient should be asked to describe himself in his various roles: as a son or daughter, as a husband or wife, as father or mother, as having a professional role of some kind; and in these roles to examine his corresponding attitudes toward subordinates, towards superiors, and towards his peers. Other sub-personalities, or roles, are those played in the different social groups, including his religious group or church, his political group or party, and other roles which he may have or may want to play in life.

The organization of the sub-personalities is very revealing and sometimes surprising, baffling or even frightening. One discovers how very different and often quite antagonistic traits are displayed in the different roles. These differences of traits which are organized around a role justify, in our opinion, the use of the word "sub-personality." Ordinary people shift from one to the other without clear awareness, and only a thin thread of memory connects them; but for all practical purposes they are different beings—they act differently, they show very different traits. Therefore, one should become clearly aware of these sub-personalities because this evokes a measure of understanding of the meaning of psychosynthesis, and how it is possible to synthesize these sub-personalities into a larger organic whole without repressing any of the useful traits.

Another advantage is that revealing the different roles, traits, etcetera, emphasizes the reality of the observing self. During and after this assessment of the sub-personalities one realizes that the observing self is none of them, but something or somebody different from each. This is a very important realization and another of the keys for the desired and future psychosynthesis. This is similar to the distinction that Jung made between "ego" and "persona" (only we speak of personam —the plural—which is more realistic and nearer to facts) and what Paul Tournier in The Meaning of Persons called "Le Personnage," which would correspond to the series of roles, and "La Personne" which corresponds to the central inner Self. Charles Baudoin also makes this same distinction.

A definite confirmation of the existence of sub-personalities is found in psychiatric literature, and cases of alternating personalities or more than two distinct personalities are reported. In some cases even the thin thread of memory, mentioned above, which connects the sub-personalities is non-existent, and one sub-personality can ignore the others. A certain number of cases have been accurately studied; one by Pierre Janet, and William James dealt with this subject in his Principles of Psychology. But the most carefully studied case is that of Miss Beauchamp by Morton Prince. Morton Prince had a most objective mind and his report is photographic, with a bare minimum of interpretation—which is fortunate because it gives us an undistofted picture. The reading of his book, Dissociation of a Personality, is more fascinating and eventful than most novels. It describes the splitting of the subject's personality into two, then three, then into four; also the warfare between the personality and a sub-personality (one sub-personality was aware of the behavior of these sub-personalities, and described and interpreted the symbolism).

Also, Thigpen and Cleckley in The Three Faces of Eve present a case history of a woman with multiple personalities, and the book was made into a successful motion picture.

Such cases, however, are not too common but rarity does not prove anything, as the analogy of the comet shows. Comets despite their rarity have taught astronomers much, not only about comets but about the universe in general. These cases conform to the conception of the self as a projection of a higher Self, because in the case of multiple personality there is a splitting into three or four selves; but the case of Miss Beauchamp shows that the multiplicity is only temporary and that the "selves" can re-unite. This illustrates the empirical reality of a personal self, while the possibility of re-union confirms the existence of a unique higher Self behind the scenes.

It is our scientific duty to point out the parapsychological aspect of certain of these cases. There are some cases — like that of Velida, reported by Janet—in which there is no trace of parapsychological elements, and all can be explained by disasso-ciation and later re-association. But in the case of Miss Beauchamp the sub-personality Sally was different from the others. Sally had a power which the others did not have, and she was excluded from the final re-association or synthesis. She agreed with Dr« Prince to retire—one does not know where.

A case studied and extensively reported by another Dr. Prince also presents evidence of parapsychological interest.

Traits Belonging to Preceding Psychological Ages

For this next step in the assessment the patient should be prepared by the therapist (through explanations of what this stage is meant to accomplish) to search himself for persisting traits belonging to preceding psychological ages: infantile, adolescent and juvenile. This self-examination can be made during the session—with time for reflection and with no pressure on the patient to answer immediately. It is worthwhile to have the patient find out for himself as much as possible what in his present feeling, thinking or behavior corresponds to' those previous stages of psychological development. Of course, during further sessions, some of these traits come up spontaneously, and as they are important, the therapist should constantly be on the watch for them and whenever they are obvious or can be inferred, the attention of the patient should be called to them.

At this point of the procedure, however, the therapist should be conscious of the fart that the persistence of such traits is not only the characteristic of patients but of every adult in general, in various degrees. Some hobbies, for instance, are evidently of that character. Many men have a hobby of electric trains. First they buy a train with the pretext of giving it to their children —but then they play with it more than the children do. As a specific instance, one of the foremost baritones in Italy has spent large sums on his hobby and has a huge room, complete with rails and locomotives. This is an obvious and amusing persistence of infantile traits; and, of course, there are several other games which have the same character and in which some adults indulge. It must be pointed out that this is not necessarily reprehensible, that it is not a thing to be labeled as a morbid symptom or anything of that kind. On the contrary, it may have its proper place—but this point will be dealt with more fully when we speak of the psychosynthesis of the ages.

Questionnaires

We now give four questionnaires which have proved useful in practice and adequate for a first rough psychological profile. They are very revealing. These four are variations of one basic questionnaire, modified by questions of growing complexity for four age groups: #1 for Children (6 to 12 years), #2 for Adolescents (13 to 17 years), #3 for Young Adults (18 to 26 years), with the latter serving, with slight modifications as #4 for Adults (over 26 years).

It is useful to present the same questions again after a month, six months or even a year. The examination of the differences in the answers provides a check on the progress of psychosynthesis.

Questionnaire 1

Questions Addressed to Children

(6 to 12 years)

1. What man, woman or child (of the past or the present) do you admire most. Why?

2. What kind of books do you like most? Which books have given you the greatest pleasure? Which books did you not like? Have any books caused you harm? How?

3. a) Which poems do you like most? Why?

b) Do you prefer pictures or statues? Which of these do you admire most? Why?

c) Which public buildings, churches and monuments have attracted your attention most?

d) Do you like music and the singing of patriotic and religious hymns? Which song and which piece of music do you like best?

e) Which do you prefer: the theatre or the cinema? Which film has impressed you most? And which film gave you the greatest pleasure? Did any films have a bad effect on you? Which ones? How did they hurt you?

4. What games and sports interest you most? Do you also like, or prefer, to be an onlooker?

5. Would you like to have a great deal of money? If you had it what would you do with it?

6. Do you prefer to play with girls or with boys? Why?

7. Do you have many friends? Are you fond of them? Why?

8. Do you prefer to be alone or with other people? Do you like being with grown-ups?

9. Do you love your country?

10. Are you sorry for the poor and for those who suffer all over the world?

11. Do you think you are good or naughty? Why? How do you distinguish good from bad?

12. Are you more often happy or sad? Which things make you most unhappy? Can you stop yourself from being sad? How do you do it?

13. Which things are giving you the greatest pleasure now? And what other things do you think would give you great pleasure?

14. What do you want to do when you are grown-up? What do you intend to do then? Would you like to do what your father (or your mother) is doing? If not, why?

15. What do you like doing most and what kinds of studies do you prefer? In which are you most successful?

16. Do you prefer to be in the country, at the sea, or in town? Why?

17. Which interest you most: animals, plants, toys or machines?

18. Do you like going to school or would you prefer to study at home?

19. Are you satisfied with yourself? Do you wish to improve? Would you like advice in this respect?

20. Do you feel that your parents and your teachers understand you? Do you get on well with them? Also with your brothers and sisters?

Questionnaire 2

Questions Addressed to Adolescents

(13 to 17 years)

1. Who is your ideal man and who is your ideal woman? W Thich men and women (of the past and the present) do you admire and appreciate most? Why?

2. What kind of books do you like most? Which books have given you the greatest enjoyment and which have benefited you most? Which books have caused you harm? Why?

3. a) Which poems and novels do you like most? Why?

b) Do you prefer pictures or statues? Which picture or statue do you admire most? Why?

c) Which public buildings, churches and monuments have attracted your attention most?

d) Do you like music and singing? Which song and which piece of music do you like best?

e) Which do you prefer: the theater or the cinema? Which film has impressed you most? And which film gave you the greatest pleasure? Did any films have a bad effect on you? Which ones? How did they hurt you?

4. What importance do you attach to sport? Which games and sports do you prefer? Do you also like, or do you prefer, to be an onlooker?

5. What value has money for you? If you had a great deal of it, how would you spend it?

6. Do you prefer friends of your own age or those older than you? Do you prefer the company of your own sex or that of the other? Why?

7. What does friendship mean to you?

8. How much and how do you feel family affection and national, social, and human solidarity?

9. How do you distinguish good from evil?

10. Was your childhood sad or happy? What things cause you to suffer most? Have you any doubts that disturb you, and that you would like to have explained to you? What are they?

11. What things give you the greatest happiness? When are you most contented?

12. What value has life for you?

13. Are you religious? Do you believe in God, in a Spiritual Reality? What do you understand by it? What importance has it in your life?

14. Which studies and activities do you prefer? In which are you most successful?

15. Which profession or activity would you like to take up? Have you decided which one, or not? What would you like to do when you are grown-up? What do you propose to do then? Would you like to do what your father (or your mother) is doing? If not, why?

16. Do you prefer to be in the country, at the sea, or in town? Why?

17. What do you think of school?

18. Are you content with yourself? Would you like to be better? Would you like advice and help in this respect?

19. Do you feel that your elders understand you? What more do you feel they should be or do?

Questionnaire 3

Questions Addressed to Young Adults

(18 to 26 years)

1. Whom do you consider as "ideal models"? Which men and women (of the past and the present) do you appreciate and admire most? Why?

2. Which are your favorite books and the ones you have most enjoyed and benefited from? Which books have caused you harm? In what way?

3. a) Which poems and novels do you like most? Why?

b) Do you prefer pictures or statues? Which of these do you admire most? Why?

c) Which public buildings, churches and monuments have attracted your attention most?

d) Do you like music and singing? Which song and which piece of music do you like best?

e) Which do you prefer: the theater or the cinema? Which film has impressed you most? And which film gave you the greatest pleasure? Did any films have a bad effect on you? Which ones? In what way did they hurt you?

4. What importance do you attach to sport? Which games and sports do you prefer? Do you also like, or do you prefer to be, an onlooker?

5. What is your attitude toward money? What significance has wealth or poverty for you? What, in your opinion, are the advantages or disadvantages of the one and the other?

6. What is your attitude toward love? What do you understand by it? What do you think of the opposite sex? What is your attitude toward marriage and children?

7. What significance and value has friendship for you?

8. Are you an individualist or do you feel family, national, social or human solidarity? Which of these do you feel most?

9. What is your attitude toward moral principles and demands? What ideas and feelings do you connect with duty?

10. What events and what inner conditions make or made you suffer most? Was your childhood happy or sad? What problems trouble you most?

11. What events and what inner conditions give, or have given you, the greatest joy? What ideas and what conditions give you the greatest satisfaction? What is your attitude toward joy and favorable circumstances? Do you think you can attain joy and happiness? By what means?

12. What is your attitude toward life? What significance, value and purpose has life for you? Are you inclined to be optimistic or pessimistic? Why?

13. What is your attitude toward religion? Do you believe in God, in a spiritual Reality? What do you understand by it? What importance has religion in your life?

14. What caused you to choose the subjects you are studying or the work you are doing?

15. Do you prefer to be in the country, at the sea, or in town? Why?

16. Which aspects of the inner life are prevalent in you and which do you like most (thinking, imagination, feeling, prayer, or contemplation)?

17. What has school given or not given you? Do you think it advisable to change the methods and programs used in education? Which of them? And how?

18. Are you satisfied with yourself? Do you think you can improve yourself? By what means? Would you like to receive advice in this respect?

19. What is your attitude toward the older generation, both generally and in regard to your family? Are there misunderstandings and conflicts? Of what kind? How do you think they could or should be overcome?

20. Have you any other ideas or suggestions and observations you would like to express regarding the problem of young people and their relationship to adults?

21. What do you think of the present political and economic conditions of the world?

22. How do you think it possible to arrive at a real and lasting peace between the peoples of the world?

23. What men, in your opinion, are today the most representative in the world?

24. Do you believe that we are actually at the end of an epoch and at the beginning of a new one? What, in your opinion, are the signs of this renewal? What characteristics

(spiritual, cultural, social, practical) will the new epoch eventually have?

Please state: The place and date of your birth; the address where you are now living; the occupation of your parents and their place of birth.

Please mark with a star(*) those statements of yours which you think express the characteristics of young people at all times, and with a cross (+) those which you think correspond to the mentality of the youth of today.

Questionnaire 4

Questions Addressed to Adults

(over 26 years)

This questionnaire comprises the twenty-four questions given in the preceding one (#3). This serves a twofold purpose: for the assessment and also to help the adult relate more satisfactorily to younger people. It brings to the fore, in the most complete manner possible, the similarities and differences existing between adults and younger age groups.

To contribute towards and promote the reciprocal knowledge and understanding which are necessary for harmonious cooperation in solving the present difficult problems of the relationship between generations, it is suggested that adults (from the age of 26 on) replying to the questions should mark:

with a cross (+) the replies which they believe to represent the views prevailing in their own generation; with a small circle (o) those replies which they believe to express their own views;

with an interrogation mark (?) those about which they are in doubt.

The Constitution of Man

At the beginning of treatment —parallel to the patient giving his spoken or written autobiography and answering the questionnaires—instructions on the psychological constitution of man should be given to him. This can be done by showing him the first pages of the monograph Dynamic Psychology and Psychosynthesis,* including the diagram (page 6), taking care to explain and emphasize the terminology adopted. There are many words which are used by different writers with quite diverse meanings; for instance: soul, irrational, unconscious, individuality, personality. The word "self" is also most confusing.

Allport, in Personality: A Psychological Interpretation, lists 50 different meanings attributed to the word "personality." Semantics is a new word for a very old realization —the ancient Chinese sages, especially Confucius, laid great emphasis on what they called "right designation."

In presenting the constitution of man to a patient we must also guard against the danger of "indoctrination." We must keep in mind that, after all, we are giving the conception of man according to psychosynthesis as it has been developed up to the present time. The patient must be made aware of the fact that it is only a working hypothesis that he is asked to accept. Everyone has some kind of a philosophy, and everyone has a kind of psychology which is generally very crude, hazy, and partly erroneous. There is a great advantage in presenting a picture of the constitution of man, provided the instruction is clearly indicated as a working-hypothesis for the treatment, without obligation on the patient's part to believe it as a fixed truth. Later, he may even find his own particular way of expressing his self-concept. But, for the practical purposes of the treatment, we must have a semantic understanding of the common frame of reference. With some patients — especially well-educated people—the monograph Dynamic Psychology and Psychosynthesis may be handed to them for study.

To others we present the conception in simpler terms. But in all cases use is made of the visual picture, the diagram on page 6 of the monograph, for it has proved in practice to be very helpful.

♦ Incorporated as Part One, Chapter One, but available in booklet form from Psychosynthesis Research Foundation, New York, N.Y.

The Self

To many, who are confronted for the first time with psychosynthesis, the concept of two selves (a "personal self and a "higher Self") seems to constitute an obstacle, but the higher Self, for instance, can —in the beginning of therapy —simply be presented as a hypothesis which will be verified or disproved later. With some we advise them not to concern themselves about it, particularly where we are dealing with only a personal psychosyn-thesis (as distinct from a spiritual psychosynthesis) and the Self, therefore, remains more or less in the background.

In cases where a patient is proceeding towards a subsequent spiritual psychosynthesis, we first point out that there is a sense of self-identity: "I am my self," but that this self-consciousness is generally hazy, because of its many identifications. Therefore a process of dis-identification is useful in order to become aware of the self-identity. The discussion of the subject with the patient can well be halted at this point, postponing until a much later stage of the treatment the question of the higher unconscious or superconscious and the spiritual Self. Only where patients, when they first come to us, already have spiritual or religious problems do we enter more thoroughly into this question at this early stage of therapy. We use a pragmatic attitude and seek —essentially —to respond to the immediate interest of the patient, to meet him on the ground of his immediate major preoccupation. In this way we are sure to capture his interest and to create the needed rapport. So, in practice, there is no rigid system, but a responding to the actual need of the unique situation of each patient and at each stage of the patient's life.

To be more specific about the presentation of the higher Self: naturally, the same explanation is not suitable for all patients, but with only a little knowledge of a patient's background and mentality we can easily vary our description appropriately. To all who are religious we can say that it is the neutral psychological term used for the soul; for those who are agnostic we use their language: presenting the hypothesis that there is a higher center in man, and explaining that there is a mass of evidence of direct experience of many people —some in the West and more in

Degree A specific "Exercise in Dis-Identification" is given on pages 116 to 119.

the East—of becoming aware of superconscious contents and of the Self. For instance, we can quote from Bucke's Cosmic Consciousness, from Ouspensky's Tertium Organum, as well as general Eastern and Western (Platonic) philosophy. As a specific example, the patient can be told: "There is evidence of direct awareness, either through spontaneous illumination, or through exercises of concentration, that such realities exist. Later on, if you are interested and when the treatment requires it, we will explore the situation more deeply."

In such ways we adapt our presentation to the patient's mentality and terminology. We translate our neutral terminology—e.g., "Self" or "superconscious" —into his terminology.

Very often patients ask for specific clarification on the quality of the Self and of so-called higher experiences. In such cases we explain some of the main characteristics. The chief quality is the experience of synthesis or the realization of individuality and universality.

The real distinguishing factor between the little self and the higher Self is that the little self is acutely aware of itself as a distinct separate individual, and a sense of solitude or of separation sometimes comes in the existential experience. In contrast, the experience of the spiritual Self is a sense of freedom, of expansion, of communication with other Selves and with reality, and there is the sense of Universality. It feels itself at the same time individual and universal.

The Self (with a capital S) is often somewhat misleadingly considered to be the central concept in psychosynthesis and the idea which really differentiates psychosynthesis from previous psychotherapeutic approaches. If this were the main idea, psychosynthesis would only attempt to develop the patient's ability to integrate his life around the spiritual Self. This, however, is only partly true; for on the personal level the psychosynthetic approach has something different to offer in psychotherapy, in education and in self-realization.

Because a good personal psychosynthesis is all that we can look for in many of our patients the idea which is of capital importance, and around which the entire personal psychosynthesis revolves, is that of a personal self, of a point of consciousness and self-awareness, coupled with its realization and the use of its directing will.

Will

We emphasize the will as being the function most intimate with the self. In this respect we may be accused of resurrecting the will of 19th Century psychology, but the latter was based essentially on the conscious aspect of personality and disregarded the unconscious forces which Freud, Jung, and others emphasized.

It is important in psychosynthesis to discriminate between the willing based on unconscious motivation and the true will of the personal self. We think that there is such a thing as the "unconscious will" of the higher Self which tends always to bring the personality in line with the over-all purpose of the spiritual Self. One of the purposes or goals of spiritual psychosynthesis is to make this "unconscious will" of the spiritual Self a conscious experience.

Later in this Manual a distinction between unconscious motive and fully self-conscious motivation will be drawn more clearly. (See "The Technique for the Development of the Will")

We think it preferable to speak of a "superconscious will," meaning that it operates from a level at which the conscious personal self is not aware. Of course, everything of which that conscious self is not aware can be called "unconscious," including the lower, middle, and higher part of the unconscious. But we think that whenever possible it is better to indicate the level of which we are speaking, and therefore use for the higher unconscious the word "superconscious," although in so doing we use it in a neutral, descriptive way.

Valuation

By the mere use of the word "super" we give it value, we assume that it is superior to the conscious personal self; and here is a problem which could best be called "The Inevitability of Valuation." Many psychologists who refuse to accept valuation are making valuation judgments all the time, although blissfully unconscious of it. Surely it is better to do it consciously and deliberately. For instance, the difference between ourselves and a tape-recorder is that while we speak we do not notice the ticking of the clock and other noises around us, because we do not value them as of importance or relevant. But, in contrast, a tape-recorder does not discriminate; for the microphone, intelligent sounds and senseless noises have the same value —it is a purely physical intensity which is registered. With us, there is continuously—and happily —this selective activity of attention, and this implies a judgment value.

In this respect it is interesting to note that in the last few years an increasing number of clinicians have started to talk about the problem of values in psychotherapy, of the relationship between the values of the therapist and the values of the patient, whether and when it is advisable for the therapist to divulge his own values, how he can help the patient to more mature values, and so on. The question of values is simply unavoidable, and we must face the problem.

The persisting resistance to and denial of values among many psychologists can be explained, we think, historically. In the 18th Century there were fixed sets of so-called objective values, ethical and religious, imposed from without by authority, often rigid and sometimes even inhuman. Inevitably, there resulted an uprising, a revolt against such authoritarian values and dogmatic theories, and so the pendulum has swung to the other extreme.

Now it is time to try to find the middle path, to empirically endeavor to establish the relative values based on vital criteria. We insist on the adjective "relative" because, while there may be great ethical and spiritual principles, their values in the psychological sense can only be related to the individual, to his age, to his general condition and to his stage in therapy.

Assessment of the Higher Aspects

It is relevant at this point to take up the question of assessment as far as it concerns the higher unconscious, the supercon-scious—or, rather, the higher aspects of the personality. These can well be put within the category of "conception of the world," "Weltanschauung" or "philosophy of life." As Moliere's character, M. Jourdain, says, he had been talking prose all his life and never knew it till his professor told him; so everybody—even primitive people—have some kind of view or conception of life, which can be called a philosophy of life. Sometimes they are conscious of it; sometimes it is implied but easily brought to awareness; we could call it pre-conscious in Freud's terminology. Sometimes, instead, it is quite unconscious and comes up only in the technique of exploration of the unconscious. Here again, we see there is no hard and fast division between conscious and unconscious. A philosophy of life includes inevitably a set of values, so we see that the consideration of values is inescapable. Therefore, in the assessment of the patient, the subject is very easily brought up —either from relevant answers to the questionnaire or through direct interrogation, using of course language appropriate to his cultural level and explaining that the questions are asked so that we may know where he stands on these common human problems and concerns. For instance, we can ask: "What, according to you, is the purpose and the meaning of life; individual, collective, universal?" "What are your ethical standards?" "What are your religious beliefs, if any?"

When the patient answers, the therapist must remain silent, be completely objective for the time being, making no comments, in order not to influence or repress the patient in any way. Comments on his answers will come in much later sessions, and we will touch on this when we take up the other stages of psychosynthe-sis. These initial questions are simply for the therapist's information, and we tell the patient so. We reassure him that we will not seek to influence him in any way, but that we need to know his beliefs and values because they are a vital part of his being and may have some bearing on his neuroses. In putting it in that way, we keep a patient free from many inhibitions and anxieties.

There is a specific test on this subject which we have found most revealing. We call it the "Cosmic Test"; that is, to bring the patient to face the immensity, the infinity in space and time of the universe. The reactions vary, but often there are two markedly opposite ones.

One is a sense of crushing anxiety, almost despair—a dramatic realization of the smallness, helplessness of the little individual in this enormous cosmic reality and process. The other reaction is a sense of elation, of expansion of consciousness, a sense of reverence, sometimes even of worship and joyous participation in that larger reality, a sense of relief from the narrow limitations of the personal self, and a sharing, a communion in universal life. This latter response is not only revealing but also therapeutic, because in this setting the trouble of the neurotic personality takes its proper dimension. This therapeutic value we will discuss later for this cosmic test is part of a further technique used in a later stage of psychosynthesis. At this initial stage, however, it is simply a test in the assessment, later it becomes a technique for infusing a sense of right proportions into the world of the individual.

For this cosmic test any of the many fine astronomical photographs available are good, particularly some of the galaxies, of the island-universes, pointing out that they are composed of millions of suns and that these island-universes are numberless. But a more specific and effective means is that constituted by the small book by Kees Boeke, Cosmic View —the Universe in 40 Jumps, published first in resume in the unesco Courier of May 1957. (Incidentally, the Courier is a magazine which we strongly recommend because it has much material useful for psychosynthesis, especially for inter-individual psychosynthesis.)

Although the book was written essentially for children, the illustrations can well be used for adults. Kees Boeke was the founder and former director of the "Workplats" children's community at Bilthoven, Netherlands, a pioneer "comprehensive school" created in 1926.

It is suggested, when using this material as a test, to start with illustration No. 9, the Planet, thus emphasizing the larger picture, the place of our little planet in the Solar System, in the Milky Way, and in the Universe. The picture may be shown along with a brief reading of part of the description given by the author. When arriving at the last picture in the series the patient can be asked: "What is your personal reaction to this realization of the vastness of the Universe?" The reactions of the patient are sometimes truly dramatic, but of course we not only listen to what he says, but we watch his whole behavior, including the subtle emotional reactions.

Later, if Boeke's book is used in the technique of inducing a right sense of proportion, we show all the illustrations from No. 1 onwards, followed by the series showing man in relation to smaller and smaller objects. In other words, first man's relationship to the Macrocosm, and then to the microcosm. This procedure is very revealing, very simple and quick.

Exploration of the Unconscious

Association Test

In the exploration of the unconscious we come to psychoanalytic techniques in the strict sense. The first technique used is that of word association—the patient's reactions to a series of word 7 stimuli. With modifications referred to below we have used Jung's"hundred words" which he used at the beginning of his psychoanalytical practice and about which he wrote in his book"Stu-dien über Assoziation". With some additions they have proved to be a very fruitful survey of the field of the unconscious, using"survey" in a similar sense as in the systematic drilling of territory for oil.

Through these probes with word-stimuli the chief complexes often emerge clearly, and — continuing the oil survey analogy — points are indicated where it is profitable to drill further and deeper.

In studying the patients' reactions we are concerned with what in German is called "Komplex-Merkmale," the signs of symptoms of complexes. The first and most telling symptom is the prolongation of the time of reaction, that is, hesitation or even failure to answer. In Jung's studies he carefully recorded the length of the reaction time.

However, a short prolongation in reaction time is not always indicative, because it can be due to various causes; for instance, the reaction to abstract terms is habitually a little longer than the reaction to concrete and familiar words. The reaction to long words is often a little longer than the reaction to short words, and so on. Therefore, to be relevant to the purpose of analysis, the prolongation must be marked and therefore clearly observable without any need of measurement.

Other signs of a complex are, of course, emotional reactions with their psychosomatic symptoms —such as short nervous laughs or signs of embarrassment —and the inhibition of any reaction is yet more revealing. The association experiment is generally carried out in two sessions of 50 words each; but with some patients it may be advisable to use four sessions of 25 words each.

Immediately after having completed the test it is good to also follow Jung's procedure of repeating the experiment. In the second run through, there is psychoanalytical, diagnostic value if the reaction is different. The analysis of the reactions can be done either immediately, in the same session, or later on.

Over a period of time we experimented by adding to each of the fifty-word sessions ten more words in which were included three or four words bearing relationship to probable specific complexes or difficulties of the patient, surmised from the biography and other techniques of the general assessment. At the present time, the modification which we have found to be the most helpful has been the use, in succession, of a series of words (generally 20) chosen to elicit reactions consonant with the specific complex which we surmise to be present, or which will elicit further reactions that may indicate some other complex or other unconscious contents, some spiritual or —as is often the case — some noetic problem. This technique has proved very revelatory.

A general remark which is relevant here applies to most of the techniques mentioned in this Manual, but is of special importance at this particular stage of the treatment. It is whether the therapist should discuss the findings of the association test with the patient or not. To this question one cannot give a definite "yes" or "no," for it is a part of the techniques that must be left very fluid and must be adapted to each case individually. Sometimes the reactions can be analyzed without giving evidence to the patient of what we have found.

Sometimes we do not even analyze in the same session; in other cases we discuss the findings with the patient and immediately enter into the depth psychology. The course adopted depends entirely on the individual characteristics of the patients. There are patients who have no idea of psychology and there are patients who have already gone through several psychoanalytic treatments.

Therefore, this part of the technique must be correspondingly varied. It depends so much on the psychological type of the patient, on his cultural level, on his attitude towards these matters.

As a general rule it can be said that the patient should only be told that which seems really useful and desirable for the therapeutic purpose; and we should not indulge in the temptation of theoretical inquiry and theoretical research—which would be of no benefit to the patient and perhaps harmful, unduly prolonging the treatment or even sidetracking it. Therefore, the explanations and interpretations which we share with the patient are mainly those necessary for the next technique and stage in the treatment.

Dreams

One of the best known and most widely used techniques for the exploration of the unconscious, extensively adopted by Freud and his followers, is that of dreams. While we will not enter here into a discussion of Freud's system of interpretation, we would point out that although dreams do give access to the unconscious of the subject, we have often found that they give access only to one part of it. In many subjects only one part of the unconscious is able or cares to express itself through dreams.

There are many kinds of dreams: of very different type, quality and meaning. (We have made a classification of dreams which we hope to include in a later book.) In our practice we ask patients to recount their dreams, and we give them the needed instructions for the analysis of them, but we definitely point out the fact that dream-interpretation is only one of the techniques and not the chief one.

Projective Techniques

Now let us consider briefly the expressive techniques, which include free drawing, free movement, clay modelling, etcetera, and some of the projective techniques such as the Thematic Apperception Test, the Rorschach, the drawing of the Tree, the Szondi Test and others.

Most of these projective techniques are called tests, which shows that they have been developed more for diagnostic purposes, and for the purposes of differential psychology (i.e., establishing psychological types, etcetera), than for directly therapeutic purposes. The two ways of using them overlap, but they are mainly diagnostic tests and therefore more generally used by psychologists with a "laboratory-mentality" than with a "therapy-mentality." Free drawing, clay modelling, and movement, being active techniques, are more truly expressive techniques, which also have purposes other than testing. Of course, they can and do give insight into the working of the unconscious. We will deal with them more fully later in their particular frame of reference.

T.A.T

A comment on the T.A.T is appropriate at this point, because it is so widely used. We have used it, but have found that it does not evoke the superconscious levels; the T.A.T pictures are chosen with a view to drawing out the standard, well-known complexes, but not the higher drives or problems, or any repressed higher unconscious material. Therefore in practice we generally use other pictures chosen with the purpose of evoking such higher material.

While we have a relatively small number of pictures which can be used with almost all patients, we often used special pictures for a particular patient for a special purpose. Because, as we have stated earlier, in therapy we have no statistical preoccupation, nor aim at exact comparisons, we use what we find of immediate usefulness in a specific case or specific phase of the treatment. Thus, here again the aim is to remain flexible and adaptable to individual needs. Therefore a small number of standard pictures are sufficient, but we strongly advise the therapist to choose others which he considers specifically relevant to the particular needs of his various cases.

As to the actual procedure in the therapy: it is preferable to keep instructions to the patient deliberately vague, asking him for instance, "What does this picture suggest to you?" "What does it evoke in you? Let your imagination have free play." In this way we do not directly ask for a personal reaction, because to ask for a definite story —as in the T.A.T —might inhibit a patient with little imagination. We thus attempt to strike a happy medium between the composition of a story and a personal reaction; but in effect, some patients react personally, almost violently, whereas others enter into a kind of day-dreaming about the material. Both responses are revealing.

Initiated Symbol Projection

, developed and used by Dr. Hanscarl Leuner, is both a psycho-diagnostic and psychotherapeutic technique. Briefly it consists in placing the patient in a comfortable chair or on a couch, asking him to close his eyes, inducing him to relax by one or other methods. Then the patient is asked to visualize a standard series of twelve symbolic situations presented verbally by the therapist.

A description of these basic symbols and an introductory discussion of the significance and interpretation of patients' reactions to them is given in the paper. Initiated Symbol Projection by Dr. William M. Swartley. This paper —based on unpublished manuscripts by Hanscarl Leuner, which unfortunately, at the time of writing, have not yet been translated from German into English — is given in the Appendix. p. 287; and is also available as a separate pamphlet from the Psvchosvnthesis Research Foundation. New York.

The results, both diagnostically and therapeutically, so far obtained indicate that Initiated Symbol Projection is a valuable technique in the process of psychosynthesis.

Free Drawing

Another fruitful technique for the exploration of the unconscious is that of free drawing. This is not surprising. As i matter of fact, originally writing was drawing.

The first writing was ideographic: it was through pictures: and the unconscious, which in certain respects has primitive and archaic traits, uses more easilv—one might sav more happilv— picture language, which can be called the use of symbols. It is well known that everv abstract word is a symbol of something concrete. For instance, anima (soul) comes from the Greek animos— wind. Spirit is also spoken of as "breath": and Diaus. Deus. the name for God. means "shining."

Therefore it is not surprising that free drawing; entices—so to speak—the unconscious, which expresses itself freely through it. Also this technique has a double use. attracting unconscious contents to the surface of consciousness and also functioning as an active method for psychosvnthesis. But at this point we will refer only to the first function, that of bringing to the surface unconscious contents.

To elicit free drawing we tell the patient to procure paper or a notebook of a rather large size and a set of colored pencils. We ask him to sit down in front of the paper, with all the pencils ready to hand; then just to begin playing, to draw lines of different colors automatically, "letting it happen" in a free, relaxed, playful mood, seeing with eager curiosity what will happen. We emphasize the fact that we are looking for nothing artistic, nothing which has any aesthetic value, because usually the immediate objection he makes is: "But I am not able to draw!" and we answer: "So much the better. Any academic training in drawing or any practice in aesthetic drawing would be a drawback and would have almost to be un-learned. So, the fact that you are 'virgin soil' in this connection is favorable; it is an advantage and not a drawback."

So we advise the patient not to think out in advance what he is going to draw, because this would prevent a free flow of unconscious material. On the other hand, if he finds himself beginning to be almost impelled in an automatic manner, having very little control over his hand, it may be wise to tell him to stop —if we have, for example, an individual who tends toward dissociation. However, before stopping him, we should try to tell him to become wide awake, not to fall into hypnosis or semi-hypnosis, and to look carefully at what his hand has done; because we believe that independent activity of the unconscious is, up to a certain point, a normal state.

Hypnosis

Another technique for the exploration of the unconscious, which chronologically in the history of analysis was the first one used, is hypnosis. It is common knowledge that it was through hypnosis that first Breuer then Freud found the origin of certain neurotic symptoms, which started the research and practice of psychoanalysis. In hypnosis the waking consciousness is abolished; therefore, the unconscious can freely emerge; but this technique has serious inconveniences. It tends unduly to dissociate the patient, to make him too passive and dependent upon the thera-pist-hypnotizer, and very extensively responsive to his suggestions, even if they are unconscious ones. Moreover, hypnosis, in our opinion and subject to the exceptions mentioned below, is not necessary. Allied in a sense to hypnosis is narco-analysis, which has been and is being used as a kind of shortcut. This too has similar drawbacks to hypnosis. Therefore we do not adopt actively those methods, but we utilize and even encourage light hypnoidal states, occurring in deep relaxation, in which unconscious material spontaneously emerges.

In parenthesis, we should mention that we do not consider that hypnosis should be completely excluded in all psychotherapy. It is clearly apparent from experience that it can be usefully applied for anesthesia, in dental practice and in minor surgical operations, especially when the heart condition or other physical conditions are against the use of the ordinary means of anesthesia or when those means can be applied only in minimum quantities.

In such and similar cases, we think that the use of hypnosis is not only justified, but proves to be of real help. The same can be said concerning the elimination of disturbing symptoms such as continuous vomiting during the early gestation period or compulsive hiccups.

Dangers and Drawbacks

We must indicate the possible dangers of the exploration of the unconscious. The first and foremost is the release of drives and emotions which were locked in the unconscious and which can flood the conscious ego before it is ready and prepared and competent to contain, control and utilize them. It is the situation of the "apprentice sorcerer." Let us remember in this respect that Adler has rightly pointed out that a neurosis is often a defense mechanism or structure for keeping within safe bounds destructive, menacing, and otherwise overpowering drives. Therefore, when we try to undo this defense mechanism we must be ready to help the patient to deal with the unleashed energies. This is a very important point. We think that cases of suicide or of the development of psychotic states can be due to the premature and uncontrolled release of explosive drives and emotions from the unconscious.

A second drawback—less serious but also important—is that of increasing the dissociation, of emphasizing the multiplicity, and the trend to retrogression to primitive stages; a losing of the self in the great sea of the unconscious.

A third drawback can be an excessive preoccupation with oneself, an excessive interest in the unconscious, resulting in excessive introversion, in a morbid self-analysis.

Another, a fourth danger, is that of exaltation. The inflow of potent psychological forces can give to the subject a sense of grandeur, of power, of the personal self that is being built up. To use the witty terminology of Jung —it is psychic inflation. He describes it at length in his book, Die Beziehungen zwischen dem Ich und dem Unbewussten (translated into English as "The Relations between the Ego and the Unconscious," see Two Essays in Analytical Psychology", Part One, "The Effects of the Unconscious upon the Conscious").

The frequent cases of spontaneous irruption and the overflowing of unconscious aspects into the conscious personality confirm the dangers we have mentioned above. These happen in so-called "mania," which is marked by uncontrolled exuberance and incoherent ideas flowing in the stream of consciousness, and in its contrary, depression, in which negative contents of the unconscious fill the field of consciousness. This also happens in a different way in schizophrenic disorders.

Apart from these psychotic conditions, the dangers are greater in all who are psychic, sensitive or mediumistic, in whom this blending of conscious and unconsciousness is much more extensive than is normally the case. This also applies to artists who, in a sense, depend on the inspiration of the unconscious for creativity, and also to some of the mystics of a more passive and negative type.

Fractional Analysis

Precautions have to be taken, and psychosynthesis has a definite way of preventing some of these pathological reactions to the exploration of the unconscious.

Such dangers can be successively offset by what we call "fractional analysis," that is, not starting first with the analysis of the unconscious, but with the conscious assessment, with the consolidation of the conscious personality, and, moreover, with the establishing of the positive rapport between the therapist and the

Collected Works of C. G. Jung, volume 7 (1953)

patient. This is the reason why, as already described in the preceding pages, we begin with the exploration of the conscious. Then the exploration of the unconscious is carried out "by installments," so to speak, that is, part of a session is given to a particular exploratory technique, and then it is stopped and other techniques dealing with the conscious aspect are used. So, the quantity of analysis, of exploration of the unconscious, is relatively limited during the treatment, and care is taken that the varied quota or amount or voltage of energies released from the unconscious into the conscious is immediately dealt with—cautiously; it is controlled, transmuted or utilized through expression. Another point is that we do not aim at a thorough, complete, exhaustive exploration of the unconscious. We have not found it necessary for therapeutic and psychosynthetic purposes to look almost pedantically into every little corner of the unconscious, dust it free from every last bit of—let us call it—dirt or impurity. We think we can —as normal people generally do —put up with a certain amount of unanalyzed unconscious material, as long as it remains more or less quiet and does not interfere with normal life and normal activities.

We do not aim at perfection in this respect, and this explains the paradox of the shorter time which psychosynthesis takes, compared with the classical psychoanalysis. Therefore, as we have found in practice, we can go as far as this: after a certain amount of analysis, sufficient for the immediate situation of the patient, we end it for the time being; and if something has remained in the unconscious which is really disturbing it will give notice through resistances and through other symptoms in the course of the proceeding treatment. Then, when the unconscious again takes up the offensive, when it throws up resistance or symptoms, then we undertake another period of analysis to* remove that difficulty or block. This sequence is repeated as circumstances necessitate, even towards the end of the therapy.

We take the practical view: when the unconscious disturbs, it has to be dealt with; if it keeps quiet, we do not make a systematic offensive against it.

Personal Psychosynthesis — Techniques

Catharsis We now turn to a group of techniques which help to dispose of the excessive energies released by the exploration of the unconscious, and which also serve in handling the excess of emotional energy which many people have in their psychological make-up, or which may be aroused by some external stimulus, situation or person. Catharsis, of course, has been much emphasized and used in psychoanalytic treatment, as demonstrated in the famous case of Anna A. described by Breuer and Freud in the classical Studien ilber Hysterie ("Studies in Hysteria"). The latter shows an important fact: that it was not the mere fact of bringing to consciousness an unconscious content which produced the healing, that is, the elimination of the symptoms, but it was the emotional discharge which accompanied it.

Live It Again

This basic technique is very simple. It consists in asking the patient to live again, as realistically as possible, the scene or situation which aroused the emotional disturbance, letting the emotion have a free psychosomatic discharge. The process can be re- peated several times, until the intensity of the emotional upheaval gradually decreases and finally exhausts itself.

The applicability and limitations of this technique are easy to understand. Its maximum usefulness is in cases of a well-defined traumatic experience, or when there is also protracted emotional tension in the patient's situation. However, it is merely a relief which can eliminate some symptoms, but it cannot be considered in any way as a cure. It does not eliminate the causes, which produced the symptoms and made possible the accumulation of the emotional charge.

The most favorable condition for the performance of this technique is provided when the patient is stretched on a couch in a state of relaxation, the eyes closed; then he is asked to recollect the event, not as an objective event as seen by a spectator, but as a participator or as a living actor. It is of importance to really re-live the experience, to recall fully, encouraging the free flow of the emotions instead of trying to control them, as perhaps the patient had done at the original time of the experience.

Here we should take into consideration the fact that the process can be very complex—technically speaking. It is actually a process of identification, re-living the scene which may be composed of feeling, hearing, and visualization, all at the same time. Therefore, we do not specifically suggest that the patient recall the visual image or the re-hearing of sounds, etcetera We only tell him: "Imagine that you are actually in that situation again—that you are again living the experience."

According to whether the patient is a visual or an auditory type he will naturally emphasize the one or the other, but that is not important. The importance lies in putting himself into the given situation; and to suggest either auditory or visual images would divert his attention from the actual identification with that event.

This same technique—of living in imagination an event or situation and letting the accompanying emotion have a free outlet—can be also applied to future events of which the person may be afraid, the expectation of which evokes anxiety. But as this technique is part of a more complete exercise for this purpose we will describe the exercise in full at the proper time in our exposition.

Verbal Expression Another cathartic technique, often spontaneously used by patients, is that of verbal expression. It is well known that when a person, for instance, has been in danger, say in a train or airplane accident, he has an almost compulsive tendency to relate the event in a dramatic way, with great display of emotion, and to retell it several times. This is a self-therapeutic process because, after a certain number of times, the emotion is discharged — a little each time the experience is retold.

As we can expect, other elements may come in which are not of a therapeutic nature; as an example, the subject can utilize the incident for displaying self-importance, to attract the attention of others, to put himself at the center of the stage. But this does not prevent the actual discharge of emotion taking place; even the satisfaction of attracting the interest of others to oneself is therapeutic on that level. This is what happens with some patients sometimes in sessions; they repeat over and over again similar complaints, similar incidents and similar troubles.

Sometimes this is valuable, but sometimes it has to be stopped, particularly in the case of hypochondriac patients, who use it to gain attention. In the latter cases it is not a real emotional discharge, and often they do not show the psychosomatic symptoms of the expulsion of the emotion; it is the urge —in an introvert attitude of masochistic self-complacency—to arouse pity and interest. The psychological effect is different because the inner attitude is different.

Writing

Another technique for giving release to emotions in a therapeutic way is that of writing. For instance, when there is a strong resentment against somebody, either justified or not, the therapist may suggest to the patient: "Sit down and write a letter to that person giving free expression to all your resentments, your indignation, stating your rights — holding nothing back. Then either give it to me or burn it."

This technique is more helpful than it may appear, because it involves the interesting mechanism of symbolic satisfaction. The unconscious is satisfied by this symbolic act of retaliation in writing. This should always be remembered because it is useful in many ways to relieve emotional tension.

Diary

Another way to utilize writing as an emotional discharge is by keeping a diary. Some criticism—which in our opinion is unjust—has been made against diaries; it considers them only suitable for sentimental and idle people and as encouraging excessive introversion; this is not necessarily so. It is a fact that many strong and active men have kept diaries. Of course, a diary has various kinds of usefulness; but here we mention only the advantage it provides of a constant release of the emotions aroused by current situations.

The fact that emotion is released and is, in a certain sense, "accumulated" in the diary, brings up the problem of the effect that such writings may have on others. To put it bluntly, these effects can be really, psychologically poisonous. Because of this, a great responsibility is involved in making public or giving to others writings which carry such powerful emotional charges. We have an historical example of this in Goethe's novel Die Leiden des jungen Werther. As is well known, the youthful Goethe went through a violently romantic phase and fell in love with a married woman whom he could not hope to marry. After the break-up of the affair and his renunciation he went through a period of great depression and harbored ideas of suicide; but having literary talent, he poured into his novel all his emotional anguish and his unfulfilled desire. The tragic result was that several young men, after reading Werther, committed suicide. It is not necessary to emphasize the deduction that can and should be made from this example. Also, it is by no means an isolated case.

It is good, therefore, to suggest to a patient that he keep a diary, and to encourage him to show it to the therapist by pointing out to him the advantages we mentioned earlier: the saving of time in the sessions, and giving a more complete picture because he may otherwise forget relevant things that come to his mind between sessions. Furthermore, there is the fact that in writing one expresses different sides of the personality; some people are freer, less inhibited in writing than in speaking about delicate subjects face to face with the therapist.

The patient is asked to keep the diary in loose-leaf form so that he can give the latest newly written pages to the therapist at the beginning of each session. If the diary is not too long it can be read through rapidly in a few minutes and the material may be used immediately for that session. If it is too long it can be read later and the information used for the next session.

Muscular Discharge

Another method of catharsis which really comes under the category of transmutation but which, because of its simplicity, we will take up here, is that of muscular discharge. This is particularly helpful in dealing with the aggressive drives; and can also have a symbolic meaning which satisfies the unconscious.

In many cases of neurotic disturbances varied forms of this technique can be applied with good results provided the patient is able (or can be enabled by the therapist) to adopt an attitude of awareness towards his selected actions, to develop a sense of detachment and of being the witness of himself, so that he performs the acts deliberately, and whenever possible with a sense of humor. This, in reality, constitutes an "exercise," which combines several techniques, but we will nevertheless give a typical example.

A young man, the son of a bank director, at the age of about 16 had developed two sets of symptoms. One was sudden fits of rage in which he broke furniture in his home. The other was a phobia of going out of the house and of walking in the streets alone. This latter symptom particularly disturbed him; he was angry because he had the phobia but he could not overcome it.

We started therapy in the following way. He had said that perhaps at the very onset of his fits of rage he might be able to do something to check them, but that after that first stage he was impotent and could not control his rage at all. So we told him to prepare beforehand some objects to break or material to destroy—he chose some old telephone directories. When he felt the first symptoms of his next fit of rage coming on, he ran for the telephone directories and tried to tear them to pieces, taking many pages at a time so as to demand greater muscular exertion; and at the same time he tried to see the funny side of his action and to remember that he was doing it in order to release his an- ger. He repeated this performance several times with successive fits of anger, with very good results. He broke no more furniture, and after a few times he began to laugh towards the close of his destructive bouts —as he said, he found them ludicrous. At the same time the phobia of going out alone (which might have been a form of unconscious self-punishment caused by a feeling of guilt) subsided and was finally eliminated.

In this case there was no deep analysis made, because it was not necessary to make the patient aware of the conflict. To the therapist it was obvious that it was the standard conflict between the drive to independence and the inhibition of the same drive, caused by an authoritarian father. Of course, the therapist spoke to the parents and tried to induce them to change their conduct, but whether they did so or not, certainly the therapeutic effect of the technique on the son was very rapid.

Drawbacks of the Technique

Concluding this part on catharsis we should point out a possible drawback—or even danger —of these techniques, especially of the one first mentioned, re-living. On some people a re-living of a dramatic or traumatic scene may have an effect contrary to the one aimed at. A kind of feedback effect and a recharging of the emotional tension may occur instead of the discharge. This depends on the psychological type of the patient and on his attitude.

It is, however, relatively easy to detect when this is happening, and then either the technique has to be abandoned, or it has to be altered and adapted to the individual. And, of course, the patient should be made aware of what has occurred and the adaptation made.

In most of these cases it will be advisable to postpone this technique to a time when the personality is sufficiently organized and self-conscious, because at an earlier stage the personal self may not be strong enough for such "deep-digging" analysis and for the assimilation and regulation of the emotional forces released by the cathartic process.

Critical Analysis

Another cathartic technique is that of critical analysis. The rationale behind this technique has been already indicated in Chapter One, pp. 22 to 24; that is, criticism and analysis tend to control to some degree —and in certain cases to even paralyze — emotions and feelings.

The degree of control exercised by the mind over the emotions is relative; it varies in effectiveness with the individual and the various psychological types, but in every case there is a certain amount of influence by the mind and this can be increased through conscious deliberate use and training. The patient can and should be encouraged to use his mind, through observation and discrimination, to bring clearly into his awareness the irrational aspect of his drives and emotions, and also the possible drawbacks and harmfulness to himself and others of their uncontrolled manifestation. The sense of responsibility resulting from such recognition—or even the mere fear of harmful consequences of uncontrolled emotional expression — arouses an opposing emotion through which a primary drive or emotion is often conveniently neutralized, in part if not wholly so.

Procedure

This could be described as impersonal observation which, in its turn, is made possible by a certain degree of disidentification. Therefore some practice of the latter is helpful, for in some cases critical analysis may even be considered as a constituent part of the technique of disidentification.

In introducing this technique to the patient it is advisable to make him clearly aware of two basic points or possibilities.

First, that to act on the spur of an impulse, a drive or an intense emotion can very often produce undesirable effects which one afterwards regrets. Secondly, therefore, he should learn —by repeated experiment and effort—to "insert" between impulse and action a stage of reflection, of mental consideration of a situation, and of critical analysis of his impulse, trying to realize its origin, its source.

Then, if he finds that its source is not "high" and is conducive to action that is undesirable and may have regrettable con-

108 Psychosynthesis

sequences, he must proceed with the aid of this clear mental anticipation of its possible effects, to consciously control the impulse, but control it without suppression. It is essential to make sure that the patient has clearly understood the instructions and grasps the idea and purpose of this period of mental reflection and assessment, and any questions on his part should be carefully answered. The reference to "control without suppression" is fundamental; it is the core of the technique.

The very important difference, to be grasped by the patient and not only by the therapist, is that suppression tends to push the drive back again into the unconscious, whereas control implies neither fear nor condemnation but mastery and regulation. In other words, control allows for expression, but expression in some harmless or useful way. Control ensures a "lull" or the time necessary to proceed with the further task of utilizing the energy of the drive or emotion. (The utilization by re-direction or transmutation of that energy is the purpose of a technique which is taken up later.) Control is not an end in itself but a means of storing energies in a harmless way until they can be disposed of in a useful or creative way.

The whole process has four stages:

- First, these techniques bring forth an awareness of drives, feelings and emotions hitherto kept unconscious;

- Second, the control and "storage" of their energies;

- Third, their transformation and sublimation, in order.

- Fourth, to finally express them effectively and constructively.

So, we would again stress here that psychosynthesis is not anti-analytical and that it includes and even demands a full recognition of unconscious motives and feelings; but in addition to this, psychosynthesis supplies techniques whereby the released energies can either be expressed directly —but in a regulated way—or transformed into higher energies.

Indications and Applications

The use of this technique is clearly indicated whenever there is an excess of emotional affective energies and of undesirable drives. Therefore, this technique is useful not only for the surplus of such forces, released by the exploration of the unconscious, but also for the exuberant forces which are constitutional and belong to the psychological type of the individual, as well as for those waves of emotion and stimuli or urges which come from collective impacts and influences, both conscious and unconscious. We refer to mob-psychology and to the constant suggestion exercised by newspapers, radio, T.V, advertising, etcetera These constitute a real danger, a constant source of emotional excitement which is i ery harmful and really constitutes one of the worst aspects of present-day civilization. Therefore, the scope of this technique of critical analysis is very great and its usefulness, even its necessity, is evident.

Limitations

As with every technique, this one can be used in an exaggerated or inopportunely way. It may constitute a handicap or inhibition to action. It can develop an overcritical attitude, and foster criticism of other people. Therefore it must be adapted to real need and be used in strictly regulated and directed ways. The technique would be contra-indicated with those individuals who are overintellectualized, and particularly those who are basically extremely critical, for it would only intensify their unbalanced condition.

In order to minimize and offset some of the drawbacks of this technique, it is well to warn patients—particularly emotional types —not to make critical analysis a vehicle or screen for aggressive drives directed to others. This is very important, because their line of least resistance would be to express their drives in such a way that criticism would be at the service of the drives.

Another limitation of critical analysis is this: there are many idealists who are so taken by their ideal of perfection that they almost become prisoners of it and demand perfection of themselves and, even more often, of others; they criticize and emphasize everything which falls short of this ideal of perfection, which eventually can arouse a sense of frustration, anxiety, despondency or, again, excessive criticism. They do not realize that between present conditions and the ideal goal there can and inevitably always will exist many intermediate steps, and that it is sufficient if they are able to take-or help others to take—the next step. It could be called the attitude of right relativity, of wise compromise between the ideal and present reality.

Examining the question in a still wider framework, we may say that the tension arising from the vision of the future in opposition to present conditions can be creative only if it is considered and utilized as a stimulus to action, and as something good and inevitable. An analogy may make this clearer. Our sight should always be ahead of our feet; it is bad when, as too often happens, the vision is limited to the ground beneath our feet; just as, if one keeps the eyes steadily fixed on the far away mountain top, one can stumble and fall on the way.

The eye has the faculty of rapidly changing its focus and point of interest from the step immediately ahead, through all the intermediate ones up to the mountain top, the goal —and vice-versa. In the same way our mental eye, our personal consciousness, should embrace the whole range from the immediate to the far off, and focus on that point or distance which is the most useful at any given time and in any particular situation.

In practice there are two main methods which can be used: the first would be the reduction of the ideal to a more realistic and attainable one. This is the method that is usually advised. It presents, however, a certain degree of danger, which is the leveling off of the high ideal and therefore the reduction of the point of tension, and sometimes a prostitution of what was originally an idealistic goal to some now "pedestrian" materialistic aim. Therefore, the second way is preferable: to help the individual to define his ideal, no matter how high it is, but at the same time to help him to arrive at some sub-goal or sub-ideal that is more realizable, which the patient defines and crystallizes, and then eventually materializes. This can be done in a succession of steps. If, to start with, we make these steps small, close enough and easily attainable, there results in the patient a feeling of success and achievement, which has a very important reinforcing value, and to some extent eliminates and reduces the frustration. This attainment of a visioned goal will be dealt with in further detail later.

Self-Identification

Purpose

The conscious and purposeful use of self-identification—or dis-identification—is basic in psychosynthesis. It proceeds from a dynamic center on which the whole process of synthesizing the psychological multiplicity into an organic unit is based. It offers a very effective means of controlling the various elements of the personality. This is based on a fundamental psychological principle, which was given in Chapter One and is repeated here because of its central importance: "We are dominated by everything with which our self is identified. We can dominate and control everything from which we dis-identify ourselves." (p. 22)

Rationale

The rationale of this technique is the curious fact that everybody has some kind of self-identification —and yet very few people have ever stopped to ask themselves what it really means, what it implies, how it can be more consciously experienced and what are its effects. Self-identification is a rather ambiguous term, and we must distinguish three different meanings.

The first meaning—which is the one currently and generally accepted —is that of the individual identifying himself with that which gives him the greatest sense of being, of aliveness, with that which constitutes his greatest value, and to which he gives the most importance. This type of self-identification can be the predominant function or focus of consciousness and, on the other hand, the main function or role played in life. For instance: a girl who enters beauty contests identifies herself with her body and its beauty. There lies her focus and her point of self-identification, and she bends every effort to its improvement and conservation.

A successful athlete also has his point of self-identification in the physical body, but in terms of his muscular strength and control. Others identify themselves with the emotional life, their so-called love-life. A smaller group —that of the intellectuals—identify themselves with their minds or brain power and consider themselves to be fundamentally thinkers or —in right or wrong self-estimation —geniuses.

In others the self-identification with a role is more evident. Many women find their self-identification in wifehood, and even more so in motherhood—they consider themselves, function and live only as the mother. This kind of self-identification does not give the experience of the pure self.

The latter, the "I-hood" or the sense of personal identity is closely bound to, and almost merged in, the focus of valuation or the role. This has very severe consequences:

- First, the individual does not really know or realize himself.

- Second, the identification with one part of his personality excludes or diminishes greatly the ability of self-identification with all the other parts of his personality, and therefore constitutes a stumbling block in psychosynthesis.

- Third, and this applies to both "role" and "predominant function" types of self-identification, the life process itself renders their continuance impossible; for example, the aging of beautiful women; the loss of athletic strength; the disruption of the mother role through the maturity or death of her children. All these may produce very serious crises; the individual feels himself or herself lost, and this is a tragedy in many lives, which in not a few cases may lead to the extreme self-denial of suicide.

The second meaning which can be given to "self-identification" is the inner experience of pure self-awareness, independent of any content or function of the ego in the sense of personality. Curiously, it is a subject which has been neglected, and the explanation is that the experience of pure self-identity — or in other words, of the self, the I-consciousness, devoid of any content —does not arise spontaneously but is the result of a definite inner experimentation. Those who have tried have been able to reach a state of pure I-consciousness, self-identity, realization of oneself as a living center of awareness. This is well known to psychologists in the East, because they are interested in the experience, value it, and therefore use the techniques appropriate to achieving it.

The third meaning of "self-identification" is that of the realization of the higher or spiritual Self. This experience requires a further technique or techniques. It is different from the other experience of pure self already described — but it is not completely separate from it. Let us remember what was given in Chapter One, page 20, that is, that there are not in reality two independent selves. There is one Self —but there are very different and distinct levels of self-realization. Therefore, between the self-identity of the ordinary or normal level of functioning and the full spiritual Self-realization there are intermediate stages or levels, ever wider, clearer, fuller.

The first experience of the self, the personal self, as a point of pure self-consciousness, is extremely important. No one experiences it spontaneously, and this explains the strange phenomenon that many people are apt to deny the very essence of their being.

Since we are speaking of the essence of Being, it is very important to point out that this is of course a central idea in existential analysis; many existential writers talk and write about Being, and the meaning of the word varies from writer to writer; and very often with the same writer the meaning shifts from Being as a totality of the personality plus some kind of spiritual center, to Being as a center for the personality, to Being as a spiritual center, something that may be referred to as the "essence of Being."

It is important to achieve clarity on these points and to experiment with the specific techniques for the achievement of the experience itself, not only by patients but also by therapists — which includes psychiatrists, psychologists, psychiatric social workers—because no one who has not had the experience can really help other people to have the experience themselves.

The experience of the point of self-awareness on the personality level is the first step toward the experience of the Self, or in existential terms, the essence of Being. To some extent it has some relationship to what Erik Erickson refers to as the search for self-identity. This problem of finding one's self, experiencing one's self, and from the center of oneself directing one's life, is a problem basic to our times where a great tendency towards conformity is present.

This has been stressed by many of the existentialist psychologists, particularly those whom we could call spiritual existentialists. Rollo May in his book Man's Search for Himself has pointed out this central quest; as also have Viktor Frankl and others. Therefore we emphasize the necessity for therapists to experiment with the techniques of "self-identification," not only on themselves but also with their patients, in order to discover not only some of the applications of the technique but also some of the difficulties that certain patients may experience —particularly certain borderline-psychotics in whom the sense of self-identity is very loose and yet who may particularly benefit from this quest.

Procedure

The procedure for achieving self-identity in the sense of the pure self-consciousness at the personal level, is an indirect one. The self is there all the time, what is lacking is a direct awareness of its presence. Therefore, the technique consists in eliminating all the partial self-identifications.

The procedure can be summarized in one word, which was much used formerly in psychology but which recently has been more or less neglected, that is, introspection. It means, as its terminology clearly indicates, directing the mind's eye, or the observing function, upon the world of psychological facts, of psychological events, of which we can be aware.

Through introspection we acquire a more focused and clear awareness of what William James called the mindstream, ceaselessly flowing within ourselves. It could also be called the attitude of the observer, the inner observer. It is an attitude quite similar, even identical, to that of the natural scientist who objectively, patiently and persistently observes the natural phenomena occurring around him, be it a Fabre, observing the behavior and habits of ants, or an astronomer patiently observing a star through a telescope.

If we turn our ability to observe inwards we realize that there is actually an inner world of phenomena, at least as manifold and varied as the outer world, and that through the development of observation it becomes more and more definite to the observer.

The first field of observation is that of the sensations, produced by bodily conditions. These can be the sensations determined by the activity of the five senses, or the more obscure and undefined kinesthetic sensations of the organism. The observation, the calm dispassionate, objective observation of the flow of these sensations makes us realize how fleeting or impermanent many of them are and how easily they alternate (and sometimes one is substituted by its contrary). This gives us the certainty —let us say scientifically demonstrates —that the self is not the body, is not the sum of the sensations which it produces and projects, so to speak, into the field of our conscious awareness.

The second field of inner observation or introspection is the kaleidoscopic realm of emotions and feelings. It is much more difficult to observe objectively and in a detached way these contents of our consciousness, because our attention is apt to be carried away by the waves of the iridescent flood of our emotional states. But with patience, practice and a true scientific attitude and objectivity we can train ourselves to observe our own emotions and feelings in a detached way.

After a certain period of practice we come to the realization that the emotions and feelings also are not a necessary part of the self, of our self, because they too are changeable, mutable, fleeting and sometimes show ambivalence. Here the use of the previous technique of Critical Analysis is relevant.

The third field of observation is that of mental activity, of the mental contents. This, in a certain respect, is easy to observe, because it does not have the pull which emotions and feelings have on our attention. On the other hand it is more difficult because it is more subtle, the distinction between the self and the mind being at first less evident. Yet, here too the same criterion applies: mental activity is too varied, fleeting, changeable; sometimes it shows no continuity and can be compared with a restless ape, jumping from branch to branch. But the very fact that the self can observe, take notice and exercise its powers of observation on the mental activity proves the difference between the self and the mind.

In respect to mental activity, we can observe that it is linked with emotional activity in varying degrees, from the purely mental, abstract, mathematical thoughts — almost devoid of emotional content or overtones and undertones unless it involves the pure joy sometimes felt by highly developed mathematicians — to the emotionally loaded and derived rationalization, where, although the activity appears to be essentially mental, it is to a great extent motivated from emotional levels. So, although it may not, at times, be possible to distinguish and differentiate between the mental and emotional aspects of the thought processes, the important point to remember for this particular exercise is that there is within an observer who observes this succession of emotional and mental states, and that this observer is to some extent detached from them.

There is, as a matter of fact, a constant interplay between sensation, emotion and mental activity —and the distinction we have made is only a question of emphasis, of focussing the attention of the observer. The important point to be emphasized is the difference between these three interrelated fields of psychological activity and the observer as such. This objective observation produces naturally, spontaneously and inevitably a sense of dis-identification from any and all of those psychological contents and activities. By contrast the stability, the permanency of the observer is realized. Then the observer becomes aware that he can not only passively observe but also influence in various degrees the spontaneous flow, the succession of the various psychological states. Therefore, he feels himself different, is dis-identified from those contents.

Thus, one has to actively discriminate between the contents of the field of consciousness and its center —that which creates it, the self. The technique to be used is that of successive dis-identifications from the various groups or layers of contents — physical, emotional and mental, adapting the technique in terminology and language to the cultural level of the patient. The general formula of the technique is given in the following Exercise in Dis-identification.

Exercise in Dis-Identification

The first step is to affirm with conviction and to become aware of the fact: "I have a body, but / am not my body." That seems evident. This body is something material and changeable (it has been stated that within a few years all the cells of the body are renewed). Nevertheless, we mistakenly identify ourselves all the time with our body and attribute to the "I" our physical sensations. For instance, we say "I am tired," which is nothing less than a psychological heresy; the "I" cannot be tired; the body is tired and transmits to the "I" a sensation of fatigue—which is something very different. This distinction is of great practical importance, because every time we identify ourselves with a physical sensation we enslave ourselves to the body.

The first step is comparatively easy; but the second step is much less so. It is the realization: "I have an emotional life, but / am not my emotions or my feelings." When someone says: "I am irritated," "I am content," or "I am dissatisfied," it is also a case of false identification of the "I" with those psychological states which are changeable and often contradictory. To say "I am irritated" is to commit an error of psychological grammar. Let us say instead: "There is in me a state of irritation."

The third step consists in realizing: "I have an intellect, but / am not that intellect." Ordinarily we identify ourselves with our thoughts, but when we analyze them, when we observe ourselves while we think, we notice that the intellect works like an instrument. We can look at the logical or illogical connections, at the working of the mind, observing it from above, as it were. This indicates that we are not our thoughts. They also are changeable: one day we think one thing, the following day we may think the opposite.

We get ample proof of not being our thoughts when we try to control and to direct them. When we want to think of something abstract or boring, our mental instrument often refuses to obey us; every student who has to learn something that is annoying has that experience. If the mind is rebellious and undisciplined it means that the "I" is not the mind.

These facts give us evidence that the body, the feelings and the mind are instruments of experience, perception and action — instruments that are changeable and impermanent, but which can be dominated, disciplined, deliberately used by the "I", while the nature of the "I" is something entirely different.

The "I" is simple, unchanging, constant and .^-conscious. The experience of the "I" can be formulated as follows: "I am I, a centre of pure consciousness." To state this with conviction does not. mean one has yet reached the experience of the "I", but it is the way which leads to it. And it is the key to, and the beginning of, the mastery of our psychological processes.

This exercise can also be done in group formation. To do it in this way is in certain respects easier, because of the aid which comes from direction and reciprocal stimulation. The stimulus received and the results obtained will encourage the participants to continue to do the exercise regularly, each one by himself. It should become a daily psycho-spiritual health measure. One should begin the day by "entering into oneself."

To enter into oneself: let us ponder on the deep significance of these words. Generally, we live "outside" ourselves; we are everywhere except in the "I"! We are constantly attracted, distracted, dispersed by countless sensations, impressions, preoccupations, memories of the past, projects for the future; we are everywhere except in our self-consciousness, in the consciousness of that which we are in reality.

The exercise can be done as follows (when it is performed by a group, the one who directs the exercise naturally speaks in the first person, but each one can apply to himself what is said):

I put my body into a comfortable and relaxed position with closed eyes. This done, I affirm: "I have a body but / am not my body. My body may find itself in different conditions of health or sickness; it may be rested or tired, but that has nothing to do with my self, my real T. My body is my precious instrument of experience and of action in the outer world, but it is only an instrument. I treat it well; I seek to keep it in good health, but it is not myself. I have a body, but / am not my body.

"I have emotions, but / am not my emotions. These emotions are countless, contradictory, changing, and yet I know that I always remain I, myself in times of hope or of despair, in joy or in pain, in a state of irritation or of calm. Since I can observe, understand and judge my emotions, and then increasingly dominate, direct and utilize them, it is evident that they are not myself. I have emotions, but / am not my emotions."

"I have desires, but / am not my desires, aroused by drives, physical and emotional, and by outer influences. Desires too are changeable and contradictory, with alternations of attraction and repulsion. I have desires but they are not myself."

"I have an intellect, but / am not my intellect. It is more or less developed and active; it is undisciplined but teachable; it is an organ of knowledge in regard to the outer world as well as the inner; but it is not myself I have an intellect, but / am not my intellect."

"After this dis-identification of the T from its contents of consciousness (sensations, emotions, desires and thoughts) / recognize and affirm that I am a Centre of pure self-consciousness. I am a Centre of Will, capable of mastering, directing and using all my psychological processes and my physical body."

***** When one has practiced the exercise for some time, it can be modified by a swift dynamic use of the first three stages of dis-identification, leading to a deeper consideration of the fourth stage of self-identification, coupled with an inner dialogue along the following lines:

"What am I then? What remains after discarding from my self-identity the physical, emotional and mental contents of my personality, of my ego? It is the essence of myself—a center of pure self-consciousness and self-realization. It is the permanent factor in the ever varying flow of my personal life. It is that which gives me the sense of being, of permanence, of inner security.

I recognize and I affirm myself as a center of pure self-consciousness. I realize that this center not only has a static self-awareness but also a dynamic power; it is capable of observing, mastering, directing and using all the psychological processes and the physical body. I am a center of awareness and of power."

In therapy the technique of self-identification should be used as early as possible, because its use by the patient facilitates and fosters the use of all the other techniques of psychosynthesis. Generally, it is introduced in an early session; first, a preliminary description and explanation is given to the patient, anticipating and answering his questions. Second, it has been found effective for the therapist to do the full exercise, speaking it aloud", ignoring the presence of the patient. This eliminates possible adverse reaction of subconscious or personal emotivity on the part of the patient. This is the most superficial psychological reason; the deeper reason is that as the therapist goes through the exercise in a concentrated intense manner, the "feel" and reality of the technique is subtly conveyed to the patient. To intensify the concentration it is helpful for the therapist to close his eyes, really forgetting the patient for the time being.

As the technique of self-identification is a basic technique not only for therapy but for education and personality integration, it can be considered also as a defense mechanism against the constant stream of influences, inner and outer, which try to capture the ego and demand identification. This technique can also be considered as a matter of everyday psychological and spiritual hygiene; and in therapy it is needed even more. Therefore, we advise the patient to use it as frequently as he feels is possible; once a day is sufficient, but that is a minimum. As mentioned above, it should precede the use of the other techniques because it helps the patient to use them more effectively.

Indications and Applications

The exercise is suited to all cases except people at such a primitive level that they are not able to really grasp the technique, or when they are in such an emotional turmoil and distracted state that temporarily they are unfit to use it.

The type of patients for whom the exercise is particularly indicated includes all those who are over-emotional, and all those who are either strongly identified with a particular affective state or linked with an idea or plan or type of action—which may be of a higher or low order —which keeps the patient almost in a state of obsession. This includes fanatics of all kinds. Similarly, another group is those who identify themselves completely with a role, be it the mother-role or father-role or a professional role, so as to be completely possessed by it and thus have almost no individual life of their own. The effect and results of the exercise are and should be of a liberating nature; and in fact those who use the technique successfully say that they obtain a sense of freedom, a sense of enhanced being, and a spontaneous control of the psychological contents with which they were previously completely identified.

The exercise is also useful for over-intellectualized people who tend to identify their focus of consciousness wholly with their mental processes —particularly if they are sophisticated and pride themselves highly on their mental abilities, and thus remain, so to speak, stuck on that level. Because those sophisticated intellectuals are the hardest nut to crack in therapy, it may be of therapeutic value for them to be able to experience that the center of themselves is not their mental processes.

The same technique can be used in connection with the various roles one plays in life. As we have already mentioned such roles are developed sub-personalities, in which emotional and mental contents are combined. The technique is the recollection and affirmation that: "I have, I must play and I quite willingly play, as well as possible, my roles in life; be it that of the son, of the father, of the husband, of the executive, of the artist or any other. But I am not only the son, the father, the artist; these are roles, specific but partial roles, which I, myself, am playing, agree to play, watch and observe myself playing. Therefore / am not any of them; I am self-identified, and I am the director of the acting, not only the actor."

This reminds us particularly of certain statements of Paul Tournier who in his book The Meaning of Persons emphasized the essential difference between the inner "Person" and the various "Personages" which this inner "Person" plays under the differing circumstances of life. However, we make a further distinction between the "person" as described by Tournier, and the pure self-identification. There are, in a sense, three different self-identifications: one with the "Personages," a second with the "Person," and the third a point of pure self-awareness.

To make this point clearer: the last and perhaps most obstinate identification is with that which we consider to be our inner person, that which persists more or less during all the various roles we play, that which is also a person in the etymological sense of Persona (Mask) as the ultimate mask of the self. This "Persona" or "person" has to be discarded in the sense of our no longer being identified with it and limited by it. This is important, because every identification with it tends to make us static and crystallized. It is a kind of image or pattern or model of which we are apt to become prisoners. This "person," even the relatively most intimate one, is in reality in process of constant change, of flow. There is a continuous intake of experiences which modify it and an output of energies from it. So it too is changeable, fluid, impermanent and therefore cannot be the pure self-identity which persists unchanged throughput all that flow.

This Exercise in Dis-identification enhances a sense of selfhood, a sense of being; and one finds it is really one of the essential techniques which enables one to experience what existential analysts have talked about so much —and provided so few tech- niques for reaching!—viz. the sense of identity, the sense of being, the sense of a center within oneself, the center of an essence within oneself. When this center has been experienced — which can come through the application of this exercise in self-identification — then it is possible to synthesize the different aspects from which one has disidentified oneself. In other words, one becomes a self who uses the body, the feeling-apparatus and the mental abilities as tools, as instruments, in the same way as a car is the extension of a driver, but with the driver in control. This is analogous to the engineering concept of the man-machine complex, that man and machine make a unit and have to be considered as such. In the same way the self and its mechanism (and by mechanism we imply not only the physical body, but also the feeling-nature and the mental processes) can form a unity, and yet the self can always be aware that it is something over and above each constituent part of this whole.

Limitations and Contra-Indications

This technique has few general limitations and particular contra-indications. Specifically, this technique may not be indicated, or should be used with care, in the case of patients who are ever too prone to self-observation and self-analysis, with patients who are or become too much interested in the observation of their inner world—which may prove more pleasing and less strenuous than active participation in the outer life. In those cases, however, one could say that there is a subtle form of identification with the phenomena observed, or at least a strong link of the self with them.

Therefore, the exercise should not be used except with the clear warning to the patient that its use must be specific, and must be limited to offsetting a subtle form of identification with his inner world. He must not over-emphasize it nor use it too frequently in comparison with the other techniques.

Among some patients, particularly Americans, there is a great deal of resistance to the idea of dis-identifying oneself from one's body, feelings, and thoughts; and a deep fear of becoming split into different parts by so doing. However, on the contrary, many patients like the idea of fully experiencing a center within themselves, a center from which they can find the strength and the wisdom to withstand the stresses of modern life. Life in Amer- ica, in some of the big cities, is particularly strenuous, so that the motivation for doing this exercise is enhanced.

It may be alleged that there is an inconsistency between the emphasis on achieving a synthesis of all functions at all levels around a central self, and an exercise which emphasizes dis-identification from some of the parts; in other words, that the specific identification with one part of our personality excludes the inclusion of all other parts in the total personality, and therefore runs contrary to a synthesis of the whole. If patients were identified with the whole of the personality this objection might be valid, but each of them is identified with only one facet, one part — their pet idea or their strong emotions, or their paramount role — and it is that which constitutes a strong block to their psy-chosynthesis. Therefore, first we have to free them from this partial, one-sided, obsessive identification in order to proceed towards the synthesis.

Borderline Cases and Psychotics

Under the limitations and contra-indications of this technique it is important to consider certain dangers which may be present in cases such as borderline-psychotics, particularly when there is a condition of "de-personalization," for example, when a patient has the feeling that his body does not belong to him. Then the added emphasis on "I am not the body" may further widen the split and run contrary to the fundamental idea of bio-psycho-synthesis. For this reason, in order to offset such possible drawbacks, the emphasis should be put on the last stage in the technique which is the realization that one is a self. ("I recognize and affirm that I am a center of pure self- consciousness. I am a center of will, capable of mastering, directing and using all my psychological processes and my physical body.") In this way, dis-identification comes in as a by-product of this realization. The goal and results of the exercise are self-identification, and this should be emphasized in its presentation to the patients.

In borderline cases great care is essential before considering attempting a psychosynthesis. In general, such patients cannot be treated in the usual procedure of a regular psychosynthesis with the active cooperation of the patient in using the techniques. A psychotherapeutic technique of general validity, but which con- cerns particularh borderline cases and even psychotics, is that it is advisable to try to agree as much as possible wkh them, to accept as much as possible what they say or feel, and try onh to snow them the real meaning and purpose of what they say, i-e., to show it to diem from a positive angle. For instance: if a patient says "I feel I hare no body, I fed there are no emotions in me," we reply "Well, this is partially true; of course you are not vour bock, and in tms sense you have had an insight that generally people do not have—only, you take k in a nega tiv e way instead of in a positive one. Pracncalh speaking, you do have a body for while you deny having k you are actuaDv using k in expressing your feeings through your larynx.

Therefore, vou see, this feeing of yours is just a subjective sensation. Of course vou have a body, as everyone else, only you have had a sudden insight that you are not your body. Therefore, take k in the sense that phflnsophkaly you are right, but pragmatically wrong."*

This type of approach has proved successful in many cases; the key thought is not to immediately label the patient's assertions as a morbid symptom, but to seize on the morsel of truth which is really conta ined in his remarks—only misinterpreted and taken negatively by him—and proceed to reinterpret and expand it—There is very often an amazing intuonne insight in certain psv chotics, which has been twisted by misinterpretation, and often used against themselves or others. A typical example of this is a man who stated he was God. He had a vivid insight of an ultimate wonderful truth, only k was too big for him, and he made the fatal mistake of identifying his enrphiral personality wkh this

Math summary: This expression performs a subtraction operation between two distinct terms. It calculates the difference by subtracting a product of weights and function derivatives from a scaled value.

This technique can be considered as a preprimary exercise helping towards a more effective use of A.I in other techniques. M.C's have shown, in the following out of this exercise there are necessary steps of partial dis-ideririncanon. It is therefore a combination or rather a fusion of the techniques of setf-idendncanon and efts-identification. In some cases, it is even necessary to invert the order of the two, or to make them two phases of the one ex- exercise, beginning with the self-identification, and adding the dis-identification as a necessary means to self-identification.

This exercise might be compared with the technique of critical analysis since one observes the passing emotional states. But there is this difference: critical analysis includes the active use of the mind and of the judging function in valuation, and in actively doing this we are identified with our critical function. Therefore, the technique of critical analysis is different in aim and procedure from the technique of self-identification.

In connection with its combination with other techniques we may well consider the test that Dr. Bugental of Los Angeles, U.S.A., has proposed, and which he calls "Who Am I?" In this very simple test he gives the patient a piece of paper and a pencil and asks him to write what comes into his mind in response to the question "Who am I?" Then he repeats the question a second time, and asks the patient to again write answers; and finally for a third time. Following this he uses a procedure of inquiry. Many of the individuals who were asked this question "Who am I?" gave a self-reference, related to their predominant role, be it a role of a mother or of a woman or wife; or for a man, his professional role; and it was the successive asking of the same question which sometimes elicited deeper answers on the part of the patient.

Two other techniques can be combined in order to help the stage of dis-identification. These are "Humor" and "Play." Their helpfulness is to some degree self-evident from their titles.

Technique for the Development of the Will

A somewhat fuller introduction is called for in considering the Technique of the Will than applies in the case of the other techniques, because the will can be truly called the unknown and neglected factor in modern psychology, psychotherapy, and in education.

Without attempting to analyze the causes of this surprising state of affairs —such as the reactions to the former overemphasis of the inhibition aspect of the will or the many resistances en- countered to the training of the will—we would draw attention to the paradox that the very fact of the central position of the will has been the cause of it being ignored; that is, the will is the function which is most directly related to the self. Rank has gone so far as to say that "the human being experiences his individuality in terms of his will, and this means that his personal existence is identical with his capacity to express his will in the world" {Death and Rebirth of Psychology, by Ira Progoff, p. 210). Also, as we found in discussing the earlier techniques, the individual generally is not aware of his self, and consequently he is just as unaware of the direct function of the self, the will.

There are commonly two very one-sided conceptions of the will. The first is that of checking or inhibiting by sheer force, analogous to the taming of wild beasts. The second concept is that of pushing by force, analogous to a man trying to move his automobile by pushing it from behind. Because of its aptness, this analogy of a man and his automobile will be used to illustrate various points of our discussion of the will.

In reality an analysis of the will reveals various phases or stages, which we will deal with presently, but in general our aim and interest —for the practical purposes of the development and the training of the will —is in the complete, effective, successful, volitional act, and use of the will, that is, the total will in action.

It is not necessary, therefore, to have an exact conception or theory of the will in order to train it, nor to discuss which of the various phases of the will is more essential or specifically of the essence of will. The purpose of developing the will is self-evident, because the will is needed first to decide upon and then to persist in, to take the needed time and trouble in, the use of any other technique —and, of course, for the whole work of psychosynthesis. There is, however, a prior and more immediate purpose of the technique: that is, the will to train the will. Those patients who say that they have no will, do in reality have some will for it is a direct function of the self, but a function that is largely latent. Such people have to learn to use their small "capital," their modicum of will, in order to strengthen and build it up to where it becomes a valuable asset —at least sufficient for each particular stage of the psychosynthesis, although there is no limit to the usefulness of an increasingly potent will.

The Stages of the Will

As said above we are concerned with training the complete will in all its phases, or to be more theoretically exact, attaining complete volition.

t 1. The first stage in the use of the will includes:

a. goal — purpose — intention

b. valuation

c. motivation

As we are dealing with conscious will the element of purpose or aim is the first essential, for without a conscious aim there can be no pure will. After having decided on the aim comes the intention to attain it, and the evocation of motivation.

At this point it is necessary to clear up beforehand any erroneous conception that might possibly develop to the effect that psychosynthesis is returning to the old nineteenth century conception of the will, which overlooked the important unconscious motivating factors. However, since psychosynthesis evolved out of psychoanalysis, it is quite obvious that no such exclusion is intended and that the writer is fully aware of the very complex motivating factors which operate below the level of awareness.

Therefore, the training of the will should be preceded by the exploration of the unconscious, which includes as one of its most important and useful aspects the uncovering of unconscious motives and of the rationalization of the same, in order to make them acceptable to the conscious ego. This is one of the most valuable aspects of psychoanalysis and we take it fully into account in the process of psychosynthesis.

Therefore, the consideration of motivation is for the most part the uncovering of unconscious drives; but after they have been recognized we must not fall into the mistake of 18th century psychology of condemning or suppressing those drives. The function of the will is to utilize them and ensure their cooperation in the attaining of the chosen purpose.

Motivation inevitably implies valuation; and, as we mentioned earlier, valuation is unavoidable and in this regard even essential. True valuation implies a scale of values, which in its turn is the expression of a concept or philosophy of life and of the world (Weltanschauung). Every person has such a concept or philosophy but generally it has not been formulated; it is hazy and often self-contradictory. Incidentally, the clarification, the becoming aware of the position and attitude of the self towards the world, is, in the writer's opinion, the most fruitful aspect of Existential Analysis. It is evident that the purpose or aim towards which the will is to be directed must have an intense positive valuation, or what Lewin called "a positive valence."

2. Following valuation comes the stage of deliberation, consideration, weighing. In any particular situation it might seem that there is not much to deliberate, and that the choice should inevitably go to the highest conceivable aim or purpose; but the matter is not so simple. The purpose or aim must be not only of high value but it must also be attainable. We can visualize very high aims, but which, realistically, we recognize are unattainable—at least under existing psychological and environmental conditions. Therefore, the deliberation or consideration which will bring us to the next point (of decision or choice) cannot be made automatically by choosing the highest aim, for one must take into consideration the various conditions and circumstances. Although an alternative aim may be less high, it may for some reasons be more urgent; so wisdom is needed in the deliberation and consideration of the many factors in any given situation, for each is always unique.

3. The third stage in the use of the will is that of decision. This is a difficult stage because it involves choice, and goes counter to the strong tendency existing in the human being "to have his cake and eat it too." In psychoanalytical terms, it could be called the following of the pleasure-principle—which is irrational. The making of a deliberate choice implies instead the use of the reality-principle, which is a principle of relativity, the principle that one cannot have all, but must choose between alternatives. In the older psychological writings on the will this point was expressed in a negative terminology of renunciation; but for theoretical and especially for practical purposes it is much better to place the emphasis on positive terms of preference. When we choose, when we make a decision, it means that we prefer some-

Personal Psychosynthesis-Techniques 129

thing which we consider to be more desirable and attainable than the other alternatives which we discard. The difficulty in making the voluntary decision is that the individual, either clearly or obscurely, realizes that decision involves responsibility, that decision is an act of freedom which inevitably involves responsibility. In recent times the curious escape from freedom by individuals and by communities has been clearly pointed out by Erich Fromm, among others; that is, the escape from responsibility at the cost of giving up the most precious human gift, that of free will.

In this connection it is hardly necessary to recall that indecision is one of the outstanding symptoms of all patients in a state of depression, but we will take up this point later when dealing with the limitations to the training of the will.

4. The fourth stage in the act of willing, which should closely follow decision, is affirmation. Effective affirmation involves several factors: the first is faith —not simply "belief" but a living dynamic faith, even more, an assured conviction. If this is lacking, affirmation can yet be made on the basis of a willingness or decision to "attempt," to take risks, in a spirit of courageous adventure.

The act of affirmation consists of a command or declaration made to oneself. It is the use of the imperative tense, through such words as the Latin "Fiat" or "let it be." The intensity or "psychological voltage" of the affirmation determines the degree and the extent of its effectiveness.

In many cases it is necessary to repeat, or rather to renew, the affirmation at intervals, in order to enhance its potency and overcome opposing factors. It is well to be aware of the fact that affirmation sometimes provokes contrary reactions; this should be explained to the patient so that they do not surprise or cause discouragement, and can be calmly resisted while they last and then overcome in appropriate ways, among which is the above mentioned renewal of the affirmation.

5. The fifth stage in volition is planning, the organizing of activity according to a clearly outlined program. This requires a pre-visualization of the various steps or stages which will have to be realized between the starting point and the ultimate goal or realization of the purpose. In some cases the ultimate goal will, of

course, be distant but there will be several intermediary aims which will lead successively to it; so it is necessary to have a clear, wise, well-organized program of the succession of partial tasks or achievements.

There are two opposite mistakes to be avoided. One is keeping the attention and the direction of the will so exclusively focussed on the final aim that it causes the patient to become impractical; and the other and more common mistake is that of becoming so interested in and over-valuing the secondary aims and the means to their attainment that one loses sight of the ultimate aim, or places undue emphasis on the means.

6. The sixth stage of the volitional act is direction of the execution. Here are needed two of the outstanding qualities of the whole will: firstly, the dynamic power of the will, one-pointed driving energy; and secondly, persistence or endurance. Of course, the perfect will would combine the maximum of dynamic power and the maximum of persistence or endurance; but typo-logically we find that some people have more of one quality than the other. Also, some tasks chiefly require the dynamic aspect, while other tasks of less strenuous but more protracted nature call for the patience and persistence aspects of the will. There-lore, it is a subjective question not only of which quality of the will is prevalent in the person, but also which is more needed for the particular task or aim. Obviously, in the training of the will, we will have to put the accent on the one which is relatively less developed.

The way in which the dynamic will manifests itself is through assertion and command, by "fiat." In contrast the persistence aspect of the will is needed for one of the most effective techniques of the will, that is, keeping a clear mental picture or image steady in the focus of attention. The power of sustained images is enormous, a subject we will take up when dealing with the technique of visualization and imagination.

Another quality needed for this final stage of execution is that of maintaining direction, that is, one-pointedness. Also required is "inhibition," in the sense of excluding and discarding all obstacles which would interfere with the application of the will in execution.

Procedure in Training the Will

As mentioned earlier the first aim in the training of the will is to increase the patient's individual "capital" or active quota of the will itself. In other words, to train the will to will more effectively. The first step in this procedure consists in mobilizing the energy of the existing drives in the patient, and directing those energies to the aim of developing the will.

1. Mobilizing the Energies

The first indispensable condition for acquiring a strong will is the earnest resolve to devote to its attainment whatever time, energy and means are necessary. When this is presented to the patient he may object and say, "in order to do so, I would need a firm and decided will, and it is just that which I lack." This objection is not tenable, for all have at least some will and although it may only exist in an embryonic state, still it is sufficient for a beginning to be made.

To ensure success, it is of paramount importance that there be proper preparation to create the initial urge and impetus. This preparation should arouse a strong emotional desire to develop the will, transforming itself into a firm decision to do all that is necessary for the attainment of that end. In order to reach this state of mind, the following exercise will be found helpful, and we give it in a form in which it can be presented to a patient, or experimentally used by the therapist himself.

Exercise I — Part A

Put yourself into a comfortable position, muscles relaxed.

1. Picture to yourself as vividly as possible all the unfortunate consequences to yourself and to others which have actually occurred —and those which might occur in the future —as a result of your inadequate will. Examine them carefully one by one, formulating them clearly; then make a list of them in writing. Allow the feelings which these recollections and forecasts arouse in you to affect you intensely: shame, dissatisfaction with yourself, shrinking from a repetition of such conduct and the urgent desire to change this state of affairs.

2. Picture to yourself as vividly as possible all the advantages which the training of your will can bring to you, all the benefits and satisfactions which will come from it to yourself and to others. Examine them carefully, one by one; formulate these ideas with clarity, and write them down. Allow the feelings aroused by these thoughts to have fujl sway: the joy of the possibilities that open up before you, the intense desire to realize them, and the strong impulse to begin at once.

3. Picture yourself as vividly as possible as being possessed of a strong persistent will; see yourself walking with a firm and decided step, acting in various situations with decision, fo-cussed intention, concentration of effort, persistence, and self-control; resisting any attempt at intimidation. See yourself successfully attaining the desired ends. In particular, select similar situations to those in which you previously failed to exert a sufficiently strong and persistent will, and then see yourself acting with the desired qualities.

Exercise I — Pari B

Use selected reading material, specially chosen to cultivate and reinforce the feelings and determination aroused by Part A of the exercise. It must consist of literature that is encouraging, optimistic and dynamic in character, that stimulates self-reliance and incites to action. But in order to benefit fully from such a course of reading, it must be performed in a special way: read slowly, with undivided attention, marking the passages which impress you, and copying those that are most striking and which seem specially appropriate to your case. It is well to re-read those passages several times, absorbing their full meaning.

Best suited for this purpose are biographies of outstanding personalities who have demonstrated the best qualities of a strong but constructive will, or other books which aim directly at awakening the desired inner energies. After having engaged in such reading for some time you will begin to feel a growing desire, and you will even be anxious, to set about the work. This is the right momerit for deciding, with all the firmness you can muster, that you will devote all the time, energy and means which are necessary. to the development of your will. A word of warning: do not talk about this matter with others, not even with the laudable intention of inducing them to follow your example. Talking tends to disperse the energies needed and accumulated for action. Your purpose, if made known to others, easily provokes sceptical or cynical remarks which may inject doubt or discouragement. Work in silence. This cannot be stressed too much.

The above exercise with its two parts constitutes one technique or rather method, having the aim of mobilizing other drives to enhance the quota of energy of will already available.

Exercise 2 — The Performing of Useless Exercises

This technique is the performing of actions which have no utility whatever in themselves, and are performed for the sole purpose of training the will. They can be compared to muscular exercises in gymnastics which have no economic or other utility except the developing of the muscles and the enhancing of neuro-muscular coordination and physical well-being in general. This technique was first presented by William James in his book Talks to Teachers:"Keep the faculty of effort alive in you by a little gratuitous exercise every day. That is, be systematically heroic in little unnecessary points; do every day or two something for no other reason than its difficulty, so that, when the hour of dire need draws nigh, it may find you not unnerved and untrained to stand the test.

Asceticism of this sort is like the insurance which a man pays on his house and goods. The tax does him no good at the time, and possibly may never bring him a return. But, if fire does come, his having paid it, it will be his salvation from ruin. So with the man who has dajly inured himself to habits of concentrated attention, energetic volition, and self-denial in unnecessary things. He will stand like a tower when everything rocks around him, and his softer fellow-mortals are winnowed like chaff in the blast." (pp. 75 to 76)

The same procedure was practiced and developed by E. Boyd Barrett and explained in his book Strength of Will.

///. Exercises of the Will in Daily Life

Another group of exercises to develop the will can be derived from the countless opportunities that present themselves in daily life, with its various duties and occupations. Most of our activities can be helpful in this way, because through our purposes, our inner attitude, and the way in which we accomplish them, they can become definite exercises of the will. For instance, the mere fact of rising in the morning at a definite time can be such a drill, if for that purpose we rise ten or fifteen minutes earlier than usual. Also, getting dressed in the morning can be used as such an opportunity, if we accomplish the various necessary movements with attention and precision, rapidly yet not hurriedly.

Here is a very important precious ability to develop in daily life: to learn how to "make haste slowly." Modern life with its stress and strain tends to create in us the habit of hurry, even when the occasion does not require it —a result of "mass suggestion."

To make haste slowly is not easy, but it is possible; and it paves the way for efficiency and productiveness, without tension and without exhaustion. It is not easy because it requires of us that we be almost dual: the one who acts, and the one who simultaneously looks on as the observer; yet simply to try to do this constitutes a good way of developing the will.

Also, during the rest of the day —be it at the office or in professional work, or attending to domestic duties—one can do numerous exercises for the development of will which, at the same time, may enable one to unfold certain needed qualities. For instance, learning serenity or "self-recollectedness" during one's daily work, no matter how tedious the task may be; or to control emotion and acts of impatience when confronted with minor difficulties and annoyances, such as finding oneself in a crowded train, or waiting for the opening of a door, or when noticing the mistakes or faults of a dependent, or experiencing the injustice of a superior.

Further, when we return home, we have opportunity for similar valuable exercises: controlling the impulse to give vent to our bad temper —perhaps caused by various vexations, pre-occupations or business worries—bearing serenely whatever comes our way and trying to adjust any disharmonies in the home. At the table, an exercise just as useful for health as for the will is to control the desire or impulse to eat quickly, while thinking of business, etcetera We should compel ourselves to masticate well and enjoy our meal with a relaxed and calm mind. In the evening we have other occasions for training, such as to resist the allurements of people or things that tend to divert us from our chosen tasks.

Whether away at business or in the home, wherever possible, we must resolutely cease working when tired, controlling the desire to hurry just to get a job finished. Rather we should give ourselves wise rest and recreation; a short rest taken in time, at the outset of fatigue is of greater value than a long rest necessitated by exhaustion. Short and frequent rest periods have been applied in industry and have resulted in increased output by workers.

During these rest periods, a few muscular exercises or relaxation by means of closing the eyes for a few minutes will suffice. For mental fatigue, physical exercises are generally the most beneficial, though each individual can find out by practice what suits him best. One of the advantages of such short and frequent interruptions is that one does not lose interest in, nor the impetus for, the work in hand, and at the same time one overcomes fatigue and nervous tension. An ordered rhythm in our activities generates harmony in our being; and harmony is a universal law of life.

A good exercise is to retire at a fixed hour, resolutely interrupting one's reading or an interesting conversation. It is difficult, especially at first, to do all these exercises well, and to attempt them all at once would easily lead to discouragement. Therefore, it is advisable to begin with only a few, spread over the day; and when success has been achieved with these, to increase their number, varying, alternating the exercises and performing them cheerfully and with interest, scoring successes and failures, setting oneself records, and trying to meet them in a competitive sporting attitude. Thus the danger is avoided of making life too rigid and mechanical; and we make interesting and colorful what otherwise would be tiresome duties; also all with whom we are associated become our cooperators (without their knowing it!).

For instance, a dogmatic superior or an exacting partner becomes, as it were, the mental parallel bars on which our will—the will to right human relations —can develop its force and proficiency. Delay in being served with a meal gives us the opportunity to exercise patience and serenity, as well as the chance to read a good book while waiting. Talkative friends or time-wasters give us the chance to control speech; they teach us the art of courteous but firm refusal to engage in unnecessary conversations. To be able to say "no" is a difficult but very useful discipline.

Exercise 4 — Physical Exercises in the Training of the Will

These constitute a very effective technique when used with the specific intention and purpose of developing the will; for as the French writer, Gillet, has expressed it, "gymnastics are the elementary school of the will ... and serve as a model for that of the mind." In reality, every physical movement is an act of will, a command given to the body, and the deliberate repetition of such acts —with attention, effort and endurance —exercise and invigorate the will. Organic sensations are thus aroused: the consciousness of physical vigor, a more rapid circulation, a sense of warmth and agility of the limbs, and their ready obedience; all produce a sense of moral strength, of decision, of mastery that raises the tone of the will and develops its energy. However, we repeat, to extract from such exercises the utmost benefit, it is necessary that they be performed with the exclusive aim, or at least with the principal objective, of training the will.

Such exercises must be performed with measured precision, and with attention. They must not be too violent or too enervating; every single movement or group of movements must be executed with liveliness and decision. Exercises or sports best fitted for this purpose are not the ones of a violent or exciting nature, but rather those that call for endurance, calmness, dexterity and courage, permitting interruption, and variety of movement.

Many outdoor sports—such as golf, tennis, skating, walking, and climbing —are particularly suited for the training of the will; but where they are not possible, suitable selected physical exercises can always be carried out in the privacy of one's room.

2. Comments on the Exercises

A difficulty that may arise is that most individuals who have very little will to start with may simply do an exercise once or twice and then give it up. It may prove very difficult to motivate patients towards a consistent application because we have the "situation of circularity" —that in order to effectively do the exercises to develop the will, one has to have some will with which to start.

In these cases the techniques brought out so well by Baudoin appear to be suitable in seeking to engage the cooperation of other drives, which may provide a stronger incentive than the pure will. Those drives, of course, may not necessarily be of a high order, which is an example of the utilization of so-called "lower" or "primitive" drives and incentives for a higher purpose. Pride, vanity, the desire to please when there is a positive transference, self-aggrandizement, etcetera, can be mobilized for this purpose.

Also even simpler incentives such as praise or objective prizes are very effective. We have found the best incentive to be that which utilizes the "ludic" instinct or the drive to play, the sporting attitude of a contest with oneself. This demands a certain proficiency in dis-identification, for in it the self "plays" with its sub-personalities and drives, treating it as a kind of game, not taking the matter too seriously, trying to win the game as would a good sportsman.

To become interested in the game itself gives a drive which, being interesting and amusing, does not arouse the resistance or active opposition which a more forceful attitude of the imposition of the will would call forth.

Not to arouse resistances or rebellion in the unconscious, or in other constituents of the personality, is a general caution applicable in the use of all techniques, but particularly in the use of techniques for the development of the will. One method of guarding against arousing such resistance is to advise the patient not to use a technique too seriously, nor in a way which is pedantic or annoying to the unconscious. Instead, the aim must be to win the cooperation of the unconscious through amusing and interesting it-and that is the specific attitude of play. Parenthetically, this factor is even more important for teachers to remember, who are using psychosynthesis in education.

A playful attitude detracts in no way from the effectiveness of a technique but eliminates the counter-currents of resistance and rebellion.

3. Problems of Practical Application

The fundamental problem in the practical application of this training and use of the will is how to achieve an equilibrium between the different aspects or stages of the will which we have described above.

The first thing to aim for is insight or awareness on the part of the patient of the existing situation. Then follows the therapist's indication to the patient, and the acceptance by him, of the plan of action for achieving the desired equilibrium or harmonization; followed by teaching him the specific techniques —and in the right succession —so that he may reach his aim. The plan of action and the specific techniques differ for the various stages of the will, and in some cases are almost opposite.

The first stage—of clear purpose —is with many patients very often weak. Also we frequently find a strong personal will at the disposal of the most intense, predominant drive; and this occurs so frequently that it may explain and perhaps justify in some measure the curious lack of recognition of the very existence of a personal will, because so often it is disguised, masked by a dominant drive.

In modern psychology the attempt is made to eliminate the necessity of including even the concept of will, and to regard decisions as the result of opposing forces of mostly an emotional nature. This is the standard deterministic concept of the parallelogram of forces, so to speak, and it is the Freudian conception. However, the concept is not consistent with human experience; and in the training of the will we have the proof that the will can be distinguished and disassociated from, and even opposed to, the drives.

The model or analogy of a parallelogram of forces is too crude. In fact, the will or the willing self—besides being a genuine, independent energy contending with the drives — is or can be the organizer or coordinator of the drives, using them in a sense from another level or dimension. The will, therefore, can be, when freed, a supra-ordinate force —if it does not let itself be dragged down to the level of the contending drives.

The technique to be used in cases where the weakest phase of the will is that of conscious purpose and deliberation, is to first make the patient aware of his lack and its drawbacks, and to help him to consciously evaluate his situation, to gain a clear conception of life and a standard of values. On the basis of this we help him to find or choose an aim, and then deliberate with him on ways of attaining it.

Regarding the third stage of decision, if in spite of the satisfactory development of the first phase, the patient finds difficulty in deciding, we must analyze the cause of this inability. This may be due to an unwillingness to face alternatives or to indicate a preference for any one of them, which, of course, implies giving up or rejecting the other alternatives. The latter may be difficult for a patient with a strong will who does not accept any kind of renunciation and wants and wills to have all the alternatives. This is typical of the strong will of egotistical individuals; so in those cases we have an over-development of the driving will and the under-development of the deliberation and decision involved in such renunciation.

The fifth phase, of planning and organizing, is also one in which there may be a lack or under-development in people otherwise able to make quick decisions or use the dynamic will. Sometimes they are too sure of themselves, and at other times they are impatient with the slow —necessarily slow —careful planning, which implies consideration of all the elements of a situation and a sense of proportion and wisdom. They tend to put a plan into operation before it has been really thought out in detail; or, even worse, they rush almost madly to their goal without considering obstacles, timing, realistic assessment of the situation, consideration of other peoples' reactions, etcetera These people often fail through the reactions they imprudently arouse in others. The application is clear: training them to the recognition of the value and necessity of this phase through the active cooperation of the therapist.

In other words, during the sessions we take up a goal that the patient has selected for himself, and then help him to think through all the different steps that would be wise for him to take in order to achieve that goal. To give a rather common instance: a young untrained girl comes for consultation and says in effect "I will become a movie actress, I will leave my family and go to Hollywood." Of course, one does not reject her aim but in effect says, "All right, let us plan it; let us see what your aim involves. You wish to succeed in this goal, so let us lay the needed plans to attain it." If we respond to her in a cooperative, permissive way, she will soon realize just what her goal and drive imply and how many difficult steps there are to be surmounted. That is a very simple example, but others that are more subtle and less obvious often arise in practice.

Considering the sixth phase of the direction of the execution, we have seen that it requires several important qualities of the will, such as clear and persistent visualization of the goal, one-pointedness, dynamic power, persistence, self-limitation. Each of these components may be insufficient for a successful execution. By "self-limitation" is meant the willingness and ability to eliminate, at least for the time being or for a sufficient period of time, other goals, and other plans, not letting oneself be sidetracked by too much attention or valuation of the means —both in the sense of not making the means an end in themselves, and of attachment to one or other of the means to the exclusion of others.

Therefore, the dynamic will can be used to develop persistence if this is originally lacking or insufficient, and vice versa; persistence can be used in applying the techniques which in turn arouse and feed the power of the will. As an example of this latter technique is the one mentioned previously, the vivid realization of the advantages of a strong will and of the disadvantages of a weak will. If one persistently practices this realization the dynamism of the will is enhanced.

A special word of caution, regarding this stage of decision, is called for in patients who are in a depressed state, and this we will refer to at greater length under Limitations and Contra-Indica-tions.

The general applications of this technique of the will to the very many cases in which the will is weak or insufficient are obvious and need no explanation —but the fact of the technique of the will not being generally applied does need emphasis!

The specific indications and applications are based on the analysis of the will already existent and active in the patient or subject because —as we have seen—the will has various phases, and it is quite possible, and often occurs in practice, that one phase may be more developed or even overdeveloped and another one weak or almost absent. So the first necessity is to ascertain which of the five phases of the will need most or particular training. There are people whose will is rapid and decisive, but they do not have the persistence or quality to carry through. There are others for whom the phase of decision is the most difficult, even though once a decision is made the other aspects of their will are adequate and sufficiently developed. Therefore, a differential training of the will is called for and a recognition of which of its components needs special development.

These are very important and deserve full consideration. There are many people who have an over-developed personal will —generally directed towards self-assertion and the domination of other people; and these could be called the "Adlerian cases" because Adler so well described their type, although in our opinion he exaggerated and over-emphasized in the sense of making it a general blanket interpretation and explanation. Nevertheless, typical Adlerian cases are not rare to find, and in these cases any-further development of the personal will is contra-indicated.

Apart from these "Adlerian cases," some phase of the will may be found to be overdeveloped in certain patients. Especially dangerous is the overdevelopment of the dynamic aspect of the will, which can have injurious and even destructive effects, especially on others. Therefore, it is important to consider how to minimize and offset these dangers and drawbacks. There are three ways: First—that of equilibrating, that is, cultivating an equal, harmonious development of all the phases of the will, as mentioned above.

Second— and more important —is that of developing other functions in the individual which would check and balance the will-function. We allude chiefly to the feeling-function in its higher aspects, that is, development of humanitarian love, compassion, loving understanding of others, and the ethical sense, the sense of responsibility concerning the effect one has upon other people. The highest expression of this is harmlessness.

The third and highest way, which partially includes the second method, is the awakening and functioning of the spiritual will, connected with the realization of the spiritual Self. This checks and utilizes the personal will in not only a harmless but also a constructive way, and frees the personal will from the exploitation (to which it is often subject) by a prevalent drive. In the ordinary man, the will is the slave of one or several personal drives. Here the first necessity is to achieve a dis-identification of the personal self from those drives, and then the dedication of the personal will to the spiritual will; or inversely the spiritual will, the spiritual Self, takes possession of and utilizes the personal will.

There is a difference, not always recognized, between the fully awakened spiritual will and the obedience of the personal will to a higher feeling. For many patients, at a particular stage of the treatment, the latter may be the line of least resistance; that is, there is a transfer of the emotional energy motivating the will from a lower to a higher level, yet still remaining an emotional motivating force, although with more constructive aims. But, of course, the first (establishing of a direct relation to the spiritual will, to the Self) is the goal of psychosynthesis. This means the developing of a constructive, strong, persevering and wise will—in essence, a fusion of what we consider to be some of the fundamental energies in the human being, namely the energy of will and the energy of love, so that we eventually have in operation a "loving will."

The word "fusion" used above could be substituted by "organically coordinated functioning"; that is, that is a functional fusion and not real fusion in a literal sense. Here the biological analogy is illuminating; there is no material fusion of organs or apparatus of the body—they remain anatomically and physiologically distinct —but their fusion is a functional unity, directed by what could be called a very able interlocked directorate with the summit in the central nervous system, which operates through the other nervous centers and the endocrine glands.

There is a definite limitation in regard to the third phase of decision in the training and use of the will. As is well known, indecision is one of the most frequent symptoms of people who are in a depressed state, "at the low ebb of psychological tension" to use Janet's point of view. In all such cases, it would be a therapeutic error to urge them to make decisions, because that would evoke in them a strong anxiety, for they are really for the time being unable to make decisions for themselves. To press them towards decision making would give them a sense of failure and frustration which would tend to increase their depressive condition and the usual sense of inferiority characterizing such cases. With such patients —and while the depressive condition contin-

Personal Psychosynthesis-Techniques 143

ues-it is really a duty to relieve them as much as possible from making decisions. The best way is to explain to them that this stage of depression is temporary and that they should postpone any important decisions until after the cessation of the depression. This is very important because in that state such people often make decisions which they afterwards regret —such as selling property or stock at a low price owing to panic or pessimism.

The other alternative is to make decisions with them, not for them —giving them what they lack, and going through the other stages with them, especially that of deliberation, and then supplying them with the missing elements required for decision. This is important in therapy.

The will not only can be combined, but inevitably is combined with the active performance of all the other techniques of psychosynthesis; and, inversely, the performance of any technique indirectly develops the will.

This raises the important practical question of when to introduce in the course of therapy the direct training of the will. With people with a very weak will it is best to introduce it at the beginning and thus avoid frustration, but this can be done without even mentioning the will itself, through training and encouraging them to use various active techniques, suited to their symptoms and to their needs. When, through the use of those techniques, they have unknowingly developed the will up to the needed point, then the therapist can introduce the direct training of the will as such. We thus have the paradoxical situation that the weaker the will, the later the directed training of it.

Technique for the Training and Use of Imagination

Purpose

Imagination is a function which in itself is to some extent synthetic, since imagination can operate at several levels concurrently: those of sensation, feeling, thinking and intuition. It includes all the various types of imagination, such as visualization—the evocation of visual images —auditory imagination, tactile, kinesthetic imagination and so on.

The imagination, in the precise sense of the function of evoking and creating images, is one of the most important and spontaneously active functions of the human psyche, hoth in its conscious and in its unconscious aspects or levels. Therefore it is one of the functions which has to be controlled when excessive or dispersed; to be trained when weak, and to be utilized owing to its great potency. This explains why in psychosynthetic therapy we are particularly interested in the regulation, development and utilization of imagination, since the practice of the technique of imagination is one of the best ways towards a synthesis of the different functions.

In practice the real issue is between the will and the imagination. This recalls the paradoxical statement by Coue, that when will and imagination come into conflict, imagination wins. This is an empirical and paradoxical way of expressing a great and important law of the psychological life, which is described and explained in scientific terms by Charles Baudoin in his valuable Suggestion and Auto-Suggestion.

The fundamental fact and law in this field has been formulated in the following way: "Every image has in itself a motor-drive" or "images and mental pictures tend to produce the physical conditions and the external acts corresponding to them." It is hardly necessary here to give instances of the immense power of images, for several psychologists have dealt with the subject; probably the first to do so in a systematic way was Theodore Ribot in his classic essays on imagination.

Not only psychologists, but also advertisers are keenly aware of the motor-power of imagination—or what they more vaguely call "suggestion" —and utilize it abundantly, or shall we say over-abundantly, and very ably. It seems high time that this law should be utilized for higher and more constructive purposes; and the fullest use of it should be made for the purpose of psychosynthesis.

We will now take up separately the specific techniques for the evocation, training and utilization of imagination, that is, the Technique of Visualization, the Technique of Auditory Evocation, and the Techniques for the Imaginative Evocation of Other Sensations such as kinesthetic, tactile, gustatory and olfactory. The reader is also referred to the article, Pictures and Colors: Their Psychological Effects; see Appendix, p. 283.

Technique of Visualization

Purpose

The general purpose of evoking the imagination has already been discussed. The great importance and paramount value of visualization is that it constitutes the necessary preliminary training for, and furthers the purpose of, other important techniques. For instance, the clear visualization of the "ideal model" implies the ability to visualize. Therefore we will deal first with the technique of visualization; also in therapy we should at the outset explain to the patient the various uses of this technique; for example, that it is essential for the clear picture of the "ideal model" which is the goal of the psychosynthesis.

Visualization helps greatly in, and is one of the most suitable techniques for, the training of concentration in its first stages. Further, visualization helps, or rather implies and requires, the use of the will, and some of the exercises of evocative imagination which are described below, under Procedure, constitute a class of the so-called "useless exercises" which we have mentioned in dealing with the will.

Another purpose of visualization is to offer a starting point for or incentive to creative imagination; and finally it makes possible the effective use of symbolic visualization which will be dealt with when we take up specifically the technique of the use of symbols.

In the Rationale on Imagination we mentioned the fundamental law that every image has a motor-tendency. Now we add something more: that every movement requires a previous image of the movement to be executed. This has been proved by certain forms of aphasia or rather one specific form of aphasia, the cause of which is the loss of the evocation of the image of the words to be pronounced. In short: visualization is a necessary stage for action.

In order to clarify our discussion, let us consider the differences between reproductive imagination and creative imagination, as they apply particularly to this specific technique. There is a fundamental distinction between conscious visualization of an image consciously chosen and the imaginative function which is spontaneous, creative and mostly operates in and on unconscious levels and then offers to consciousness the product or the result of its activity.

In the first case, we can consciously, deliberately evoke an image or set of images of what we have already seen; that is, strictly speaking, reproductive imagination. We can also consciously evoke an image of something we have never seen, that is, build up an image which may include elements already seen but combined in a new way, which in this sense is a creation of a certain kind. But in these kinds of evocative imagination it is a conscious creation of a static image. Therefore, it is a creation of quite a different kind from the spontaneous creative function which we will take up later.

The real difference is that in evocative imagination it is a conscious process, deliberately carried through, while the other is the spontaneous function of creative imagination, although the starting point — as we will mention later — may be the conscious evocation of a symbol. It may be interesting to add at this point that—curiously, in a certain sense—it is much easier to evoke even a complex picture or image of something we have seen repeatedly (e.g., the front of a cathedral with its complicated details) than to create a new image, however simple.

Procedure

We shall describe a very simple exercise in the manner in which it could be given as an instruction to a patient or subject:

"First imagine the setting, which is a classroom with a blackboard, grey or dull black. Then imagine that in the middle of the blackboard appears a figure; let us say the number five, as if written with white chalk, fairly large and well defined. Then keep it vividly before your inner eye, so to speak; that is, keep the image of the five vivid and steady" in the field of your conscious attention. Then on the right of the five visualize the figure two.

So, now you have two figures, a five and a two, making fifty-two. Dwell for a while on the visualization of this number, then after a little while, imagine the appearance of a four at the right side of the two.

Now you have three figures, written in white chalk, five, two, four—making the number five hundred and twenty- four. Dwell for a while on this number.

Continue adding other figures until you are unable to hold together the visualization of the number resulting from those figures."

The result of such an exercise is very interesting, and generally rather humiliating. As we first read the description it seems a very simple matter, but it has a deceiving easiness in its simplicity, for when we put it into practice, we see that it is not easy at all. The figures seem to have a wicked tendency to disappear or to change size or color, or to turn into fanciful forms, and even to dance in the field of our consciousness. We have to recreate them again and again.

This humiliating experience is very instructive and profitable. It gives us an almost dramatic realization of how little we really control our psychological functions — in this case imagination and concentration — and reveals how weak and ineffective the will is in exercising such control.

This exercise also gives important clues to the various aspects of our psychological functioning, that is, some succeed better with eyes closed, others with eyes open; some can very rapidly imagine and visualize the figures, but almost as rapidly these disappear or change; others instead have difficulty in creating and evoking the form of the figure, but after having done it the figure persists with little or no effort. Thus the fact of greater facility in visualizing with closed or with open eyes is an indication of the psychological type, that is, in regard to extraversion or introversion. We have found that extraverted people can visualize more easily with closed eyes, because the open eyes tend to be instruments of their extravert interest in what they see before them. Thus, when they close their eyes they are forced —so to speak—to introvert, to direct their attention to the inner world. On the contrary, introverts have more difficulty with closed eyes, because their interest being already inwardly directed, all sorts of other pictures or other psychological processes crowd out the interest in the figures. However, keeping the eyes open checks in some measure the attention directed towards the inner world — while the outer world does not interest them sufficiently to create a difficulty in their visualization process.

As Jung pointed out, an individual may be both introverted and extraverted according to the different levels of his psychological functions; for instance, introverted in the feeling function while extraverted in the thinking function, etcetera In this exercise we are mainly concerned with the sensation level, because it is one connected with vision. Therefore, extraverts on the sensation level will have much difficulty in visualizing with eyes open, and vice versa, an introvert on the sensation level would be flooded with organic sensations with his eyes closed.

As far as rapidity versus persistence of the visual image is concerned, we can also obtain certain diagnostic clues from them; specifically on what some psychologists call the respective prevalence of the primary and secondary functions. Those who visualize rapidly but whose mental pictures have no persistence have the primary function prevalent. But by primary function we do not mean that mentioned by Freud, who differentiates between the primary function of the Id and the secondary function of the Ego. We mean the distinction made by O. Gross and other psychologists between a primary and a secondary function. To explain the difference in simpler and clearer terms: it is the difference between the individual who reacts more promptly but also more superficially to stimuli, and the individual who reacts slowly or apparently not at all; but the stimulus starts a process of unconscious activities which sometimes later emerge again above the threshold of consciousness.

Another aspect to be considered in this exercise with figures is the extent of the area of attention. This is indicated by the number of figures which the subject can visualize at any one time. Finally the degree of vividness has also to be taken into account; this would correspond to the intensity of the light in the area of conscious attention.

The value of this exercise consists in the fact, among others, that it gives us a means of measuring any improvement resulting from the training in visualization by the subject. In this respect improvement is more important than initial ability, because the latter depends in great part on the subject being the visual or non-visual type. The degree of improvement is what is significant, not only as regards visualization per say but as regards the other functions involved in the exercise, that is, concentration, attention, will.

Also there is the additional advantage of demonstrating to the patient or subject himself that he is making progress; which, of course, is vital as a reinforcement to his motivation to put forth further effort.

A second exercise brings in another factor, that of color. After the subject has gained some proficiency in the simpler exercise of the figures on the blackboard, we ask him to visualize geometrical forms, two dimensional and colored; for example, a blue triangle, a yellow circle, or a green square. This has two purposes and advantages: first, to notice the difference in visualizing ability between form and color — and we do find a clear difference: some subjects can maintain the image of the form or shape, but have difficulty in visualizing the color and keeping it steady, or vice versa. Without going into the theoretical aspect of the matter which is outside the purpose of this Manual, this does suggest that the visualization of the form is more connected with the mental, thinking function, and color with the emotional function. Although this exercise is so simple, yet it brings out this significant difference — one which can also be found in art. For instance: the whole Tuscan School of painting put the emphasis on form, but the colors are not outstanding. On the contrary, the emphasis of the Venetian School is on very strong and intense colors.

The second usefulness of this exercise is that it is preparatory to the use of symbols in the Technique of Symbol Utilization. As we shall see later, when we describe those symbols, much use is made of forms, often complicated ones, and also colors.

A third series of exercises in visualization could be called mental photography. This is done in the following way:

The subject is asked to observe for a short time—generally for one minute —an image such as an illustrated postcard or a diagram or a mathematical or chemical formula. Then the patient is asked to close his eyes and to evoke the image he has just observed, and then give a detailed and full description of it. This technique also has several advantages. First, that it can give a numerical measure of the initial ability to visualize, and of its successive improvement, that is, the number of details exactly recorded versus those inexactly described, or, as often happens, those invented. The second variable is the length of exposure, so to speak, necessary to gain a vivid mental picture of the image so that it can be correctly visualized later. Another variable which has more theoretical than therapeutic value is the length of the persistence of the image, found by asking, after a certain time, if the subject can still recall the image.

Apart from these variables, which we could call the measuring rod of improvement, this exercise has a special practical usefulness in its combination with two other techniques: those of observation and of memorization. It is needless to emphasize its value for mnemonic retention in making a clear visual picture of a thing to be memorized — particularly in the case of complicated algebraic or chemical formulas. When the image is rather complicated or when the power of observation —which implies concentration and visualization —is poor in the subject, it is good to let him repeat the observation a second time for half a minute, and sometimes even a third time —again for half a minute.

This is a valuable technique for many patients who may have very slight contact with the physical world, because it trains them to observe the physical universe, or parts of it, and relates them again to it. It is also valuable for individuals in whom the sensation function is not properly developed and who tend to live too much on the mental level. One particularly useful exercise of this nature is described by Rudyard Kipling in his book Kim: a variety of objects are placed on a tray; the subject is given say 30 seconds in which to look at them, after which the tray is removed or covered. He is then asked to describe what he saw. This is essentially one of the techniques of observation; as such it is well known but it can also be used as a technique of visualization, if the subject is asked to close his eyes and evoke in imagination the articles he has seen.

Some or most of the indications have already been mentioned in speaking of the usefulness of visualization. We can add that in these exercises, although in general they are passive, there is a varying degree of a constant flow of energies, and this must be taken into account, bearing in mind the general principle (which is one of the sound principles of psychoanalysis) not to suppress any activity or function. The indication is to teach patients to control their imaginative function without checking it by force or trying to suppress it. Therefore we teach them to utilize the imagination actively at will, and to switch it off at will, in order to permit it a certain expression, but only at the proper times and for specific purposes. Specific indications would be necessary in cases in which the sense of reality is deficient or tends to fluctuate. Other cases are those where the mnemonic function is, so to speak, uncontrolled: overimaginative individuals, in whom the flow of energies is much too strong.

Limitations and Contra-Indications

These are not outstanding. One is an exaggerated excessive interest in the technique itself without making use of it for the purpose of psychosynthesis. For example, certain obsessive compulsive individuals would sometimes use, or rather r sure, this technique and make of it a ritual which continues to utilize their chronic symptomatology. On the other hand, the visualization of certain geometrical forms (which theoretically should reinforce the ritualistic tendency of some excessive compulsives) has in some cases had the opposite effect, because it is a method of substitution. It replaces an egocentric emotion with an impersonal objective goal and is, so to speak, a case of therapeutic substitution. The only thing we have to watch as therapists is that the substitution does not become a symptom.

Combination with Other Techniques

As has already been mentioned, this technique naturally — one may say inevitably—is combined with other techniques and is helpful to them, for example, Concentration, Will, Observation, Memorization. It also can be used as a preparation for the technique of the "Reve eveille" of Robert Desoille and also for the more complex exercises in symbolic visualization which we will describe later.

Technique of Auditory Evocation Purpose

The general purpose of auditory evocation is, of course, the same as that of visual evocation; but it also has specific purposes as mentioned under Indications and Applications. Also it constitutes a useful and sometimes necessary preparation and training for the utilization of the power of sound and of music in the technique of musical therapy.

Rationale

Here again, this is generally the same as in visual evocation; we would only add that it has a specific quality and psychological influence which have not yet been studied sufficiently in a truly methodical way. This is a large field of research which could be very fruitful.

There are two main groups of "auditory images," as we might call them, giving "image" a larger connotation than visual. The first group is that of sounds and noises of Nature. For instance, we can instruct a subject: "try to evoke the sound of the sea, the waves breaking against cliffs. Try to go through the whole process—the incoming waves, the crash or impact of the water on rocks, and then the quite different sounds as the water recedes."

Another example is that of evoking the sound of a waterfall. This sound is a continuous one, as compared to that of the waves. Yet another could be the whispering of the wind in the forest; and so on.

This brings up the question of subjects being auditory or visual types. Very often people with an auditory evocation also produce spontaneous visual images—they see the waves breaking on the rocks, they see the waterfall, and so on. This may call for a different procedure. In some cases we ask the subject to exclude as much as possible his visual images and to concentrate his attention on the purely auditory component of the evocation. In other cases we can be permissive, asking the subject to simply register both images and at the same time to try to judge which one is the more active, which is more facile than the other. Usually the visual is stronger than the auditory.

In deciding whether to ask for concentration on the auditory to the exclusion of the visual, or to allow both to occur concomitantly, in practice we generally use both methods in succession, because their rationale and aim are somewhat different. In the exclusion of visual images the accent is on concentration, control of psychological processes, emphasis, attention. In the other, instead, the objective is a more neutral observation of what is going on within oneself, and the ascertaining of spontaneous traits and processes in the psychological functions.

In both methods the exercise can be useful in bringing forth and developing the "I-consciousness," since in the first method it is the willing self which decides to include or exclude certain psychological processes from the area of consciousness; and it is also the willing self which observes the flow of images, both visual and auditory, as it occurs in the second method. However, in the exclusion there is an emphasis on the will, and in the admission there is an emphasis on the eye as a detached observer.

It is advisable to help the patient to recognize the value of the exercise (e.g., the desirability of gaining concentration, ability to evoke images, development of either the visual or the auditory images, I-consciousness, will) because this brings an increased motivation to the patient and also a growing ability to synthesize the various psychological functions, which after all is the goal of psychosynthesis and which we should always keep in mind.

The second large group of "auditory images" is that of man-made sounds, in particular what we call music. Here we have to distinguish between the direct influence of sound as such and the influence of the combination of sounds. The combination of sounds, which we call music, has therefore to be analyzed and differentiated into its various components. One is the rhythm, the second is the melody, the third the harmony (chords), and the fourth the quality (timbre) of the particular instrument expressing the music.

All this will be taken up at length in the chapter on musical therapy. But we have briefly mentioned it here because in the auditory evocation the emphasis can be put on each of the components separately. We can ask the subject to evoke a certain rhythm or to evoke a melody, or to evoke a chord, or the specific quality of sound of a violin or piano or cello. Each of these has a different aim, effect and indication. The ability of subjects to evoke such auditory images varies a great deal, and here the type is really outstandingly important. There are some who have an amazing facility of evocation of sounds and others for whom it is very difficult. We would say that the individual differences are greater than those indicated by visual images.

This technique is particularly indicated for all those who follow a musical career, for musicians, singers, and especially composers; for whom the facility of auditory evocation could be of help in preventing them losing some inspiring motive. Similarly, this technique is indicated for public speakers.

At this point we cannot digress to explore the psychological and psychosomatic effects —conscious or subconscious —of the use of this technique, nor its use in hypnosis or posthypnosis. We simply stress the importance of simple auditory evocations as a means of gaining facility in this technique for its later use in combination with other techniques.

Another exercise—of great usefulness, in modern life especially—is the opposite of the foregoing. It is that of excluding from our consciousness sounds and particularly noises. This is not easy but can be achieved by training in a gradual systematic way.

For instance, place near the subject a clock which ticks loudly and instructs the subject to listen to it for, say, ten or twenty seconds; and then, on a given sign, to dismiss this sensation and replace it in the field of consciousness with other contents. It is easier to achieve this substitution by contents of a different nature, but also a vivid evocation of a melody, of music, can submerge the impact of the outer uninteresting sensation (the tick of the clock). The same can be done with noises coming through a window from the street, or the whining of a child in an adjoining room, and so on.

In parenthesis, in regard to this question of the ever-increasing noise of traffic, one wonders what effects this has on the unconscious level. With many people it certainly creates tensions and may have an unfortunate effect and yet there are thousands who not only do not mind noise, but encourage and actively create it in preference to silence. This is particularly true of the young, especially teenagers who seem to enjoy noise and feel the need for a background of loud playing radios, and seem undisturbed by it even when studying. This is a paradox; it is contrary to what we think should happen and therefore it is an interesting psychological problem, to which we draw the attention of psychologists and therapists, but it is outside the scope of our present discussion.

Another type of auditory evocation is that of the bells of a country church, and this is particularly helpful for individuals living in a city. It seems to have a nostalgic tranquilizing and harmonizing effect.

It may also be valuable to ask the patient to attempt to evoke the different quality of a female versus a male singer; and further, within each, the different quality between, say, a soprano and contralto, or between a tenor and a baritone. These differences are not only of auditory qualities, but also have symbolic values, presenting different psychological characteristics. One could, in fact, include them in the category of visualization of symbols.

There is another technique, which is parallel to the one we described earlier as "mental-photography," fend which can be called auditory registration. In this we ask the subject to listen to a short musical composition and then immediately afterwards to try to hear it again in imagination. The purpose, the procedure and the effects are parallel to those of mental photography. It is possible in this way to re-integrate and re-evoke some of the attendant emotions which one experienced while actually listening to the musical composition.

Another instance can be when we are sitting in a garden, relaxed and listening to the sound of birds. Then, after they have gone, we close our eyes and try to again hear their song. As we remarked about the auditory evocation of church bells, to people living in the midst of the city this auditory recall is particularly helpful, bringing back the sense of, and the contact with, living nature.

Indications and Applications

In general, these are the same as for visualization, but as the auditory evocation has a stronger, more intense resonance on the emotional states, there is a wider application of the technique, as we shall see, for either controlling or arousing emotional states and feeling of a positive nature.

Paradoxically, this technique of auditory evocation is particularly indicated in two extreme types: those with deficient auditory ability and those with excessive ability. For those of a deficient auditory ability the technique helps them to develop the function in order to utilize it either for therapy or in life in general. In contrast, for those with an excessive auditory sensitivity it serves to control it without suppressing it. As we said in regard to visual images, the function cannot be suppressed, but it can be controlled and regulated by the active systematic evocation of the will—the chosen auditory evocations substituting the involuntary and sometimes non-constructive or harmful auditory influences.

In certain patients, particularly neurotics, there is a high degree of sensitivity to sound, and especially to noises. In dealing with this kind of patient we first use a negative exercise; that of training them, as a regular exercise, to divert their attention from the noise instead of reacting with anger to it —which only increases their attention to the noise. Then follows the method of substitution: that is, to try to evoke vividly in imagination a pleasant sound of music, music that can replace the objective noise coming from outside. Exercises of relaxation are also helpful in this respect, for even without instruction, the patient during relaxation notices the noises less. This is a paradox, because in the quiet of relaxation he seemingly should notice them more; but this is explained by the fact that his interest in and emotional reaction to the noise is lessened as his interest shifts to the positive results of his relaxation.

We would emphasize that the foregoing facts regarding neurotics in no way substitute for or remove the necessity for dealing with the underlying causes, with the neurotic motivation of problems of which heightened auditory sensitivity is only a symptom. At this point we are discussing merely the symptomatic level and at this level the techniques are useful but secondary. There still remains the necessity for causal therapeutic action, and one must be on guard and not permit oneself to become fascinated by the theoretical interest and the possible lines of research which they open up.

There is one important and serious contra-indication. This technique has to be avoided in every case in which the patient is apt to hear inner voices; that is, in which split parts of his personality or unconscious sub-personalities become so autonomous as to "speak" to the patient who generally erroneously considers it to be some external influence. In such cases the patient's attention should be deflected from all kinds of inner listening or auditory evocation; and even from outer listening. His attention should be directed to the outer world through the other senses, particularly sight, in addition to touch, taste and smell.

One of the inherent limitations, of course, is the rather widespread deficiency among human beings in auditory evocation, which makes it difficult for them to do the exercises; yet for whom they are particularly indicated. However, there is the limitation of time and of the range of possible experiences; and although the ideal purpose of psychosynthesis is the full development of every function, this, in many cases, would be unrealistic and should not be the main aim. A man or woman can "be," can feel and live creatively from a personal viewpoint, despite some functions being deficient, for example, the auditory function.

Combination with Other Techniques

This technique can be combined, as can visualization, with the training of the will, attention, concentration, observation and so on. In particular it can be a very effective element in symbol utilization, and also in the "ideal model" of the personality, of an integrated, psychosynthesized personality, which we will discuss later.

Techniques of Imaginative Evocation of Other Sensations

There are four (classes of such sensations which can be imaginatively evoked: the kinesthetic, the tactile, the gustatory and the olfactory. For the sake of simplicity and brevity, we will deal with the four classes simultaneously because our general observations will refer to all of them, with particular comments specific for each.

Purpose

The general purpose is the same as that of visualization, with the specific indication that kinesthetic evocation is a useful preparation for all the physical exercises connected with foo-psycho-synthesis. In particular, muscular sensation, the sensation of tension or relaxation of the muscles, is important for the successful execution of the exercises of relaxation and for acquiring muscular skill. Olfactory evocations (e.g., the evocation of perfume) are also useful preparation for some of the later exercises in connection with symbol utilization. In contrast, gustatory and tactile evocations have no other purpose than the mere technical training of attention, observation and so on, which fall within the general aims of visualization.

Rationale

On the whole the rationale is the same as that for visualization. One may add that the fact of combining the evocation of the image with sensations derived from the different senses strengthens the association and the effect which one desires to produce. So, practice in the technique of evoking individually each of the sensory images is only preparatory to later combining them in exercises which will be described in the appropriate place.

The attempt at reinstatement or evocation of kinesthetic, tactile, gustatory, and olfactory sensations tends' to give added vividness to the evocation of visual or auditory scenes or images. Also, the degree to which sensations occur spontaneously during the visualization of the scene or picture indicates the reality of the experience; and this becomes of particular importance in some of the exercises of symbolic visualization. It enables us to assess the degree to which the patient is actually experiencing the scenes that he is visualizing, or if he is simply going through an exercise lightly and on a superficial level.

Procedure

Here again the procedure is similar to that used for visualization and auditory images; but as tactile, gustatory, olfactory and kinesthetic images are generally weaker, their evocation can be made easier by having the patient actually experience the sensa- tion and then immediately afterwards try to evoke it in imagination—just as was done in "mental photography." For instance:

For tactile sensations, ask the patient to pass his hand over the surface of a cold glass, or a fur, or, say, caress the back of a cat, and immediately afterwards try to do it in imagination over and over again until the ability to evoke tactile sensation is developed.

As regards gustatory sensation, some people who are very food and drink conscious have no difficulty in evoking the corresponding sensory images. For those who are not, we give them a cold drink with a marked flavor, or alternatively a hot drink of tea or coffee. Here, as we see in the tactile experiment, there is an association between the gustatory and the thermic sensations.

Similarly for olfactory sensation, we ask the patients to sniff a perfume, or better still a natural scent such as that of a rose or other flower with a strong perfume, and then we remove the stimulant and ask them to repeat the process in imagination — recalling as vividly as they can the special quality of the perfume.

Kinesthetic sensations which can have constructive application are those of an active kind; that is the awareness of right muscular tension — not too much and not too little, so to speak. There is a right and harmonious tension of the muscles necessary for any given action, one which gives a general subjective sensation of fitness and readiness to perform that action. This is probably achieved unconsciously by all athletes and sportsmen, but if it is done consciously it can be more effective. There can be a kind of "muscular anticipation," or the evocation of the kinesthetic sensations which will accompany the specific action.

We would mention here that a so-called "negative" kinesthetic sensation can also be useful, if limited to the exercise of relaxation, where one can usefully evoke the sensation of letting go muscular and nervous tension.

Indications and Applications

The general indication, and in a sense the most useful application, is for subjects or patients who have a deficient awareness of the body; that is, for those who are so centered in their emotional life or, as in the case of some intellectuals, in their mental activity that they lose the sense of the relative value or even the reality of the physical body.

In contrast it is also indicated for those who take an antagonistic and a condemning attitude towards their bodies which, of course, is a familiar symptom in certain neuroses.

The value of this reintegration in consciousness of the body by means of these techniques of imaginative evocation lies in the fact that it is done "from above," so to speak, by the personal self who deliberately and actively assumes control of the physical body of expression. It is not being the prisoner of the body, having one's attention held by the body against one's will; it is, on the contrary, the personal will which first takes notice of and then control of one's necessary instrument of expression in the material world.

Another exercise in tactile sensations which we have found useful is the sensation of pressure. We ask the patient to become aware of the pressure of the band of his wristwatch, and to attempt in imagination to follow the sensation all the way around the wrist. In many cases it will be found that this is a very difficult exercise, in that one may feel a certain amount of pressure in one part of the wrist but very little in another —particularly when the patient finally tries to become aware not only of the parts of the wrist which are pressured slightly by the wrist-band, but also of the total sensation. In general, awareness of muscular tension is useful in guarding against the tensions which often develop during one's work or other activities. As has been shown in many researches, a certain degree of tension in mental work is valuable, but too much uses up energy unnecessarily and may lead to headaches or even muscular spasms.

For this reason it is very useful for mental workers to practice a short relaxation every hour; short, so that the needed and right mental tension is not lost, and yet the body is freed from excessive tension. Such short relaxations depend on one's physical condition: if very tired, relax on a couch wherever possible; if not, stand up and move about. In both methods include deep breathing, but such relaxation should not be for more than five minutes. It provides a useful break, helps towards sustained work — a "second wind", so to speak; and those who are tense relax and those who are slack are helped to become active.

To produce an awareness of muscular tension is particularly

useful for individuals or patients who are chronically tense and yet do not realize the fact. So to help a patient to first recognize those parts of his body which are over-tense is an excellent preliminary and incentive to the practice of the exercise of relaxation. Many neurotics are quite unaware of how tense they are, and will often deny that they are tense at all. For this reason the therapist should observe the patient very carefully during the session and if he notices certain tensions it may often be valuable to pause and ask the patient if he feels tense; if he denies it, then ask him to carefully direct his attention to the parts of his body that you observe to be tense, so that he can become aware of what is going on at the muscular level.

Another way of making the patient aware of his tension is to tell him to lie down on a couch; but instruct him casually, without emphasizing the adoption of a restful attitude. When he has been lying down for a few minutes and thinks he is resting, you gently take him by the wrist and lift his arm for a little way and then without forewarning let it drop. What usually happens is that the arm does not drop freely, as if it were a dead weight, but more or less slowly. Then you can point out to him: "You see, you are not relaxed.

If you had been, the arm would have fallen freely of its own weight, but in fact there was a muscular tension which prevented its doing so." This then serves as a prelude or introduction to the exercise of relaxation. At the end of the exercise you repeat the lifting of his arm —by which time it generally falls like a dead weight. If it does not, it is a sign that the patient did not succeed, or only partially, in the relaxation exercise.

The evocation of tactile sensation by means of caressing a piece of fur, of which we made mention earlier, is particularly useful, because the tactile sensation of fur is closely connected —at least on an unconscious level—with the basic feeling of warmth and closeness of contact that we received or should have received in our earliest infancy. As Dr. Klopfer has shown, and more recently Professor Harlow in his presidential address to the American Psychological Association, it is this feeling of warmth and closeness from which we derive our basic security. Klopfer has very imaginatively derived some of the interpretations of the Rorschach plates from this basic concept, and considers the reac- tion to shading as indicative of the way the individual reacts to the closeness of contact and the extent to which, and the way by which, his afFectional anxiety has been resolved or left unresolved, repressed or denied. Therefore it is very interesting and revealing to ask a patient to give his subjective reactions while stroking a piece of fur; to use free associations, etcetera Also to see whether this closeness of contact is something that the patient can do freely, whether he surrenders to it or reacts against it, attempts to avoid or denies it, or is disturbed by it. This may have very revealing diagnostic value and at the same time, as the patient repeatedly strokes the piece of fur (or imagines stroking it), there may be certain therapeutic values involved over and above the basic purpose of the technique.

There is a definite contra-indication which should be taken into serious consideration. It concerns all those who already have a tendency to pay excessive attention to their physical sensations and consider them interesting or important, and who consequently would respond in the same way to their imaginary evocation. The more pronounced type, or rather class, of these people are the hypochondriacs —but cannot we say that all of us are to a small degree hypochondriacs, that we tend to give too much attention to physical sensations? There is the same contra-indication to the "autogene training" of Schultz in the case of hypochondriacs and also micro-hypochondriacs —because the "autogene training" tends to emphasize physical sensations too much, and in that sense may even become harmful.

Therefore, one should, in using these techniques, keep clearly in view their limited application; and that it is within the power of the self to evoke or dismiss at all images of every type of sensation. Then their use is constructive; but they should be limited as to the time spent on them, for they are after all secondary techniques, subservient to and useful for psychosynthetic exercises, but in themselves alone they have no real value.

We would like to re-emphasize the value of the negative aspect of these techniques, that is, the ability to dismiss at will sensations and their images. Therefore, a refinement of the technique can be this: evoke a kinesthetic or other sensation for five seconds, then dismiss it from the field of consciousness for five seconds then again evoke it for five seconds, and then again exclude it, and repeat the process three or four times. By experiment one can see what length of time is right for each individual. One may have to use a slower rhythm, say ten instead of five seconds. The value of this is the development of the ability to evoke or to dismiss at will any content of the consciousness.

May we suggest that therapists experiment with these techniques themselves —it will give them useful experience in handling their patients, because we cannot be therapists in the full sense of the word unless we ourselves have experienced and struggled with every single one of the exercises of psychosynthesis. The ideal would be to undergo a didactic psychosynthesis; but when, for practical reasons, this is not possible, a therapist should really make a serious effort at a ^/^-psychosynthesis. And a step towards that would be to do, either beforehand or at the same time as the patient, the particular technique or exercise we are asking him to undertake. This procedure has several advantages. The fact that the therapist himself does the exercise is a stimulus to the patient, who may feel that he is directly helped by this, either in a suggestive way or by osmosis or, one could say, "telepathically"; but even if there is no real "rapport influence" the suggestion — of the therapist doing the exercise—can be very strong and helpful.

Combination with Other Techniques

The most natural and useful combination is that with the technique of bio-psychosynthesis which includes all the active physical techniques. But another helpful combination is that with symbol utilization, where the combination of evoking various images coming from the various senses #t once enhances the dynamic effect of the symbol utilized. More general associations have already been mentioned: with concentration, with awareness of the self as the directing and willing agent; and of course the strict relationship of this evocative technique with the "autogene training" of Schultz.

Plan of the Psychosynthesis

After the assessment of the conscious aspects of the personality and the exploration of the unconscious —and generally after the use of some techniques for the preparation of the patient, such as the training of the will and the exercises in self-identification and visualization —comes the right moment for a definite planning of the level of the psychosynthesis to be achieved. First, the therapist has to consider and organize this plan. Then he has to decide how much or how little he will convey to the patient at this stage. This will vary greatly according to the cultural level, the condition of the patient and the troubles from which he is suffering. Therefore, no fixed rule can be given, except that generally the goal can be clearly indicated to the patient. It is good that he has a clear picture or vision of this as soon as possible. This is the image of himself as he can and eventually will be, when the psycho-synthesis is achieved; in other words, that which we call the "ideal model" to which he will gradually conform.

An important and in some respects a critical moment of the therapy is that when its specific plan, as applied to a particular patient, has to be consciously defined. Various factors have to be considered: the first, already mentioned, is the plan of the psychosynthesis as thought through and outlined by the therapist to himself, for his own guidance in the work with the patient. The second is the plan as presented by the therapist to the patient.

Let us take up first the plan of the therapist for himself. It is the adaptation of the general pattern of psychosynthetic treatment not only to the diagnosis of the patient, to his cultural, intellectual level, etcetera, but also to those other factors which have nothing to do with the purely medical, psychological and scientific aspects of the treatment, such as the amount of time which can be given to the therapy, to the frequency of the sessions, and to the patient's family conditions. Although these are outside the scientific structure of psychosynthesis, in real life they intrude, sometimes in a disturbing way, and have to be taken into account in the planning of the psychosynthesis. To be more specific: a complete psychosynthesis, that is, one as complete as possible from the scientific and ideal therapeutic standpoint, is very seldom possible of achievement, due to the personal limitations mentioned above. There- fore, the plan should be adapted to the existing conditions, and one of the tasks of the therapist is to see what is essential for adequate treatment of the patient, and therefore, which techniques are really necessary ^{*} and which can be omitted without detriment.

One of the practical aspects in arriving at a plan and deciding on realistic goals to be reached by the patient during the therapy, is the capacity of the patient himself to benefit from psychotherapy. In this respect, patients vary very greatly in their intellectual and emotional reactions and these will have to be taken into consideration.

In view of the practical limitations it is valuable to consider what techniques could be taught to the patient, so that when the practical possibility of sessions with the therapist is exhausted, for financial or other reasons, the patient can at least —even in a limited way —continue on his own. For this purpose, the technique so chosen must be safe for use by the patient alone, and the patient himself must have progressed to a level which will enable him to use such techniques without harm to himself or others.

We would emphasize that the teaching of techniques to the patient and inducing, encouraging him to use them independently as soon as, and as much as, possible is a fundamental principle of psychosynthesis, independent of the aforesaid limitations, We consider a psychosynthetic treatment as going beyond its immediate medical usefulness and as presenting and introducing to the patient a dynamic conception of the psychological life, with its unlimited possibilities of development and self-realization. Therefore, at the end of the treatment, the instruction to the patient is: "You have seen the usefulness of psychosynthesis. Then go on and practice it throughout your whole life for the prevention of any recurrence of your troubles, and for a fuller, richer life and progressive self-realization."

After the therapist has been able to make first a tentative plan of the treatment then comes the second part, the problem of how soon and how much of it to present to the patient. The advantage of presenting a plan to the patient as soon as possible is that it gives him a clear picture of the next stages of the therapy and prepares the setting for the use of the Technique of the Ideal Model. Caution is needed not to present too wide a program to the patient, for this may be a source of discouragement to him. Here no general rule can be given, and the therapist must gauge how much the patient can receive and still retain a positive attitude to the plan.

Another problem in the planning is that of the respective amounts of definiteness and of plasticity in the plan, for one might err in both directions. We would advise, therefore, that it be made as definite as possible, because of the dynamic and the suggestive or creative effect of a clear picture; but be just as ready to modify it at any time, and even repeatedly, if some good and sufficient reason arises. Also the plan itself should be dynamic or, to put it another way, the therapist should have a definite picture of the goal, but also the partial plans of the various intermediary steps from the starting point to the achieving of the goal; and these can be plastic and modified according to new elements of judgment arising out of the dynamics of the treatment itself.

Technique of Ideal Models Purpose

The purpose is clear: that of utilizing the plastic, creative, dynamic power of images, particularly of visual images, which we examined in dealing with visualization. Here we emphasize the creative aspect of imagination in the sense that imagination creates mentally and emotionally, and then that which has been imagined and visualized is expressed outwardly through the use of natural means.

In therapy it is a process of substituting a realistic, attainable model for those already existing in the subject which do not have such qualities. We must become aware that each of us has within himself various self-models or models of the ego, or —more exactly, using our terminology —of the personality. Such models are not only diverse in nature, origin and vividness but they are in constant conflict between themselves, and this constitutes not only one of the major difficulties but is also one of the most useful fields of application of a right psychoanalysis. This awareness of the self-models is one of the purposes of psychoanalysis which we will touch upon in 'Combination with Other Techniques.'

Before dealing with the ideal model—of that which one can become—which is the true goal of this technique, we could classify in the following way the multiplicity of models which prevent or obscure our self-recognition of what we actually are at present:

1. What we believe we are. These models can be divided into two classes: those in which we over-evaluate ourselves, and those in which we under-evaluate ourselves.

2. What we should like to be. Here come all the idealized, unattainable models very well described by Karen Horney.

3. What we should like to appear to be to others. There are different models for each of our important interpersonal relationships.

This would seem at first appearance to exhaust the categories of models, but there are three other classes which are important and sometimes overpowering:

4. The models or the images that others project on us; that is, the models of what others believe us to be.

5. Images or models that others make of what they would like us to be.

6. Images which others evoke and produce in us; that is, images of ourselves evoked by others.

We will clarify the last point because it is more obscure. The fourth and fifth classes are those of models which are projected on us but which we recognize as of "foreign" origin, so to speak, and which we do not accept and sometimes bitterly resent. Instead, those of the sixth class are the models which others succeed in making us accept, and therefore can be the most harmful.

7. There is finally the model of that which we can become. This constitutes the goal of the technique.

Before working with the patient on an ideal model, what we need to do first is to make the patient aware of all these models, which may be conflicting and some of which are largely unconscious. This brings in one of the deeper aspects of analysis; not so much to look for small traw-muz or small incidents of the past, but for the dramatic, analytic situation of the present. It is the present, existential situation of the patient, who—having these conflicting sub-personalities, models and ideals in himself—is at a loss how to deal with them. Some psychologists have called these models "self-images" or "self-concepts," but we suggest that a consid- eration of the various existing and conflicting models can be a rich and extremely valuable part of analytical work.

Rationale

The main point behind the rationale was mentioned in our discussion of the Technique for the Training and the Use of the Imagination, that is, the utilization or taking advantage of the psychological law that every image has a motor-element which tends to be translated into action—which is a rather dry, objective way of indicating the creative power of imagination. This law was formulated by a pioneer of modern psychology, Theodule Ri-bot, in the first years of this century. The model must first be static and then "manifesting in motion." The stages are: first the idea, which if seen as desirable becomes an ideal, and when ardently sought after emerges or expresses itself in form and function. This definition, fully understood, removes the semantic confusion which has arisen in regard to the words "ideal" and "idealized." The frequent wrong connotation, of impracticality or unreality, should not deter the use of the designation "ideal" in speaking of the ideal model.

These stages of idea-ideal-form-f function can be correlated with or are analogous to scientific or industrial blueprints preceding the manufacture of functioning models; or in some degree to gestalt field theories.

Procedure

There is no one "ideal model" but several, with diverse indications, as will be seen by their description. There is one which is being used unconsciously by most people all the time, that of an external or indirect model. This is the unconscious or conscious imitation of a human model, one who represents what is considered as desirable or who arouses admiration or represents an ideal. This falls within what is usually called "hero worship," because worship or admiration spontaneously and naturally evokes the urge to imitation. On the value and effectiveness of this technique Thomas Carlyle eloquently expressed himself in his well-known book On Heroes and Hero-Worship. Also we have Plutarch's Lives, which is a collection of hero-images, and Representative Men by Ralph Waldo Emerson. Hero worship which was much practiced in the past has, most unfortunately, been substituted in modern times by "idol-worship" —and by "idols" we designate those inferior models represented by some movie stars, sports and T.V prize winners, successful businessmen irrespective of their character or moral stature, etcetera Sometimes the external model chosen is a less ambitious and unrealistic person, some particular one whom we admire and who therefore creates a pattern to which we tend to conform. Perhaps such cases were more frequent in the past than the present: a person of one's own family—father, mother, or some other closely related adult; not infrequently one's teacher. In therapy the influence of the therapist, as a dynamic ideal model, can be used both constructively and destructively in the therapeutic relationship.

In utilizing this technique the first requirement is to discard unrealistic and unworthy models. But even when a model held by a patient is a good and helpful one, there are two pitfalls to be avoided in order that its influence may be really constructive. There should not be a passive or too close an imitation, because no one should become wholly like another. Some of the outstanding qualities of the model can be introjected, but not the whole of the personality characteristics.

The second danger to be avoided is a personal attachment to the human representative of the model. The model should be a model and not the living person. It should be an idea, an image, introjected, and not a personal attachment to the inspirer of the model. Often, at first, the two are connected, and rightly so. But gradually the process of introjection or subjectivation should take place, in order to dissolve the affective bond with the model-inspirer and to have the model become a dynamic, inner creative pattern.

How from a practical angle do we help the patient to discard an unrealistic or unworthy model?

The first step—which one could call the aggressive approach—is that of debunking the unworthy model: to show the reality behind the attractive mask, for example, of a glamorous movie star, by showing all the human frailties of such a model-inspirer, drawing on biographical data to reveal the unhappiness and frustration of such a person. The same can be done for what has been called the "ideal of the animal man," that is, the man wholly identified with his physical body, and only with that.

The therapist must not be afraid of a direct intervention and debunking of such idols, especially in this analytical or destructive stage of the treatment which is not directed to influencing the patient towards something, but to freeing him from hindrances to becoming his better self, his true self—this is an important point. We must be very cautious not to influence a patient according to our own ideal, of ourselves or of him; but every active, even aggressive, help in freeing him from limitation and the many kinds of images which keep him in bondage is of value.

The debunking of the "Hollywood-star-ideal" for instance—showing the hard facts behind the facade, through objective biographical details—is in no way a counselling. It is an active intervention by the therapist, not a counselling in the strict sense of the word, because it does not indicate in what direction the patient should now go, but shows him what are impossible or dangerous by-paths into which he could be induced to go.

We now come to the wholly conscious and direct use of the technique of the ideal model, that is, of the patient visualizing himself as possessing the qualities which it is good or necessary to develop and to build into himself. This is a very well defined model. It is not a general model of perfection, of complete psy-chosynthesis, but the model which represents the next and most urgent step or stage—that of developing an undeveloped psychological function, focussing on a single specified quality or small group of qualities, or abilities which the patient most needs in order to achieve, and even to proceed with, his psychosynthesis. He is asked to visualize himself in possession of that particular quality or actively using that particular psychological function. The visualization should be as vivid and "alive" as possible. The patient is taught and trained to see himself in a definite situation in which he wills to express and to put into action the needed quality.

With the help of the therapist, a form of dramatization can be developed, in which the subject sees himself in action and playing several roles. For example: each role implies personal relationships; therefore we can suggest to the patient that he visualize a scene fitting for each of the roles, functions or sub-

Personal Psychosynthesis-Techniques 171

personalities; for example, a scene in which the subject plays successfully and satisfactorily the role of son or husband, of father or a professional or social role, etcetera In playing a particular role the subject, by just imagining that he is playing it successfully, brings into action qualities which up till then had not been sufficiently developed. This, in effect, becomes a psychodrama-play-tech-nique in imagination, and if well performed it has many, if not all, the advantages of actual psychodrama without its practical difficulties of execution.

Since, for many practical and therapeutic reasons, there is a choice of functions or qualities that we may select for development in each phase of the therapy, how do we help the patient choose a particular function or quality upon which to concentrate? This is a practical question. It is related to the stage of planning which we discussed previously. In the planning, both therapist and patient agree which part of the program to take up first, and this includes the choice of the functions or qualities to be developed through this technique of model-building and acting.

How is the technique presented to the patient? As simply as possible, for almost all are able to understand if it is presented in clear simple terms. We first tell him of the goal and the rationale of the technique.

We assure him that it is very effective if practiced well, and then with him we build up the blueprint, the model. Frequently it is a collaboration, in which the therapist tentatively presents the outline of the model and asks if it is acceptable; or he suggests to the patient that he can modify it, and especially that he complete it more "concretely." The therapist then gives his approval and the patient starts in the same session to build a model with the active help of the therapist, who assures the patient that he too is building the same model with and for him.

As we previously said, this active cooperation is encouraging, suggestive if not actually influencing.

As a practical procedure, it is generally preferable to carry out this technique with the eyes closed. We also favor that the patient be sitting, not lying down, since this is not an analytic technique to bring forth unconscious elements, but rather a conscious technique of building that which one has decided is advisable to build —with the "I" or self in control. In general, we limit the couch to analytical procedures and to relaxation exer- rises; and all the rest of the treatment is made with the patient sitting more or less in front of, or sideways to, the therapist, which gives a more normal situation for interpersonal relationships and favors a quick interchange between patient and therapist —also, it has the advantage of eliminating all passive half-dreaming attitudes and reminds the patient that what is required of him is the action of his conscious self using his will.

Regarding the time to be given to this exercise in a session, it depends on the patient's ability for persistent concentration. In general we put the emphasis on the vividness and intensity of the visual evocation and not on its prolongation —because a very vivid image can have an instantaneous effect; just as a photograph taken in bright sunlight immediately impresses the film, so a very vivid image immediately imprints the plastic aspect of the unconscious. It is a vivid, short, repeated evocation; and it is useful to repeat it over and over again. By "repeat" we mean that we ask the patient to do this himself at least once every day, and also a few times in each session. As to how long this process needs to be continued —realizing, of course, that much depends on individual cases—we could say that the evocation of some form of ideal model should go on during the whole of one's life, changing the model periodically in order to develop successively various needed functions.

How is the desired model worked through into action? In other words, how do we help the patient translate images into concrete reality, or how can we help the patient to translate the desired good into actual altered behavior?

The first step requires the active will of the patient, encouraged by the therapist. The therapist can say: "Now you see that in imagination you can perform the role, be the model, quite easily, without those disturbing emotional and psychosomatic reactions. That shows that the ground is free. Now go ahead —live and relive it in imagination and then seek to play it in reality; you can go ahead with a good prospect of success." Sometimes we add "What can further help you is not to care so much about the results.

Just try, make the experiment in a detached attitude. If you do not succeed this time, you will succeed the next." This experimenting can also be modified; for instance, if the patient is a performer, a musician, we can say "Just try to give your per- performance before a small group of friends and see what happens; and then, if you find out that it is possible to do this, then repeat the performance before a larger public." In short, the translation process is this: an active will, an experimental detached attitude and, if possible, a playful attitude, so that the subject can always focus his greatest interest on the experiment itself and not on the practical results. This latter point can be a great help.

At a somewhat advanced stage of the treatment we suggest a further use of the technique, that is, that of a general model, 2. model of the whole new psychosynthesized personality. That, of course, requires much previous training and, being more complex, demands a little longer time for each visualization. The patient is asked to visualize himself as the new, whole-functioning, self-actualized being with the aim and the reward of completed (always in a relative sense) psychosynthesis. This includes the subject feeling himself integrated, freed from both his symptoms and his outstanding deficiencies, harmonized with the various functions, the various roles he has to play, not conflicting but cooperating in a many-sided, rich life.

This is a general model, the general pattern of a self-actualized individual. Each patient in cooperation with the therapist can make it more definite within, of course, the limits of his empirical possibilities.

These are very extensive. In all walks of life one sees the importance, even the need, of clear planning, preparing exact blueprints and even scale models of what one wants to create or build. There is exactly the same need in psychological and psy-chosynthetic purposes, and the same general procedure can and should be extensively used.

Here, too, clear planning and a definite pattern are among the chief elements of success. Therefore all the required time, attention and concentration should be dedicated to this essential and often neglected phase of therapy and psychosynthesis, of education and self-realization.

In other words, this technique is indicated practically for every psychosynthesis and for all patients, because it is a necessary stage in all psychotherapeutic procedures.

Limitations and Contra-Indications

In apparent contrast to the "universal" indications just mentioned there is one important contra-indication of this technique. It is not really a contra-indication, in the sense of not using it at all, but in the sense of using it only after or at the final stage of another technique. These specific cases — quite frequent —are those in which there are present in the subject, more or less consciously, drives or attitudes which are in direct contrast to the model or pattern to be visualized and then realized. When there is this countercurrent, so to speak, it would be a mistake to try to force upon a patient, to superimpose as it were, the ideal model or pattern. The result would be either a repression in the unconscious, with the well-known harmful effects, or the arousing of an active opposition which would forfeit or make difficult the success of the technique we are considering.

To give specific examples: when the subject has an intense fear or even a phobia of performing a certain action, or he takes a certain set attitude under certain circumstances. For instance, a student before an examination, an actor or a singer before a public performance, an employee before an interview with his boss. In all these cases where the emotion is intense it would not be possible to visualize over and over again perfect behavior in the given situation, repressing the fear or anxiety. The same can be said in visualizing an ideal of loving behavior towards some individual or group when there are in the subject strong hostile or aggressive drives against the same people. In these cases the technique would be preceded by the use of another one which has also great value in itself. This is the technique of imaginative training and desensitization described on pp. 226 — 28.

In other words, what one needs to do first, is to have the patient imagine, visualize himself, with some of his defects and undesirable traits, in the situation which is feared or avoided; this is needed to bring forth to consciousness those elements which should be worked through before the more desirable pattern is introduced and reinforced. To be more precise, the patient has to visualize himself in the given situation and then if, spontaneously, emotions of fear or anger come up, the patient tries not to fight them. This is the point: not to fight them but to be permissive, to accept and to experience them. And this has to be done over and over again for a sufficient number of times, for in doing this there is a spontaneous —not forced — freeing of what could be called "psychological allergy," and after a sufficient number of times the patient without any effort finds himself free from the negative emotions. Then he is in a position to perform effectively the technique of the ideal model.

This confirms one of the essential procedures of general psychosynthesis; that is, a right succession and combination of all that is best of psychoanalytical procedure and the best of the active techniques. Up to now, unfortunately, in most cases they have been adapted separately.

The above is an example of how an active Technique of Imagination and Visualization can be used for analytical purposes to bring forth into consciousness elements which heretofore were not fully accepted by the individual and therefore partly repressed.

The technique of visualization first serves as a discovery of these drives and tendencies, then as a catharsis or elimination, and thirdly as the active development of the opposite positive trends.

If we started with only the positive trend we would not really deal therapeutically with the situation. This explains the chief deficiency in emphasizing only the positive, forgetting and neglecting the negative aspects of human nature. This partially justifies the hostilities in certain circles against the more superficial optimistic advice given for peace of mind and so on.

The important point is that we need to deal in imagination with the negative aspects of the individual before we can fully impress the progressive desired good, although the desired good may be in mind before the negative aspects are brought up into consciousness. This brings to mind the difficulty that is often experienced with many patients when we ask them to visualize themselves having positive or so-called "constructive qualities." One part of them—the better part, so to speak—would like to acquire the good or at least express it more fully, but after doing this exercise of the ideal model once or twice they give it up. When this happens, it indicates that there are certain forces in the individual which run counter to the constructive tendencies, and these resistances need to be dealt with.

A special combination is that with planning, because a concrete plan, not abstract general planning, implies a clear visual pattern of the end to be achieved. The other special combination, that just mentioned, is with the technique of active imaginative training.

In effect, there are two phases to the combination. In the first phase planning is done with the patient; in the second, visualization of desired qualities and situations. The visualization may bring up certain resistances; and even without resistances it may be useful to have the patient visualize himself in certain situations, such as being with his parents or children or his mate, and also at work; this may bring out certain negative reactions—which could be partly dealt with by the technique of imaginative training before going back again to the previous stage of the model of the desired goal.

This means that you do not necessarily separate the techniques of the stages; for example, "Now I am going to concentrate on planning, now I am going to concentrate on the visualization of situations which may bring forth negative—but also positive—reactions." It is a kind of fluid combination of all stages so that from the different points the patient progresses. He progresses in awareness and clarification of a realizable goal, and he also progresses in the awareness of those aspects in himself of which he was afraid, so that he can accept them and incorporate them better because the constructive aspect is also being reinforced.

In other words this is one of the specific procedures of psychosynthesis: what could be called a moving back and forth between the various stages and in the use of various techniques. It is a fractioned psychoanalysis or a partial use of a technique and then a passing to others; then a coming back again to a further stage in the use of that technique. This working in a fluid way might seem at first to be lacking order, but is in fact obedient to a higher order of organic development.

Another procedure in psychosynthesis is the use of not only verbal material but also imaginative visualized material, and any therapist who has really had experience in this process begins to realize that he is dealing with a very powerful technique, which because of its power represents both opportunities and dangers, and for which he must be fully prepared. Only those therapists who, if not at peace, are at least fairly comfortable with their own unconscious material (which sometimes is of a primitive kind) can be at home with similar processes in the patient, without imposing a rigid structure on what goes on.

This brings up again a point which cannot be emphasized enough: the thorough psychosynthetic preparation of the therapist himself. As to the points of danger, we recall those —well described by Jung —of the invasion of the consciousness by strong images from the unconscious, especially the deeper levels which he calls the "Collective Unconscious," and which contain the archetypal images.

Technique of Symbol Utilization Purpose

The purpose of this technique is to utilize the enormous and by far not yet realized potency of symbols in the dynamics of the psychological life. Symbols are constantly being used by everyone but generally in an unconscious way and often in unconstructive and even harmful ways. Therefore one of the urgent needs of therapy —and of education —is the realization of the nature and power of symbols, the study of the many classes and kinds of symbols, and their systematic utilization for therapeutic, educational, and self-realization purposes.

Apart from and in addition to this general, one could almost say universal, purpose of symbols in human life, there is a specific purpose for their use in psychosynthesis, because there are symbols which have a specific psychosynthetic integrating value and therefore directly serve the purpose of bringing about psycho-synthesis, both in the individual and in groups.

Rationale

The rationale of the use of symbols is based on their nature and on their function, or rather functions. Let us first consider symbols from the psychodynamic standpoint.

Their primitive and basic dynamic function is that of being accumulators, in the electrical sense, as containers and preservers of a dynamic psychological charge or voltage. Their second function, a most important one, is that of transformers of psychological energies. A third function is that of conductors or channels of psychological energies. From the qualitative point of view symbols can be considered as images or signs of psychological realities of many kinds. (In C.G.Jung, Psychological Types, p. 601, Jung makes a distinction between signs and symbols.)

Symbols as accumulators, transformers, and conductors of psychological energies, and symbols as integrators, have most important and useful therapeutic and educational functions. And this can be considered also in reference to psychodynamics because integration is really a function of energy, specifically the function of what has been called syntropy as contrasted with entropy. Syntropy means a heightening of the tension of the voltage of psychological and also biological energy. The whole principle and theory of syntropy has been well expounded by the mathematician Fantappie.

In a sense it is a complete system of ingathering, storing, transforming, and finally of utilizing energies. The normal succession of the psychodynamic efficiency of the symbol is that of attracting psychological energies, storing them, subsequently transforming them, and then utilizing them for various purposes—particularly for the important one of integration.

Coming back to the qualitative nature and value of symbols it is well to make as clear as possible the relationship between the symbol and the reality which it represents. This relationship is based mainly, if not exclusively, on analogy. Analogy, we might say, is an important psychological link or connection between outer and inner realities. Analogy can be and has been much misused, or used in exaggerated and unreal ways. This was especially so during the Middle Ages, and this has produced a reaction, a devaluation, and even a rejection of it especially in science. 'But as it is a normal and really unavoidable psychological activity, the result has been —to use a colloquialism —"to throw out. the baby with the bathwater," to renounce a precious avenue for knowledge.

One of the ways in which analogy can systematically be used is in attempting to find new and unusual relationships and to find hypotheses—or ways of looking at things—which one did not have before. It is a method which is full of rich possibilities for creativity, not only in an artistic sense and from a humanistic viewpoint, but also from a scientific standpoint. Of course, it needs to be followed by a systematic use of analytical thinking in order to check the value of the analogy. One can use analogy as a method for getting new and fresh slants on almost every subject. It can be systematically carried out and pays rich rewards, provided one is not carried away by the process.

It is linked with that part of the creative process which one might call the "loosening stage," when one allows the unconscious to bring new and creative relationships; and then it has to be followed by a "tightening" process of checking and analytical thought. We cannot go further into this at this point since it finds its proper place as one of the techniques for creativity. But to put it in other words, every scientific hypothesis and every scientific model is in reality a symbol based on analogy, and the best modern scientists are well aware of this. Analogy is heuristic in function and nature, and gives a relative and not a "photographic" or exact picture of reality—which we never have anyway!

The possible and desirable integration of the various fields of knowledge by the method of analogy, and the methods of verification, systematization and incorporation of the body of knowledge, is quite parallel to that between intuition and intellect. In fact intuition is, among other things, an organ for the discovery of analogies.

The effect and unavoidability — if one can use such a word — of symbols is brought vividly to our consciousness by the direct recognition that all words are symbols. They are, so to speak, stenographic, condensed symbols. This is clearly shown by two words much used in psychology and in religion: "anima" and "spirit."

"Anima" comes from the Greek "anemos" which means "wind." It is interesting to note that the word "spirit" has just the same symbolic meaning. "Spirit" comes from the Latin "spiritus," which originally meant "breath" or "wind."

Part of the rationale of symbol utilization is to revive symbols, to recognize the dynamic possibilities of words and images, which normally are taken at their face value instead of having the function of evoking the hidden realities behind them. The universal rationale of symbols was clearly condensed by Goethe in his famous verse at the end of "Faust":

A lies Vergdngliche ist nur ein Gleichnis. (All which is temporary is only a symbol.)

Another aspect of the rationale of symbol utilization is their effect upon the unconscious. Symbols can be visualized and this sets into motion unconscious psychological processes. This is an effective means for the transformation of the unconscious.

To address the unconscious in logical terms is not particularly effective. In order to reach the unconscious, as in reaching any person —especially women and children, as Jung pointed out — we have to speak in its own terms. One should attempt to use the mode in which the unconscious normally operates, which is by way of symbols.

Besides the fact that symbols in themselves have integrating value—in other words, integrate within the unconscious itself— the technique of consciously utilizing symbols by visualizing them achieves a further integration between the conscious and the unconscious elements of the personality, and to a certain extent between the logical mind and the unconscious non-logical aspects of the person. Jung has said that symbols are transformers of psychic energy. This may be correct not just as a metaphor but in terms of actual psychological energies. Therefore, what we can do is to observe the results of the presentation of certain symbols to the unconscious of our patients, and then see if the setting in motion of certain unconscious forces produces a transformation of the outer personality.

s for the utilization of symbols are based on the knowledge and use of three ways of utilization of seven groups of symbols. The three ways are the following:

1. Presenting, offering, or suggesting the use of a definite symbol out of the first six classes or groups of symbols, which are enumerated below.

2. Fostering, or taking advantage of the appearance of, spontaneous symbols in the course of treatment, a procedure which was widely used by Jung.

3. An intermediate way, that used by Desoille, who in his method of the "reve eveille" first suggests a symbol, mainly that of ascending and of descending, and then lets the patient develop freely his own subsidiary symbols. This method, used ably as Desoille does, can give very good therapeutic results. These three ways can be used alternatively and the skilled therapist will try all three with each patient and then put the emphasis on the one which reveals itself as being most fruitful. In the third method, of combination —suggesting symbols and allowing the patients to go on with their own subsidiary symbols—we may also include the techniques of Leuner and of Happich.

Symbols which may be presented to the patient can be divided into seven main categories. As this is a pragmatic classification, some symbols are included in more than one category. In general, only those symbols which have positive value for psychosynthesis are presented to the patient and are therefore listed here; for many negative symbols will have already emerged spontaneously during the analytical phase of the treatment.

1. Nature Symbols:

These include air, earth, fire, water; sky, stars, sun, moon. Among the chief nature symbols are the mountain (with its correlated technique of "ascent"), sea, stream, river, lake, pond, wind, cloud, rain, fogs; cave, tree, flames and fire, wheat, seed, flowers (rose, lotus, sunflower, etcetera); jewel, diamond and various symbols related to light (including sunrise, sunset, rays of light, etcetera) and darkness (including shadow), etcetera

2. Animal Symbols:

Lion, tiger, snake, bear, wolf, bull, goat, deer, fish, wormchrysalis-butterfly (as symbols of transformation); birds (eagle, dove, etcetera); domestic animals (horse, elephant, dog, cat, etcetera); and the egg.

3. Human Symbols:

a. General human symbols: Father, mother, grandfather, grandmother, son, daughter, sister, brother; child, wise old man, magician, king, queen, prince, princess, knight, teacher; the human heart, the human hand, the eye. Birth, growth, death, and resurrection.

b. Modern human symbols: These include the mountain-climber, the explorer (including the space explorer), the pioneer, the scientific investigator (physicist, chemist, etcetera), the automobile-driver, the aviator, the radio or T.V technician, the electronics engineer, etcetera

4. Man-made Symbols:

Bridge, channel, reservoir, tunnel, flag, fountain, lighthouse, candle, road, path, wall, door, house, castle, stairway, ladder, mirror, box, sword, etcetera

5. Religious and Mythological Symbols:

a. Universal and Western Religious Symbols: God, the Christ, the Holy Mother, angels, the devil, saints or holy men, priest, monk, nun, resurrection, hell, purgatory, heaven, the Grail, temple, church, chapel, the cross.

b. Eastern Symbols: Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva, the Buddha, etcetera

c. Mythological Symbols: Pagan gods, goddesses and heroes: Apollo, the Muses (symbols of the arts and sciences), the three Graces (symbols of femininity in its refined sense), Venus, Diana (symbol of the woman who refuses her femininity), Orpheus, Dionysus, Hercules, Vulcan, Pluto, Saturn, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter. Wotan, Siegfried, Brun-hilde, Valhalla, the Nibelungen, the Valkyries, etcetera

6. Abstract Symbols:

a. Numbers: In the Pythagorean sense of psychological significance —for instance, one symbolizing unity; two-polarity; three —interplay, etcetera

b. Geometrical Symbols:

Two-dimensional: Dot, circle, cross (various forms, such as the mathematical plus sign, the long-limbed Christian cross, the St. Andrews Cross or multiplication sign), the equilateral triangle, the square, the diamond, the star (five-pointed, six-pointed, etcetera).

Three-dimensional: the sphere, cone, cube; the ascending spiral, etcetera

7. Individual or Spontaneous Symbols:

These emerge during treatment or spontaneously in dreams, day-dreams, etcetera Of course, not all the numerous symbols can and should be used with every patient. That would require months, even years, and is not at all necessary for therapeutic purposes. Some classes of symbols are more suitable, more evocative, than others for different types of people, different conditions, different cultural backgrounds, different sets, different ages; and one of the tasks of the therapist is to choose those which—either obviously or after a few sample trials —prove to be the most useful and fruitful for therapeutic purposes. Also in various stages of the treatment different groups of symbols should be used.

How do we present these different symbols to the patient? There are three main ways: firstly, by simply naming the symbol or giving a short description of it; secondly, by observation, that is, presenting to the patient a drawing or image of the symbol in question; and, thirdly, by visualization, that is, asking the patient to visualize, evoke an inner image of the symbol. This latter procedure is needed for dynamic symbols, that is, for symbols of action, which undergo transformation and pass through different stages.

The first procedure, of naming or description, is sufficient for very simple symbols; for example, for geometrical symbols. Also it is the best for human symbols of a universal character such as father, mother, child, etcetera These should remain general symbols, that is, we point out their psychological meaning, and explain that they must not be defined in relation to a personal image—which might influence the patient adversely in various ways.

Observation, the second method, is used for more complicated symbols; for example, symbols of natural scenery, or others which have numerous details and would take too long to describe or be difficult for some patients to actively visualize. For instance, that is we may present a picture of a meadow, including perhaps trees and a mountain, or a temple or other subjects which have a manifold structure.

In symbol presentation, requesting the patient to draw a particular symbol is a very good method and advantageous for all subjects who do not feel inhibited by being requested to draw. Many patients are, but they can be trained to overcome this resistance by assuring them that we pay no attention whatever to any artistic value nor give aesthetic consideration to their drawings, and that they are purely psychological documents.

In the sessions the time taken by the patient to draw may be more usefully spent doing something else, and in many cases we encourage patients to draw at home. The Technique of Free

Drawing is used also for other purposes — for example, for the purposes of expression and catharsis; when the patient has trained himself in free expression by drawing, then in a further stage, that of the Technique of Symbol Utilization, we have the channel already prepared.

There is in theory a difference between static and dynamic symbols, but in practice, as often happens, the nice clear-cut theoretical classification does not obtain or have any relevant value. For instance, often when we present a static symbol, the symbol spontaneously becomes dynamic and changes under the inner eye of the subject, even against his will. In many such cases, one encourages the autonomous free development of the symbol.

In other cases we give instructions to the effect that the symbol should be dynamic, that is, should develop and represent an action performed in the dimension of time. A very simple instance of this, but which has a particular therapeutic, and more exactly a psychoanalytic, meaning and utility, is that of undoing with patience a tangled knot. The meaning is obvious.

Another significant example is the building of a house or, even better, a temple. This symbol often exists in the collective unconscious and is meaningful and effective. A human, dynamic symbol that is full of meaning and which can be really transforming, is that of awakening: the passing from sleep to waking consciousness -*■ and waking consciousness has various degrees of clarity, of perception, of insight. This has been widely used, but more specifically in the East, where the very name "Buddha" means "the awakened one." His personal name was Gautama, but his title was "the Buddha" —the awakened or enlightened, or the perfectly awakened one.

Some dynamic symbols, having various stages, constitute indeed a whole psychological exercise and therefore we will describe them separately in the section on psychological exercises (see p. 207).

Because of its importance and usefulness, this technique — with rare exceptions — can and should be used in every case; but the great problem in the use of symbols is the specific indication for each class of patients, for each patient, and for each stage of the treatment.

A general indication, of course, is that the choice of the symbol should be such that it is suited for the specific present problem or task of the patient. Here come in the experience, the skill, and even more, the intuition of the therapist.

Some symbols (i.e., bridge or mountain) clearly indicate a definite relationship with the patient's problem; and some human symbols indicate clearly that they are suited to certain interpersonal problems. A full discussion of the indications would require a book in itself, and cannot be undertaken here; but even a most detailed explanation can never take the place of the intuition and the psychological insight of the therapist. Here comes a clear indication for the therapist; that it is very useful for him, also, to have used the standard symbols, or at least one or two of each category, himself.

There is a class of symbols which have a special current indication, that is, the series of Modern Human Symbols, which we listed earlier. From a certain point of view they have the disadvantage of being, or appearing to be, too prosaic and matter-of-fact, but in reality they are not so. It is interesting to observe how these matter-of-fact symbols excite the imagination of teenagers and adolescents much more than what we have called "imaginative" symbols. Young people identify themselves easily, often spontaneously, with the modern "heroes," such as the aviator, the explorer of space. These arouse something very vital I in them, a kind of model; they are symbols of daring, of adventure—sometimes of evasion of everyday life. Therefore they satisfy fundamental drives which have emerged with particular intensity in the present generation of teenagers and the young.

Some of these modern symbols have another great psychological advantage; they bring out clearly the right relationship between man and the machine —man as the builder, controller, master of the machine. The driver is the master of his automobile; he first chooses his destination, maps the successive stages of the route and then, seated comfortably in the driver's seat and with little physical effort, he makes the automobile his obedient, efficient tool or means for reaching his goal. This relationship can be easily introjected, that is, the automobile can easily be considered and realized —we could almost say "lived" —as the symbol of the body and even of the whole personality, which the conscious self through his intelligent planning and his will can make an instrument for attaining his goal, plans, and intentions.

The use of modern technology for therapeutic purposes is a vast field of application which is still at its very beginning. In future methods of psychotherapy perhaps special short motion pictures will be made, to present certain symbolic scenes in action, which the patient can then respond to and identify with. This is already common practice in personnel training.

Animal symbols can be used both diagnostically to find out with which particular animal the individual identifies, and also as means of evoking certain needed psychological traits. The technique of Hanscarl Leuner, for instance, of asking the patient to visualize himself in a meadow, looking towards the edge of the woods, and waiting until some animal comes out of the woods, allows for the choice of the animal to come from the unconscious of the patient. And from this choice certain psychological characteristics can be surmised, characteristics represented by the traits usually associated with this animal.

Instead of the earlier mentioned symbol of the automobile, we can —for some people —use the horse. This is an even more evocative symbol, because there are the stages of first the wild horse, then its taming, followed by its utilization and the right affectionate relationship between the man and the horse; all of which symbolize the right way of treating the physical body, mastering it but not maltreating or condemning it. This was indicated with delightful humor by St. Francis when he spoke affectionately of his body as "brother ass."

The subject of the symbol of Fire or Flame is so alluring and vast that one can become seduced by it and enmeshed in the enchanted world of symbolism. There is a tremendous amount of research work to be done in the utilization of symbols, so here we will only give enough to indicate certain specific applications.

Fire is one of the most ancient and most effective symbols. Incidentally, this suggests that we might add to the list of mythological symbols that of Prometheus, who stole fire from heaven. On the purely human level it is a symbol of heat, of protection from cold, and defense from wild animals for primitive man. Also it is a symbol of transformation processes—of cooking, of the changing and purification of raw materials and minerals; therefore it is an important chemical symbol connected with transmutation and sublimation. Further, it is a symbol of destruction, of danger; and finally it is one of the purest —if not the purest of all —symbols of the spirit, both the spirit in man ascending toward the universal spirit, and of "fire coming down from heaven."

One of the very important symbols is the human heart, which has been mentioned by Blackwell. A fruitful way to use this symbol is to ask the patient to visualize a huge heart, bigger than himself, and in this heart a door. Then ask the patient to open the door and to enter into the heart. What he finds there varies with each patient. But the actual use of this symbol, as a technique, reveals the importance of the ability of the therapist in handling it. It is a technique which, to be really or most effective, cannot be done in a mechanical routine way; for, step by step, the therapist has to decide intuitively which is his part in leading the imaginative scene.

Here, for the therapist, is the razor-edged path—so to speak—between being too passive on the one hand and being overly suggestive in indicating images, on the other. He should indicate only the minimum amount of imagery which helps the patient's unconscious to bring forth further imagery.

Another technique of symbol utilization which is full of possibilities uses the symbol of the door. The door, of course, may represent an entrance into a new life or lifecycle; and one of the ways in which it can be used is to ask the patient to visualize a door, sometimes a door in a high wall or in a house, depending upon the situation, and on the door to visualize a word. Sometimes the choice of the word may be left to the patient, especially for analytical purposes, and has therefore a symbolic significance at that stage of therapy. At other times the word may be suggested by the therapist: for example, "fear," "worry," "anxiety," or "doubt," etcetera, and at other stages of the therapy, positive words such as "hope," "peace," or "love." The possibilities are endless, of course. The patient is then asked to open the door, and what is found on the other side of the door has sometimes very profound significance. A very good description of the use of such symbols is given in the valuable article by Robert Gerard on Symbolic Visualization (which may be obtained from the Psychosynthesis Research Foundation, New York).

Another class of symbols is the group of childhood symbols. These are very interesting and, used with skill, can be very helpful from the following angle: they refer to the pre-psychotic stage or state of the patient, and so link him up with the normal part of him which at present is hidden or submerged by the psychotic inrush. Therefore, it must be a symbol through which the therapist may come into contact with, and emphasize and encourage, the normal part of the personality.

Mauz discussed the use of symbols in psychotherapy to evoke positive feelings, in an article "The Psychotic Man in Psychotherapy", published in 1948 in the Archiv für Psychiatric He used early childhood images which would evoke positive feelings, images such as "Christmas Eve" and "Christmas," a carousel and flying balloons, a parade at a festival, a river at sunrise; he also mentions a song from a children's songbook, and so on. He stresses that the therapist should relate these themes to the patient as much as possible, using the patient's own words and images taken from the patient's own history. In this respect the technique would then become not only one of using symbols but complete symbolic scenes, and is in effect an extension of symbol utilization.

Here we would add a general remark about the functioning and results of symbols. In addition to the kind of symbols just mentioned, which have an "opening up" effect, so to speak, or a clearing out and positively stimulating effect, there are many symbols which act as a bridge between the personal and spiritual psychosynthesis. Of course, in practice, there is no sharp distinction; and in using the symbols just mentioned certain aspects of the procedure have themselves a bridging effect. To be more exact, there are two main ways of arriving at spiritual psychosynthesis: One could be called the abrupt, dramatic way, as seen in cases of religious conversion and in the forms of sudden illumination or awakening —and the latter is the technique used in an extreme way by Zen-Buddhism. But in many cases, and perhaps at present in the majority of cases, there is instead a gradual development from the integrated personality towards the inclu-

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sion of superconscious elements, a gradual approach of the personal self-consciousness towards the spiritual Self, from self-identity in the personal sense to spiritual realization. Therefore in therapy —and also in education —the preferred and more general way to be encouraged, and to which the patient has to be helped, is the gradual one, which presents several advantages which it is not necessary to enumerate. The use of symbols often spontaneously produces this development from a personal psychosynthesis to at least a beginning of spiritual psychosynthesis. It is well to keep this in mind. Later, when we deal with spiritual psycho-synthesis, we will speak of symbols of the Self and other symbols which have only, or predominantly, a spiritual significance and effect.

Taking up first the contra-indications one may say, paradoxically enough, that this technique is contraindicated, or at least to be used with great care and within limits, with those subjects for whom symbolism is the line of least resistance, who have a spontaneous production or over-production of symbols. The reason is that in these cases symbols represent an escape from reality and a substitution for normal life, for functioning in ordinary life. This is outstanding in a certain class of psychotics who, as Jung has stated and as each of us may confirm, give most interesting cosmological and cosmic symbols of great theoretical meaning, but of little therapeutic use. This is also true in a lesser degree for a number of introverted psychoneurotics. Therefore, in those cases this technique has to be used with discretion, and with them a symbol should always be used as a bridge to outer reality and not as a way to keep the interest and the attention in the inner world of phantasy.

The limitation of this method concerns types opposite to those just mentioned. This method is difficult to apply and gives scanty results with subjects of the opposite psychological make-up — extremely extraverted or very intellectual—who have a very objective attitude in their conscious personality and little or no communication with their unconscious. These people dislike symbols, or at least symbols do not appeal to them; they can perform in a mechanical way the technique or exercise as suggested, and very easily too, but they do not find interest in it. The symbol does not give results because there is a separation between the conscious personality which looks outward and the unconscious which remains unexpressed. To speak colloquially: the conscious and the unconscious turn their backs to each other. In such cases this technique can be attempted only at a later stage of the treatment, when the excess of extraversion has been corrected and a certain degree of communication has been established between conscious and unconscious activities.

What we have mentioned in connection with extremely extraverted patients also applies to very rigidly compulsive individuals, who often have very little symbolic activity; yet it is for these individuals that the technique can be particularly useful in loosening up, so to speak, their rigidity. But here also it can only succeed after other bridges have been created; for instance, the development of the undeveloped or inferior functions of emotion, feeling and imagination in general —and then encouraging their use specifically in the domain of symbols. The same is true for the over-intellectuals, the over-sophisticated; those who are proud of their mental cleverness are blocked or create blocks in the use of this technique.

In borderline psychotics this technique has to be used with great caution. For example, even the most apparently innocuous symbols may suddenly assume a threatening aspect.

This brings us to a general observation about the problem facing the therapist of the choice of the technique to be used, among the many available. And here we would mention the Rorschach Test: we quite appreciate its usefulness for typology or differential psychology and for diagnostic purposes. Its drawbacks are only of a practical nature, that is, it takes much time both to perform and to correctly analyze the results; and there is a danger of becoming over-technical, too much interested in all the details, the formulas and percentages of the results.

Therefore it seems to us that it belongs more to the psychological laboratory than in psychotherapeutic sessions. And in many cases it appears that the use of simple symbols gives more quickly, and as fully, the same result as a more laborious and technical Rorschach. This is a con- sideration which therapists should keep in mind —not to become too much interested and side-tracked by the technique, by theoretical interest, by the ideal of perfection, but to remain close to the immediate practical and humanitarian purpose of the therapy, to make the patient whole.

Combination with Other Techniques

It does not seem necessary to describe the various combinations with other techniques because these will result spontaneously from the description of the exercises in which symbols are used and form a central part of the exercise.

Spiritual Psychosynthesis — Techniques

Introduction

The preceding chapters have been concerned with the techniques of achieving a personal psychosynthesis. Such a personal psychosynthesis for many patients is a much desired and quite satisfactory achievement, making of them harmonious individuals, well adjusted both within themselves and with the community to which they belong and in which they play a useful part.

But there have always been a certain number of human beings who were not and could not be satisfied with such a normal achievement, however worthy it may have appeared to others. For such people there must be a different solution, another wider and higher type of psychosynthesis—Spiritual Psychosynthesis.

Related to this subject are the indications from many sides of an interest in and a general trend—or should we say a groping—towards the realization and acceptance of that field or range of consciousness which we call "spiritual."

The first problem is to clarify the meaning of the word "spiritual," which has been and is being used often in a loose and indefinite way, and much confusion and misunderstanding exist on the subject; therefore it is appropriate to clarify the meaning in which the word is used in these pages. This necessarily involves the all-important and not often clearly realized difference between "superconscious" experiences and psychological activities and the spiritual Self.

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As the scientific method is to proceed from the known to the unknown, and particularly from facts and from direct experience to the formulation and interpretation of what has been observed and experienced, we will not attempt to define nor to discuss at the outset what "Spirit" in its essence may be, but will start with the fact of spiritual experience and spiritual consciousness. For instance, we do not need to know the ultimate nature of electricity in order to apply and use it in the countless modern appliances, just as we do not need to solve the theoretical problems of the ultimate nature of man and of many physiological and psychological processes and functions in order to deal with them for therapeutic or educational purposes.

We would therefore emphasize our neutrality towards those "ultimate" problems, for our concern is to focus on living psychological experience and psychological facts found through the exploration of the unconscious. This is an attitude of realism, and in its best and proper sense a pragmatic position. But this pragmatism should rightly include the experience of individuals who have had wider and deeper levels of realization than the average man —in other words, we should not exclude experience of what we are calling the "superconscious." What has been called by various people or thinkers "spiritual" corresponds in great part to what can empirically be called "superconscious" or "those functions generally not active in average man."

What distinguishes psychosynthesis from many other attempts at psychological understanding is the position that we take as to the existence of a spiritual Self and of a superconscious, which are as basic as the instinctive energies described so well by Freud. We consider that the spiritual is as basic as the material part of man. We are not attempting to force upon psychology a philosophical, theological or metaphysical position, but essentially we include within the study of psychological facts all those which may be related to the higher urges within man which tend to make him grow towards greater realizations of his spiritual essence. Our position affirms that all the superior manifestations of the human psyche, such as creative imagination, intuition, aspiration, genius, are facts which are as real and as important as are the conditioned reflexes, and therefore ^re susceptible to research and treatment just as scientifically as conditioned reflexes.

We accept the idea that spiritual drives or spiritual urges are as real, basic and fundamental as sexual and aggressive drives; they should not be reduced to sublimation or pathological distortion of the sexual and aggressive components of the personality—although in many neurotic cases such elements are, of course, also present.

What we hope to see developed over a period of years — and certainly do not claim has yet been achieved — is a science of the Self, of its energies, its manifestations, of how these energies can be released, how they can be contacted, how they can be utilized for constructive and therapeutic work. At this stage, since we do not have scientific instruments which enable us to measure these energies directly, we still have to rely on essentially a phenomenological position, in the sense of insisting on the experience itself, and hoping that sooner or later —maybe not in the lifetime of the author —science will attack this problem on a rigorous "energy" basis. However, we must also realize that even if science were able to measure the energies within the constitution of man—which would include emotional, mental, and spiritual energies—this would not make the work of the study of the experience itself less important. Just as in the study of physiology knowledge of neuro-physiology, of the electrical impulses, is very important but does not replace the psychological approach of studying feelings and emotions, so in the same way, the science of the Self should advance on two fronts: one purely in terms of energy, which may perhaps lead to the genius physicists, the Einsteiners, of the future; and the other, the psychological, experiential approach.

At this point it seems advisable to explain in what sense psychosynthesis is "neutral" towards religion and philosophy.

First, it must be clearly stated that "neutral" does not mean "indifferent." Religion can be, and has been, considered at two different stages:

1. The "existential religious or spiritual experience"; that is, the direct experience of spiritual realities. This has been realized by the founders of religions, the mystics, some philosophers and, in varying degrees, by many people.

2. The theological or metaphysical formulations of such

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experiences and the institutions which have been founded, in various historic periods and "cultural spaces," in order to communicate to the masses of men who did not have that direct experience, its fruits and outcomes. Further, the methods, forms and rites through which the masses of men may be helped to participate—indirectly—in the "revelation."

From another angle the French philosopher Henri Bergson in his book Two Sources of Morality and Religion emphasizes the difference between static and dynamic religion.

Psychosynthesis definitely affirms the reality of spiritual experience, the existence of the higher values and of the "noetic" or "noological" dimension 0 (as Frankl aptly calls it). Its neutrality refers only to the second phase: that of the formulations and the institutions. It appreciates, respects and even recognizes the necessity of such formulations and institutions; but its purpose is to help to attain the direct experience.

First, it offers its assistance to those who do not believe in religion nor have any clear philosophical conception. To those who refuse to accept the existing historic formulations, psycho-synthesis offers methods and techniques towards spiritual realization. But those who have a living faith, those who belong to a Church or are followers of a philosophical school, have no reason to be afraid of psychosynthesis. It does not attempt to interfere with or to change their position; on the contrary, it can help them to make a better use of the methods and teachings of their own religion. Moreover, psychosynthesis can help them to understand that the same experiences may find expression through different enunciations and symbols; and in this way, it can help them to understand formulations dissimilar to their own and to be broadminded towards them. It can even go so far as to make them see the possibility of a "psychosynthesis of the religions"; which does not mean creating a unique religion and abolishing

""This is another logotherapeutic term which denotes anything pertaining to the spiritual core of man's personality. It must be kept in mind, however, that within the frame of reference of logotherapeutic terminology 'spiritual' does not have a primarily religious connotation but refers to the specifically human dimension." Viktor E. Frankl in his paper read before the Annual Meeting of the American Onto-analytic Association in Chicago, May 7, 1961.

the existing ones; it means that understanding and appreciation between the different religious confessions can be developed, and some fields of cooperation can be established.

This trend towards synthesis is already apparent and is spreading more and more; psychosynthesis is only bringing its own contribution to it.

One of the special positions of psychosynthesis is that all the so-called higher or spiritual states of consciousness and the para-psychological experiences are just facts, because they influence reality—inner reality and outer behavior. We endorse that expression of good pragmatism by Goethe: Wirklichkeit ist was wirkt ("Reality is that which is effective"), and in so far as these phenomena —whether termed spiritual, mystical, or para-psychological—change the inner reality and the outer behavior of an individual they are real and must be taken into consideration by any one who has a true scientific spirit and open-mindedness, and does not make the fatal confusion of science being restricted to the quantitative.

We emphasize that neither psychology nor other sciences rely solely on quantitative measurement; there are concepts, experiences, and qualitative realizations which are just as sure, well-demonstrated and therefore as scientific as quantitative procedures. This raises the basic question of what is scientific. The fundamental point in the scientific method is to reason well, that is, to first objectively observe and describe the facts, the experiences, and then to think rightly about their meaning, nature, effects, consequences, and eventual utilization. Therefore the true scientific mind is the one which functions correctly as a mental mechanism, avoiding all the sophisms, all the rationalizations, all the possible causes of error in the functioning of the mental machinery (such as the personal equation, the limitation of a particular school of thought, and unwarranted generalizations, etcetera).

The latter are some of the "idols" which Francis Bacon mentioned and which surely deserve to be not only studied but kept constantly in mind while doing scientific work. It is not the subject matter that makes the study scientific, but the way in which any subject matter is dealt with.

Of real moment is the further factor in the scientific attitude

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which some of the foremost scientists have utilized —either spontaneously or deliberately. We refer to the recognition of the creative role of such psychological functions as imagination, intuition and creativity in scientific research, in the explanation and coordination of data and its interpretation. This has been well attested to by many scientists (e.g., mathematicians like Henri Poincare) and was significantly stated in Foundations of Modern Physical Science.

At this stage of our discussion, however, we will exclude as much as possible even the permissible use of the psychological functions of imagination, intuition, creative hypothesis and so on, and stick strictly to facts, that is, to experiences and verifiable psychological experiments, and to verifiable results of the application of psychospiritual techniques. Let us recognize that we are as yet at the stage of field survey and tentative exploration, of description of results and reports on the use of active methods of verification and development. We are not yet at the stage of "theory-building." A great amount of research is required with no "theory-building" so that we can remain true to the original scientific purpose and function of psychosynthesis.

The Investigation of the Superconscious

The basic premise or hypothesis is that there exists —in addition to those parts of the unconscious which we have called the lower and middle unconscious, including the collective unconscious—another vast realm of our inner being which has been for the most part neglected by the science of psychology, although its nature and its human value are of a superior quality. The reason for such curious neglect would in itself constitute an interesting piece of psychoanalysis and would shed much light on the psychology of psychologists. This higher realm has been known throughout the ages and, in the last decades, some daring investigators have started to study it in a scientific way, thus laying the foundations for what Frankl aptly calls the"height psychology".

Before starting to deal with this subject, it is perhaps necessary to make a clear distinction, in order to avoid the confusion which has often been made, between the superconscious or "higher unconscious" and what has been called "superconsciousness," but which it would be more exact to call "a higher state of awareness or spiritual consciousness." This raises the all important and not often clearly realized difference between "su-perconscious" experiences and psychological activities and the spiritual Self.

The superconscious precedes consciousness of the Self, because —as we shall see—there are very many people who have had conscious experience of facts or of functions which are generally superconscious; that is, those that generally do not enter spontaneously into the field of consciousness, but which in some cases make a spontaneous, unexpected, sometimes unwanted irruption into the field of consciousness —parallel to, or in a sense inverse to, the irruption into the field of consciousness of instinctual or emotional drives and forces.

What is necessary is to differentiate this superconscious but previously unconscious material from the type of material that may come from the lower levels of the unconscious which have been extensively studied by Freud and his followers. It seems that in some of the extreme cases of irruption from superconscious levels the material that comes arrives—so to speak—almost ready made, and has very little connection with previous experiences. It is not something which arises in the usual way from the lower unconscious as the result of now released but previously repressed experiential contents; it is something new and, as said above, sometimes has little relationship to precedent personal experiences of the individual.

At this point it is necessary to remember that while there is a difference of quality, the superconscious shares some of the other characteristics of the whole unconscious. The superconscious is only a section of the general unconscious, but which has some added qualities that are specific. On the whole it partakes of the nature of the unconscious and the general possible relationships between the unconscious and the personal consciousness.

Viewed in terms of energy, we may consider the contents of the superconscious as energies having higher frequency than some of the contents of the lower unconscious. We could say, more definitely, that psychodynamics and its laws—and in

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part the methods derived from them —are the same for the three levels of the unconscious. The difference — and it is very real—consists in what is specific to the superconscious in terms of certain '■values, because —and here we come to the point now being increasingly recognized in psychology —valuations are unavoidable. It would be easy and perhaps amusing to show how many implied, unconscious, unrecognized valuations there are in many of the so-called purely objective and descriptive expositions of psychologists. It seems to the writer to be more truly scientific to admit that the function of valuation is a natural, necessary and useful activity of the normal human pysche.

In considering the definite values characterizing the superconscious, and which are different from those of the lower and even the middle unconscious, we start with the examination of the spontaneous phenomena, and then proceed to those which can be experimentally determined, produced or activated.

The spontaneous manifestations are demonstrated by that minority of human beings commonly designated as "geniuses." These are comparatively rare, but the rarity of phenomena is no reflection at all on their reality. The appearance of comets is very rare compared to the constant presence of stars and galaxies and yet comets are just as factual cosmic facts as an ever-present star. The study of genius can lead to a scientific understanding of the superconscious.

A first, interesting, important, and significant differentiation is that between two classes of geniuses. There are, of course, intermediate stages but for the purposes of clarification we will first describe the two main clearly distinguishable classes:

1. The first class is that of the great universal geniuses who have an all-round expansive self-realization, those who have manifold superior abilities, who have given successful demonstrations of their greatness through their creative action in various fields. Pythagoras, Plato, Dante, Leonardo da Vinci, Einstein are outstanding examples. This class of geniuses—who have achieved a more or less permanent Self-realization with many ways of expression, who are adjusted and have achieved an inner and outer equilibrium—can be represented in the following diagrammatic way:

Diagram I

1. Lower Unconscious

2. Middle Unconscious

3. Higher Unconscious or Superconscious

4. Field of Consciousness

5. Conscious self or "I"

6. Higher Self

7. Collective Unconscious.

fttr*

V star---

The diagrams as shown here are specially stratified for practical visual purposes. The lower part, number 1, represents the lower part of the unconscious, the middle part (no. 2) the middle unconscious, and the upper part (no.

3) the superconscious In reality, however, it is quite possible, although at this time we do not have scientific proof, that the different unconscious levels are in reality different fields of energy which interpenate, but which would be almost impossible to present in a two-dimensional diagram.

The position of Nos. 4 and 5 in the diagram indicates that there is a certain degree of elevation of the conscious personal center, which has reached the nominal borderline between conscious and superconscious, and the field of consciousness has penetrated to some extent into the superconscious level. This condition is not absolutely constant, but it is fairly stable to the same degree to which the consciousness of the normal, adjusted man can be called stable.

2. The second class of genius is that of those who have some extraordinary gift specialized in one direction. Through that gift they produce works (generally of art, literature, or music) having an exceptionally high quality, but their personalities are not above that of the average level; and in some cases even below the average in the sense of being maladjusted and remaining in many respects immature at a personality stage which corresponds to that of adolescence. Here the examples are many; an outstanding one is that of Mozart, who composed —or rather, to be more scientifically exact, through whose nervous system

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floods of excellent music were transmitted—when he was only a few years of age, and who continued to transmit high quality music throughout his short life while candidly admitting that he did not know where this music came from or how it was composed, that he heard or felt it within himself and that he only had to write it down.

This process can be described as descent, entrance and pervasion or occupation of the field of consciousness by the product of psychological functions active at a level outside and above that of the normal conscious personality.

This second class of genius productivity can also be presented easily by the use of the diagram:

Diagram 2 f star is less than and i minus 6

1. Lower Unconscious /'u

2. Middle Unconscious / caret V

3. Higher Unconscious or / * Superconscious —+■

4. Field of Consciousness, ! /

/i

5. Conscious self or "I" V slash

6. Higher Self "" / "

·'7

7. Collective Unconscious

8. Contents of the Superconscious Sv - * greater than +'

The stars or clusters —numbered 8 —in level 3, the area of the superconscious, indicate activities (e.g., creative literary or musical activities) which project their outcome into the field of the normal consciousness of the personality, a field which remains at the same level. The projection is into the personal "I" or self which remains practically unchanged and merely receives — sometimes surprised and intrigued — the new and unexpected contents or the results of something working within him.

There are people who —either spontaneously or through some strenuous inner exercise of prayer or meditation — can temporarily project their consciousness upwards along a specific line corresponding to their type and way of functioning towards the levels of the superconscious, getting at times very near to the spiritual Self. But this is a passing condition, it does not last, and they relapse back to their normal level after such intense inner experiences.

This also occurs during the intense focussing of abstract thought that advanced mathematicians, physicists, etcetera, experience, and at these moments they often get real intuitive flashes of understanding which they then translate into understandable mathematical terms. Included in the same general area of experience are two other types: those aesthetic experiences which at their highest pitch give a kind of ecstasy and superconscious realization; and those other experiences in moments of danger, as in war or in certain phases of mountain climbing, which instead of paralyzing with fear stir a man to heroic action. This has been described as "enhancement of being," a real superconscious experience for the short spell in which the situation lasts.

The foregoing indirectly explains and emphasizes the difference between becoming aware of superconscious levels of experience and contents on the one hand, and pure Self-realization on the other. Self-realization, in this specific well-defined sense, means the momentary or more or less temporary identification or blending of the I-consciousness with the spiritual Self, in which the former, which is the reflection of the latter, becomes reunited, blended with the spiritual Self. In these cases there is a forgetfulness of all contents of consciousness, of all which forms the personality both on normal levels and those of the synthesized personality which include superconscious or spiritual levels of life and experience; there is only the pure intense experience of the Self. This has already been described in dealing with the Exercise in Dis-identification.

As we are here concerned mainly with the techniques of psychosynthesis we cannot go into all the possible ramifications of the theoretical aspects of this subject, but we will take them up whenever in the course of the procedure of the description of the techniques a need for theoretical explication should arise.

Symbols for Spiritual Psychosynthesis

We now come to the specific application of the technique of symbol utilization with its objective of realization of the spiritual Self. This process is necessarily an indirect one because every symbol constitutes an intermediary, and as such, symbols are

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particularly useful and for certain individuals necessary because of the great difficulty of a direct realization of a state of awareness which to the ordinary consciousness appears —although mistakenly— as abstract and as lacking in definite qualities. This is a paradox, for the spiritual Self is the greatest reality, the real essence of our being. Therefore, owing to this difficulty, the help of symbols is particularly indicated.

There are two main groups of symbols which can be used to indicate or to evoke the spiritual Self.

1. The first group is composed of abstract or geometrical and nature symbob. The first and foremost is that of the sun; and similar to it is the star, and another, a sphere of fire. Among the nature symbols is that of the rose, used for example, by the Persian mystics, by the troubadours of the Middle Ages, by Dante in his Divine Comedy. In the Far East, especially in India, instead of the rose the lotus is commonly used as a spiritual symbol — sometimes the lotus with a jewel at the center.

Abstract geometrical symbols are often combined with the symbol of the sun or a star; for example, the visualization of an equilateral triangle which symbolizes the three aspects of the personality — physical, emotional and mental — and above the apex of the triangle a sun or star, with radiating rays, symbolizing the Self. This is a very apt symbol to illustrate the process towards and the achievement of spiritual psychosynthesis through the action of, the pervasion by, the spiritual Self of the reconstructed or renewed personality.

2. The second group of symbols of or for the attainment of the spiritual Self is of a more or less personified type. In this group we find the Angel, the Inner Christ —in the mystical sense, the Inner Warrior, the Old Sage, and the Inner Master or Teacher. The last symbol, of the Inner Teacher, is particularly useful because it introduces and is an instrument of a technique which is very important and fruitful in establishing a relationship between the personal self and the spiritual Self. This is the Technique of Inner Dialogue.

The choice of symbols is, of course, governed by the philosophical and religious —or non-religious —background of the patient. Religious symbols such as the Inner Christ would obviously be meaningless to an atheist or agnostic, and in such cases a symbol such as the Inner Teacher or certain nature or geometrical symbols would be indicated.

The Technique of Dialogue

In presenting this technique to the patient he is asked to imaginatively dramatize the following situation: he imagines himself as being in a quandary, having a specific personal or interpersonal problem which he does not feel he can solve by the ordinary rational means of the conscious personality. We then point out to him that if there were a very wise man, a teacher who had the spiritual and psychological competence to take up the problem with him and give him the right answer, he would certainly take considerable pains to obtain an interview with the teacher and seek his wise counsel. To this the patient generally signifies his agreement, and we then explain to him that there is a wise teacher within him—his spiritual Self who already knows his problem, his crisis, his perplexity. Although he need not make an outer journey to reach the teacher, it is necessary to make an inner journey, more exactly an ascent to the various levels of the conscious and superconscious psyche, to approach this inner teacher and then in imagination to simply state the problem, talking to the imagined teacher realistically as if he were a living person and, as in everyday conversation, courteously awaiting a response.

On occasion the answer is immediate and spontaneous; it is received clearly and comes with authority and an absence of all doubt. But this occurs in only the more fortunate cases, for sometimes there appears to be no answer at all. This should not be a reason for discouragement. Sometimes the answer is delayed and comes in an unexpected moment, when the personality is not looking for it and is perhaps occupied with other concerns — a condition that seems to facilitate the reception of the message, because eager expectation and tenseness can constitute an obstacle to receptivity.

There are more indirect and intriguing ways of receiving or finding the answer to the problem. The process or mechanism of this transmission is difficult to understand and often its existence is more than many people realize or are ready to admit. It apparently involves the whole gestalt of a person's life and the subtle

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unconscious psychological interplay between the patient and his environment. However, it is not necessary to know the mechanism of transmission —the fact is that sometimes the answer comes seemingly spontaneously through a third person or through a book or other reading matter, or through the development of circumstances themselves. In a certain sense this should not surprise us too much, and it might indicate the fact that enlightening impressions or psychological communications are reaching us all the time, even when not consciously sought.

It is we who do not recognize the many and varied "signals." But the fact of formulating a question and being in a state of general expectation helps us to register and recognize what would otherwise remain hidden.

In this technique of the inner dialogue we should put the emphasis on the dialogue itself, more than on the "teacher," and experience indicates that what really interests the patients is the answer, is the dialogue and not the way and means to reach it.

Here we would mention Martin Buber, who has eloquently written on the importance of the dialogue, both the vertical dialogue with God and the dialogue between human beings. He rightly emphasizes the difference between the human — and in a sense spiritual —relationship and the relationship which is established between the "I" and the "It," meaning by "it" everything that is objective, natural, technical and mental; and he says that a great sin of modern man is to treat a fellow-being as "it" and not as "thou." In this Buber is entirely right and has called attention to a very important deficiency in modern relationships. But we must say that — as so often happens and is a trait of human nature—Buber sometimes overstates and exaggerates the dialogue situation, going so far as stating that this relationship is the true and only reality, that there is no reality either in the individual alone or in God alone, that it is the relationship which is the primary fact, and that one cannot dissociate either oneself or God from the living relationship. He makes the relationship the reality and the two subjects of the dialogue relative and secondary, and in this we think that he goes too far.

The truth in this overstatement is that in actual life a relationship is always present, recognized or unrecognized, conscious or unconscious. The individual is never absolutely alone and God

(or the spiritual reality) is never purely transcendent, but always in living relationship with the manifestation. This is not the same thing as saying that the relationship is the reality.

Of the personified symbols of the spiritual Self, that of the Inner Christ is one that we use in cases of individuals who are fairly open to Christian symbolism, in line with the general rule of using as much as possible the subject's own terminology in relation to the whole setting of his beliefs and preferences. As we mentioned earlier, in the case of atheists it is possible to use abstract, geometrical, or nature symbols or that of the inner teacher without going into a laborious discussion as to the existence or non-existence of a deity. In modern life, with the great majority of cases, it is better to stick to the empirical approach of techniques and the actual results of the techniques, eliminating every philosophical or religious question.

With devout Christians who have a certain mystical bent the symbol of the Inner Christ is readily accepted, for often it is not new to them because many Christian writers or mystics have used it, and one is merely calling the attention of the subject to the specific use of the symbol in connection with his own spiritual psychosynthesis. This with many people is the taking up and renewing of an earlier experience.

One may add that the concept of the Inner Christ is not always well defined in the minds of many Christians. There is a certain confusion in their minds between the Inner Christ in its precise restricted sense as a personification of the Self, and the Biblical Christ as the world Figure and Son of God, speaking to their soul inwardly. With this type of person, for practical purposes it is not always necessary or even advisable to make the distinction sharp. If the symbol works—that is the important thing.

In connection with this we draw attention to the famous book The Imitation of Christ attributed to Thomas a Kempis. Without attempting to give any religious or theological opinion or judgment on it, from the purely psychological point of view the first three books of The Imitation of Christ appear clearly to be a dialogue between the aspiring personality and the Self as the Inner Christ.

One thing that is important to remember is that in spiritual

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psychosynthesis the mystic experience per say is not the goal; and that the goal of spiritual psychosynthesis has the very practical purpose of increased creativity, of increased ability to give of oneself to some chosen field, and that for certain types of individuals this may be achieved without any mystical experience whatsoever.

It may be useful to make here some semantic observations on the word "mystical" which is very loosely used, both in its positive and negative connotation. Without dealing as amply with the subject as it well deserves, we would say that "mystical" in the good and precise religious sense means: union of love with God, a state of spiritual ecstasy accompanied by bliss, self-forgetfulness, and a forgetting of all outer reality and environment. This is the mystic experience as such, but it is limited and whatever value it may have, it is yet only one stage or episode not only in spiritual psychosynthesis but also in the development of the true perfect Christian. Several Christian teachers have rightly pointed out that the mystical experience is not an end in itself, but from it the subject has to draw the fire, enthusiasm and incentive to come back into the world and serve God and his fellow men. So the mystical experience while having positive value is not an end in itself and is a partial experience of the spiritual life.

There are many ways in which one may have a living contact with the Self, which have no mystical quality at all, taking mystical in the precise sense just mentioned. The dialogue between the spiritual Self and the personality can be unaccompanied by any emotional exaltation; it can be on a clear mental level, in a sense impersonal, objective, and therefore unemotional. This is a fact that it is well to realize, particularly in treating patients who have no strong orthodox religious beliefs or affiliations.

Exercises for Spiritual Psychosynthesis

We outline here three exercises — each of which combines various techniques—that have been found in practice to be particularly effective, both in therapy and in self-realization. These are:

1. Exercise on the Legend of the Grail

2. Exercise based on Dante's Divine Comedy

Exercise on the Legend of the Grail

This exercise can be done by an individual alone, but it is particularly effective as a group exercise for intra-group psycho-synthesis. We will therefore outline its use by a group.

At each meeting— usually held weekly—the leader of the group or therapist describes the series of symbols, and their significance, to be found in the text of Wagner's operas "Lohengrin," "Parsifal," and the various books on the Grail Legend and the Grail Knights. Each time a symbol is described and its significance explained, passages of music by Wagner appropriate to the theme are played; following this the group is requested to think about and reflect upon the symbol in order to realize its significance.

Each member is asked to introject the symbol, so to speak, to identify himself with it. For instance, at the first group meeting, the identification is with Titurel; and then subsequently with each of the characters in the succeeding symbolic scenes of the opera. The group members are also encouraged to make practical experiments with the symbol in their daily life, to keep it present in their thoughts, and to see how much use they can make of it in their everyday life. They are also asked to write down any ideas that may come to them, as well as experiences they may have in connection with the symbol, and to bring them into the group discussion at the next meeting. This is a relatively new experiment in the use of symbols which tends to create or stimulate a lively interest in the entire project.

It is suggested that the following series of symbols be presented during this group exercise:

- 1st week: Titurel as the symbol of a man who is dissatisfied under the worries of existence, and who therefore decides to leave the world with which he has been identified. He sets out to climb to the top of the mountain and persists with courage until he reaches the summit.

This is an application of the Technique of Ascent. It can be interpreted —and applied in practice —as the ascent of the center of consciousness during the exercise from the ordinary level of awareness to ever higher levels, seeking to reach superconscious levels, and to approach the spiritual Self. In a wider connotation it

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is the whole process of ascent during the course of therapy or the period given to self-realization.

2nd week: The watch in the night. Titurel spends the night in prayer on top of the ^mountain asking for inspiration. His kneeling under the sky is a symbol of invocation.

Here we have the use of the techniques of concentration, contemplation, invocation, and silence—the higher active introversion.

3rd week: The response to Titurel's invocation. A point of light appears in the sky, then a host of angels appears. During the presentation of this symbol to the group the prelude to "Lohengrin" may be played. An Angel brings the Cup (the Grail of the legend, the symbol of Love) and the Spear (the symbol of Power or Will).

In a more general sense the cup is a well-known symbol of the feminine aspect and the spear of the masculine, and it is significant that in the opera the Angel brings both to Titurel, indicating that he —and later the other Knights — will have to make use of both of them, thus symbolizing that they must make the synthesis within themselves of love and will.

4th week: The founding of the Order of the Knights; Titurel finds and chooses his co-workers and creates the group.

This is a symbol of interindividual psychosynthesis. In cooperation the Knights build the Castle and the Temple; and here again the Castle represents the Power aspect, and is a symbol of might, while the Temple is the symbol of the religious aspect of Love, the place of communion with the Spirit. In the legend the Castle is built to defend from hostile attack the whole territory chosen as the dwelling place of the Knights; while the Temple is where they perform their ceremonies, where the cup and the spear are kept. The Castle represents the human aspect and the relationship with the outer world, and the Temple represents the inner life and the source of inspiration for the outer activities.

5th week: The life of the group of Knights in the community which they have created; the successful functioning of the Order, symbolizing group psychosynthesis, brotherhood, friendship, group cooperation.

That group harmony and cooperation is a most difficult undertaking —not only because of the different individualities and the possible clash of psychological types and temperaments, but also because of disrupting influences coming from outside —is very dramatically and effectively brought out by Wagner in "Parsifal." In the opera, the magician Klingsor who had been expelled from the Order because of his moral unworthiness had built another castle at no great distance from the Grail Temple; and being furious at his rejection he tries to destroy the work of the Grail Knights, using Kundry as his tool. He instructs her to tempt the Grail Knights, in particular Titurel who at that stage of the legend is the Head of the Grail Order. Titurel yields to Kundry's temptation, and Klingsor inflicts on him a wound that will not heal. Titurel is thus prevented from performing his duty, as Head of the Order, to fulfill the ritual.

6th week: The mission of the Grail Order in the world. The appeal by the men of the plains for help; the descent of the Knights from the mountain into the plains for the selfless purpose of service to humanity.

This appeal from the plains is the main subject of Wagner's "Lohengrin." Elsa, who has been unjustly deprived of the Kingdom of Brabant, prays to God and appeals for help. The appeal reaches the Grail Castle and Lohengrin descends to the plains to help her, and eventually succeeds in reinstating her into her kingdom. The descent into the plains illustrates a very important principle of spiritual psychosynthesis; namely that the realization of the spiritual Self is not for the purpose of withdrawal but for the purpose of being able to perform more effective service in the world of men.

This is an important point which has to be emphasized over and over again. There is no division, no separation between inner and outer, between spiritual and worldly life. In psychosynthesis there should be a dynamic balancing of the two, a wise alternation.

7th week: The Knights, having performed their missions of service in the world, return to the Castle and meet in their ritualistic ceremony. At the ceremony a white dove appears from above and the spear is seen hovering over the cup.

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This is symbolic of the recharging with spiritual energy, periodically needed for more efficient service. The Grail Knights commune as a group, and having been "charged" for the future year of service they depart, leaving a nucleus who always remain in the Castle and perform the duties of the community life there.

Exercise on Dante's Divine Comedy

Dante's Divine Comedy is a unique performance of human genius, comparable in certain respects only to Goethe's Faust. One of the unique features is that Dante used symbolism with full awareness, for in his theoretical treatise two Convivio" (The Banquet) he clearly states that there are four different meanings to the Divine Comedy. The first is the literal meaning. The second is allegorical, that is, symbolical, but a symbolism, he says, of a human and poetical nature, of which he gives an example taken from mythology. The third meaning is the moral one, which is on a higher level than the allegorical. But there is a fourth and still higher meaning, which he calls anagogic, that is, leading upwards.

The central symbolical meaning of the Divine Comedy is a wonderful picture of a complete psychosynthesis. The first part—the Pilgrimage through Hell—indicates the analytical exploration of the lower unconscious. The second part—the Ascent of the Mountain of Purgatory—indicates the process of moral purification and gradual raising of the level of consciousness through the use of active techniques. The third part—the visit to Paradise or Heaven —depicts in an unsurpassed way the various stages of superconscious realization, up to the final vision— of the Universal Spirit, of God Himself, in which Love and Will are fused.

This is the essential meaning, but there is also a wealth of further symbolism. As an instance: at the beginning of the Comedy, Dante finds himself in a dark forest, and is in despair. Then he sees a hill illuminated by the sun, and meets the Latin poet, Virgil, who symbolizes in the poem human reason. Dante sets out to climb the hill, but three wild beasts, representing the unredeemed unconscious, bar the way. Virgil then explains to him that he cannot climb the hill directly, but has first to make the pilgrimage through hell, that is, experience a deep psychoanalysis, and he leads Dante on this pilgrimage, helping him, encouraging him, explaining to him the various phases of the process.

Virgil accompanies Dante through the whole ascent of the Mount of Purgatory. But when Dante has reached the summit Virgil disappears; that is, human reason has accomplished its function and cannot go further. Then the guide becomes Beatrice, who represents Divine Wisdom, and only she is competent to lead Dante into the regions of the superconscious.

The main theme or leitmotiv of Dante's Comedy is that of first a descent and then a double ascent —the ascent of the mount of purgatory and then through the various heavens of paradise. This bears an interesting similarity to a modern method of psychotherapy based on the same themes of descent and ascent, that is, the Reve Eveille of Desoille. In this method the patient is asked to visualize himself climbing up to the top of a mountain —and in some cases of going further on up into the sky, using any imaginary means such as a ray of light or a cloud. He is also asked to visualize a descent into the depths of the sea, or into a cave going deep into the earth. Desoille has found empirically that during the descent the images which are evoked in imagination are related to the unacceptable or threatening power of the unconscious and also to certain complexes and to images related to parental figures with which negative emotions are connected. In contrast, in the ascent of the mountain there is the evocation of positive and constructive feelings; also newly experienced feelings of love and wisdom are often evoked by this technique.

It is also considered to be a method of sublimation, since it is possible for the patient to take some of the images encountered in the depths of the earth or ocean and bring them up, symbolically, to the surface, observe them, and then continue with the ascent of the mountain. An example is the case history, reported by Dr. Robert Gerard of Los Angeles, in which his patient encountered an octopus in the depths of the ocean which threatened to engulf him.

However the subject was asked to visualize himself going up towards the surface, taking the octopus with him. On reaching the surface, to the surprise of the subject, the octopus changed itself into the face of his mother. The patient

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was thus able to experience directly the extent to which the mother was engulfing and possessive, and so threatened him with loss of identity. Then —although this is not possible in all cases — the patient was asked to climb the mountain in company with his mother. As he climbed higher and higher with her, he began to see her in a different light, as a human being in her own right, a person with both qualities and limitations, who had struggled under difficult circumstances. She was no longer threatening to him. Upon reaching the summit, he experienced for the first time deep feelings of compassion for his mother. This experience contributed toward a marked improvement in his affective life.

Returning to Dante's Divine Comedy and the exercise based on it, we would stress that it should only be used with competent subjects, that is, patients with a sufficient cultural background and spiritual outlook. With such patients we ask them to read the poem carefully in the light of its four meanings and its symbolism; and to seek to identify themselves with Dante. We ask them to report periodically and discuss the results, encouraging them to ask for further explanations of the deeper meanings. For those who cannot do this difficult task themselves it may be necessary to divide the poem into the various stages of the descent and ascent, which can then be taken in turn.

This exercise can also be used as a group exercise, and this method will probably grow in importance as the general principles and elementary exercises in psychosynthesis become better known and more generally adopted.

Exercise of the Blossoming of the Rose

The flower has been regarded and used as a symbol of the Soul, of the spiritual Self, of Divinity in both the East and West. China adopted the image of the "Golden Flower," while India and Tibet adopted the lotus (in appearance similar to the water-lily), which has its roots in the earth, its stem in the water, and its petals in the air, where they open under the rays of the sun. In Persia and Europe the rose has been extensively used. Examples are to be found in the Roman de la Rose of the Troubadours, the mystical rose exquisitely described by Dante in Paradise (Canto 23) and the rose at the center of the cross that forms the symbol of some religious orders. Usually it has been the already open flower that has served as a symbol of the Spirit, and, although this is a static representation, its visualization can be very stimulating and evocative. But even more effective in stimulating psychospiritual processes is the dynamic visualization of a flower, that is, of its transition and development from the closed bud to the fully open bloom.

Such a dynamic symbol, conveying the idea of development, corresponds to a profound reality, to a fundamental law of life that governs the functions of the human mind as well as the processes of nature. Our spiritual being, the Self, which is the essential and most real part of us, is concealed, confined and "enveloped" first by the physical body with its sense impressions; then by the multiplicity of the emotions and the different drives (fears, desires, attractions and repulsions); and finally by the restless activity of the mind. The liberation of the consciousness from the entanglements is an indispensable prelude to the revelation of the spiritual Center. The agency for achieving it —and this applies in nature as much as in the realm of the mind—is the wonderful and mysterious action of the intrinsic vitality or "liv-ingness," both biological and psychological, that works with irresistible pressure from within. This is why the principle of growth, of development, of evolution has been receiving much attention in psychology and education and will be increasingly applied in the future. It is the foundation of one of the most effective methods of psychosynthesis and forms the basis of the exercise now to be described.

1. Procedure

We describe the exercise as it is presented to a patient or to a group:

Let us imagine we are looking at a rosebush.Let us visualize one stem with leaves and rosebud. The bud appears green because the sepals are closed, but at the very top a rose-colored point can be seen. Let us visualize this vividly, holding the image in the center of our consciousness.

"Now begins a slow movement: the sepals start to separate little by little, turning their points outward and revealing the rose-hued petals, which are still closed. The sepals continue to open until we can see the whole of the tender bud.

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"The petals follow suit and slowly separate, until a perfect fully-opened rose is seen.

"At this stage let us try to smell the perfume of this rose, inhaling its characteristic and unmistakable scent; so delicate, sweet and delicious. Let us smell it with delight. (It may be recalled that religious language has frequently employed perfume as a symbol, for example, 'the odor of sanctity'; and incense is also used in many religious ceremonies.)

"Let us now expand our visualization to include the whole rosebush, and imagine the life force that arises from the roots to the flower and originates the process of opening."

"Finally let us identify ourselves with the rose itself or, more precisely, let us 'introject' it into ourselves. Symbolically we are this flower, this rose. The same life that animates the universe and has created the miracle of the rose is producing in us a like, even greater miracle—the awakening and development of our spiritual being and that which radiates from it."

Through this exercise we can effectively foster the inner "flowering."

2. Comments

The results with patients have varied greatly in different cases; but sometimes they have been apparently out of all proportion to the simplicity of the exercise. There has resulted with some patients a true Self-realization, and awakening of hitherto latent inner qualities that certainly speeded up the healing process.

The efficacy of the exercise depends on the ability to introject the rose, to experience the sense of the living symbol, so that the symbol works in us creatively. There is deep similarity between the process of unfoldment in a plant and what happens inwardly in ourselves. Here one could speak at great length —and with some patients one can wisely do so —about the secret of self-realization, of actualization, of the ordinary personality considered as a "seed" of what one can become. There are also many psychoanalytic elements—of resistance, of doubt, of oscillation, and so forth; so the patient is, of course, encouraged to speak freely of his spontaneous reactions, and then these are analyzed again and again until they are dissipated, and the blossoming or unfolding takes place freely and unimpeded.

There are other exercises, analogous to the three described above, which involve a succession of images and combine various techniques; for instance, the exercise of visualization and intro-jection of the Cycle of Wheat: from the tiny seed all the way through the many processes which end in a loaf of bread; that is, the tilling and fertilizing of the soil; the sowing of the seed; the action of sun and rain; the seed growing into a plant, maturing, flowering and the forming of the grain; the ripening, the harvesting, the storing and grinding of the grain; finally the making of bread which, eaten as food, is transformed into living organic substance for maintaining the human body.

Similarly, the exercise of the Cycle of Coffee: the planting and growing of the coffee plants, the harvesting and grinding of the beans; the making of coffee by the action of fire and water; the aromatic factor; finally its stimulating and psycho-physiological effects on man.

A further exercise is that based on the growth from seed of a tree; its growth and process of maturity also belongs to this series of symbolic exercises.

The symbolism in these exercises is apparent, and they can be used with all the significance that they contain for the process of psychosynthesis. They are suited for the more objective and practical type of patient; they also help patients discover the symbolism in nature and in natural processes.

We would insert here a general word of caution about the individual meaning that symbols may have for different subjects. Symbols cannot and should not have a uniform interpretation — the same symbols can mean very different and even opposite things to different individuals and this particularly applies to patients with serious psychological disturbances. We would therefore repeat this important note of warning about unwarranted generalizations and interpretations based on preconceived significances of certain symbols in the therapist's mind.

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Technique for the Use of Intuition

In this discussion we assume that intuition exists as an independent and specific psychological function. It was called by Jung an irrational function; to use his own words:"this term does not denote something contrary to reason, but something outside the province of reason".

We will consider intuition mainly in its cognitive function, that is, as a psychic organ or means to apprehend reality. It is a synthetic function in the sense that it apprehends the totality of a given situation or psychological reality. It does not work from the part to the whole —as the analytical mind does —but apprehends a totality directly in its living existence. As it is a normal function of the human psyche, its activation is produced chiefly by eliminating the various obstacles preventing its activity.

Intuition is one of the least recognized and least appreciated, and therefore one of the repressed or undeveloped functions. It is repressed by a mechanism similar to that of the repression of unconscious drives, but generally the motivation is different. Repression of the intuition is produced by non-recognition, devaluation, neglect and lack of its connection with the other psychological functions. Regarding this last point, a true cognitive process implies not only the function of intuition as such, but also its intelligent apprehension, interpretation, and inclusion in the existing body of knowledge.

It is necessary to make a definite distinction between so-called day-by-day intuition and real spiritual intuition. For instance, the intuition as described by Bergson is predominantly on the personal levels, while intuition according to Plotinus is purely spiritual. Intuition according to Jung is on both of these two levels; and for our present practical and therefore limited purposes we will take the Jungian attitude and speak of intuition fundamentally as a function which can be active on different levels, and can therefore assume different aspects but remain fundamentally the same.

Purpose

The purpose of activating the intuition is that of putting at the disposal of the individual a precious function which generally remains latent and unused, thereby leaving the individual incomplete in his or her development. Another purpose is that of offering to the individual an instrument of cognition and of approach to reality, and a means of interpersonal relationships through the intuitive understanding of other human beings. A further purpose is to help him to discriminate between genuine intuitions and false or supposed intuitions which are really either sentimental generalizations or imaginative notions with no foundation in reality.

As with every other function, intuition is a psychological experience. Any one who feels has emotions; he experiences as an immediate content of his consciousness the emotion or feeling, and looks not for any demonstration of its existence or reality. The same is true for the function of thinking; there are people of low psychological development who really never think in the proper sense of the word, and it would be hopeless to try to demonstrate to them the existence of thought and the working of the thinking function; and yet, thinking does exist. The same reasoning is true for intuition. Anyone who is intuitive, who spontaneously and naturally uses the intuition, experiences what it is without any need of explanation or demonstration.

The essential distinction between cognition by way of intuition and cognition by way of the thinking or feeling functions is that intuition has the following characteristics: it is immediate and direct, not mediate and progressive as is thinking; it is synthetic or holistic, that is, it is an immediate apprehension of a whole, one could say of a Gestalt, and not of different parts later put together to form a whole. Intuition in its purest manifestation is devoid of feeling in the ordinary and right meaning of the nature of emotion, of a warm reaction of the personality— generally either positive or negative toward the object apprehended. Intuition, as well as the other psychological functions, can be activated, following the general law that attention and interest foster their mani-

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festation. It has been said that attention has feeding power; it has also a focusing power. One could even say that it has an evocative power, and attention really implies appreciation and therefore valuation.

The first step is of a negative character —the temporary checking or elimination from the field of consciousness of other functions which generally have a spontaneous and uninterrupted activity. Constantly sensations from the outer world or from the body intrude into the field of consciousness; emotional reactions do the same, and often the mind is over-active and undisciplined. All this obstructs, fills the field of consciousness, and makes either the entrance or the recognition of intuitions impossible or difficult. Therefore, it is necessary to carry out what we might call a psychological cleansing of the field of consciousness; metaphorically, to ensure that the projection screen is clear and white. This permits in the subject a sympathetic opening of the consciousness towards, or a reaching actively for, that truth or section of reality with which he seeks to come into contact for the solution of a human or an impersonal cognitive problem.

The second stage is then possible, in which he quietly waits for the result of the approach, this nearing, which in successful cases becomes a contact with and even an identification of the subject with the looked-for experience of reality or truth.

In this process we emphasize the necessary cooperation of the will (in every technique there is the god behind the machine—"deus ex machina"—which is the will). Just as in the first part of the procedure, of the stilling or cleansing of consciousness, there is a conscious and active action of the will, so also in the second part, that of relaxation and quiet waiting, the will continues to function, although in a subtler way and, as it were, remaining in the background. This is so because in order to maintain an attitude of relaxation and quietness —and one which is not purely passive—the will is still required, to act, metaphorically, as the watchman at the door of consciousness to exclude intruders.

To further clarify the difference between the action of the will in the first and second stages, we could say that in the former the will actively ejects the occupants of the "room of consciousness" and in the second stage the will merely watches at the door so that no unwanted intruder can enter.

A characteristic of intuitions is that they are fleeting and, curiously, very easily forgotten, in spite of the fact that at the time they enter the field of consciousness they are very vivid and the subject does not think he can or will forget them easily. Such intuitions can be likened to a stray bird entering a room, circling swiftly around it, and then after a few seconds flying out of the window. The practical deduction from this "fleeting" characteristic is to write down immediately any intuitions we may have — more particularly when we recall the distorting effect of time on all our recollections. Also, of course, it is correct scientific procedure to write down immediately and with precision the supposed intuition for its necessary checking later.

Preparatory to utilizing the technique with patients the first requirement is the assessment, in which we ask the patient if he has ever had intuitions and, if so, if he found them reliable or not; or what his reaction is to his intuitions, that is, does he overvalue them or feel superior because of his supposed intuitive ability? According to the patient's reactions the approach is correspondingly changed. In the first case—where the fact or possibility of intuition is questioned—the value of intuition has to be emphasized and examples given; and in the second case —of over-valuation —the difference between intuition and "hunches" or imaginative flights has to be explained and emphasized.

If the patient at an early stage of the therapy recounts intuitive experiences, then that clearly indicates the opportunity to take up the subject with him there and then. If, on the contrary, the patient does not show evidence of intuitive activity it is better to postpone dealing with this rather subtle and difficult subject until the treatment requires it —generally at a rather late stage.

Indications and Applications

The general application is for cases where the patient is seeking the attainment of understanding in its fullest psychological sense. Only intuition gives true psychological understanding both of oneself and of others. Whenever one wants to reach a true understanding of the essence of the specific quality of a

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human being, of a group, or of human relationships, the use of intuition is indicated and even necessary.

A general field of application is in valuation, for sound valuation is often the outcome of an intuitive perception of the essence or purpose of a person, an activity or of a situation. Then, as with every other intuition, this valuation has to be checked and examined through other functions such as that of critical analysis; but one can say that the intuition is the specific organ of psychological function for achieving understanding and true valuation.

Another large field of application is that of the sciences. There also it can be used to reach the truth in a synthetic way, a truth which has a universal or general value—such as a principle, a law, or as a general method of procedure, even if applied to a specific problem.

Concerning specific indications there is first the psychotherapist himself. We cannot conceive a true and successful therapist who has not developed and uses the intuition. For this reason, this technique should be given special attention in every didactic psychosynthesis.

And of course this applies also to educators certainly no less than to therapists. Regarding education, children and adolescents often have a very active intuition, because it is not checked and interfered with by over-activity of other functions. Therefore, in education, intuition should be dealt with at an early stage.

The greatest need for intuition is in intellectual or over-intellectualized people; that is, for those who have an active or overactive mind but specifically for those who identify themselves with their mind and are proud of their intelligence. Such intellectuals often have a very lopsided development and are in great need of psychosynthesis in general, and of the activation of the other functions which, as we mentioned earlier, very often remain undeveloped. Even the sensation function can be warped by intellectualism, and the feeling nature is sometimes shamefully suppressed, with the will practically nonexistent —but they share this last deficiency with the majority of human beings.

In contrast, we have cases — especially among women— where the intuition is active but in a "rough" undiscriminating way; in a technical sense "impure." In such cases the indication would be to refine, to purify it, to separate it from heterogeneous elements.

Limitations and Contra-Indications

The limitation—which also applies to all other techniques and the use of all other functions, but which has to be reiterated—is that the separative use of any function can give only limited, one-sided results. It is in the cooperation and synthetic use of all human functions that success—either in cognition or in action — can be achieved. Therefore, however valuable intuition may be, it should be used concomitantly with the other psychological functions.

The contra-indications arise in the case of certain types who are too prone to be affected and impressed by hunches, by imaginative ways of pretended knowledge, and who have not enough mental capacity to exercise the necessary discrimination and to develop the fine ability to distinguish between true and false intuitions. In such cases, the development of intuition should be postponed to the stage in which the other complementary and supplementary functions have been cultivated. Here, of course, comes in the need to be able to check the validity of an intuition and to know how this can be done.

The most important combination is that with a controlled mental activity and mental discrimination. To use an analogy, it is a necessary and difficult marriage. Often it is a stormy marriage which sometimes ends in divorce. First there is a good number of those who do not even contemplate such a marriage. They are content to either use only the intuition or only the intellect. Even when this attempt at matrimony is begun, there are various difficulties: in some cases one of the partners is too imperative and devaluates and keeps in subjection the other —and it can be either one that makes this mistake, with all the drawbacks of repression, of overt or covert rebellion. In other cases there is an oscillation, a fight between the two in which temporarily the one or the other predominates.

Many intellectuals are to a certain extent afraid when an intuition intrudes into their thought processes; they are different and treat it very gingerly; consciously or unconsciously, in most cases they repress it.

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To speak more directly, and without metaphor, of the true relationship between intuition and intellect, intuition is the creative advance towards reality. Intellect has, first, the valuable and necessary function of interpreting, that is, of translating, verbalizing in acceptable mental terms, the results of the intuition. Second, to check its validity; and third, to coordinate and to include it into the body of already accepted knowledge.

These functions are the rightful activity of the intellect, without its trying to assume functions which are not its province. A really fine and harmonious interplay between the two can work perfectly in a successive rhythm: intuitional insight, interpretation, further insight and its interpretation, and so on.

One of the techniques involved here is the use of the will to maintain the emotions in a quiet tranquil state. One of the favorable conditions toward the reception of intuition is when one is in a state of emotional quiet and not overly emotionally involved; and in achieving this the Exercise in Dis-identification that we dealt with earlier can be helpful. Also, the Exercise for Evoking Serenity given below is particularly applicable here.

Exercise for Evoking Serenity

1. Assume a physical attitude of serenity; relax all muscular and nervous tension; breathe slowly and rhythmically; express serenity on your face with a smile. (You can help yourself in this either by looking at yourself in a mirror or by visualizing yourself with that expression.)

2. Think about serenity; realize its value, its use, especially in our agitated modern life. Praise serenity in your mind; desire it.

3. Evoke serenity directly; try to feel it; with the help either of the repetition of the word or by reading some appropriate sentence, or by repeating many times a suggestive phrase or motto. For example: "Both action and inaction may find room in thee; thy body agitated, thy mind tranquil, thy soul limpid as a mountain lake."

4. Imagine yourself in circumstances which would tend to agitate or irritate you; for instance, being in the midst of an excited

crowd —or in the presence of a hostile person —or confronted by a difficult problem—or obliged to do many things rapidly—or in danger —and see and feel yourself calm and serene.

5. Pledge yourself to remain serene throughout the day whatever happens; to be a living example of serenity; to radiate serenity.

Note: This same pattern can be used for the purpose of evoking and developing any other psychological quality such as Courage, Decision, Patience, etcetera

Technique of Imaginative Evocation of Interpersonal Relationships

Purpose

The purpose of this technique is to enable the patient to achieve the right inner attitude towards other people and to successfully perform intended actions involving others. This is: achieved in two stages: the first is to eliminate the hindrances, unconscious or conscious, blocking the free attainment of that right inner attitude. This includes not only the development of desirable attitudes towards other people but also the development of desirable attitudes towards oneself. The second stage is a gradual training in developing facility in outer interpersonal relations.

Rationale

The rationale of the first stage, of the elimination of obstacles, is the same as that on which the technique of catharsis is based, that is, the elimination through the outward expression of emotional charges which exist either in the unconscious and/or in the conscious. This may involve something more than simple catharsis, namely an understanding of the negative emotions, and so on.

The rationale of the second stage is that of the creative effects of imaginative visualization and the evocation of positive images. These create the "model," and arouse the impulse to successful action.

The procedure is best explained by an actual description of the technique in action, applied to one of the simpler types of cases, that is, of preparing for and making possible the performance of an action which appears difficult and arouses fear and anxiety.

The first step is to ask the patient to give a verbal description—as accurate and detailed as possible —of the action to be performed. Let us take the instance of a scholastic oral examination; the student is asked to describe the building and room where the examination will take place, and to give as many details as possible about the examining professor, the subject of examination, the possible questions which may be asked, etcetera

After the patient has given that description, he is asked to lie down in a comfortable position on the couch. Then with the help of the therapist an exercise of relaxation is given (such as that on p. 223). When a degree of relaxation has been achieved the therapist repeats the description of the examination fully and realistically, coupled with the instruction to the patient to vividly imagine the scene as if he were actually participating in it. The patient is further told to permit his reactions to emerge freely without any inhibition, that is, all the reactions evoked by the imaginative living through the examination, such as the subjective emotional states and their accompanying psychosomatic reactions, such as trembling, perspiring, etcetera This acts as a catharsis.

The procedure then has to be repeated in further sessions. Often in the second session the reactions are just as intense as in the first, but with successive repetitions they become less and less intense until they spontaneously disappear or become very weak. This completes the first stage of the technique which may be called that of "imaginative desensitization" and the time has come when the patient can be encouraged to prepare to actually face the previously feared ordeal.

This second stage could be called "the visualization of the desired attitude and successful performance." However, this often

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happens by itself, for in the final repetitions of the first stage the patient may spontaneously feel that he has already gained the right attitude, that is, in imagination he can now take the examination calmly, confidently, and without any emotional reaction. When this comes spontaneously, it is proof that the negative emotions have really been eliminated.

This procedure, with its two stages, can be modified or adapted to other situations, such as interpersonal relationships with parents or with superiors, which may arouse if not fear, at least anger and aggressiveness.

It is particularly useful to have the patient visualize himself in all sorts of interpersonal relationships with parents, persons of the opposite sex, etcetera In these cases it is advisable to have the patient lie on the couch in order to allow the free emergence of all kinds of feeling reactions. And only after this has been repeatedly experienced in a succession of sessions do we ask the patient to adopt a sitting position, and to begin more specifically to visualize the desired attitude and relationships.

For instance: we have in mind a woman patient who had difficulty in her relationships with her parents. We prompted her to recall and re-live past scenes with them, and for the first time in her adult life she fully experienced the rage and hatred that she had felt at the time of those long past incidents. Only after these had been repeatedly experienced in imagination did we move to the next stage of visualizing the possible "love" attitude of this woman towards her parents.

There are many individuals, seemingly normal and psychologically healthy, who yet are uneasy in interpersonal relationships, and because of this put distance between themselves and other people. Again, before they can be asked to visualize themselves in close intimate relationships of warmth and affection with other human beings it is necessary to have them re-experience the fears and other hostile feelings—often unconscious—which are the basis of the difficulties in their personal relationships.

Indications and Applications

These are clear from what has been mentioned in the preceding paragraphs. They are very wide; but to summarize, they cover three main classes of situations:

1. The performing of difficult or feared actions.

2. The realization of harmonious interpersonal relationships, and other more complex kinds of social behavior.

3. The development of awareness of one's attitudes towards oneself and their modification into more constructive and realistic ones.

The effects of this technique have been very gratifying. The subjects often acquire a new and joyous sense of freedom, of independence, of mastery over situations, tasks, and relationships.

Limitations and Contra-Indications

There are really no definite and serious contra-indications, provided the therapist takes care, in the stage of the free emergence of reactions from the unconscious, that the conscious personality of the patient is not submerged by an uncontrolled inrush of other unconscious repressed contents released through the opening made. Such unconscious contents have their origin in the deeper layers of the unconscious, and even in the so-called "collective" unconscious. As Jung has pointed out, this can be a real danger and many of us have had occasion to confirm this in our therapeutic experience.

The best protection against this danger, in certain cases of borderline psychosis, lies in using this technique only after a certain measure of consolidation of the conscious personality has been achieved, and only after the patient has gained an awareness of the laws and mechanisms of the psychological life.

It is also possible — as has been described by Desoille in his technique of the "Rfve Eveille"-for the therapist to suggest certain protective images; and also to present less threatening images at the point where he feels that the patient may become overwhelmed by unconscious material.

This technique can be usefully combined or alternated with all the psychoanalytical procedures; for instance, with catharsis. It is also closely allied with, and in a sense preparatory to, the imaginative evocation of the ideal model.

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Comments On

The Technique of Henri Baruk

for the Relationship Between

Therapist and Patient

In his Trade de Psychiatrie Professor Henri Baruk describes his main technique in the treatment of psychiatric and psychoneurotic patients. He emphasizes a group of techniques which concern the attitude of the therapist, his preparation and his relationship with his patients.

The first and more general task is that the therapist must realize the global influence that his personality—or rather that he as a human being —exercises on the patient. This happens spontaneously, naturally and inevitably, but he then proceeds from this spontaneous and unconscious influence to an increasingly conscious and direct one. Further, he eliminates those aspects of the influence which might be harmful or create an obstacle in the treatment, emphasizing—or even developing, if absent —certain possible influences which are directly constructive and helpful in the treatment.

This point has also been dealt with by other therapists, for instance: Alfonso Maeder in La Personne du Medecin-un agent psychotherapeutic, and the German psychotherapist, Tochtermann in Der Arzt als Arznei.

Baruk's specific technique is based on his fundamental conception that in every patient, including serious psychiatric cases, behind the pathological facade of symptoms and disorders there is an aspect which remains unaffected, and the characteristic of which is moral conscience. This has been dealt with in several of his books and he has given satisfactory proof of the reality of his conception.. Baruk, accordingly, in his therapy directs himself to the healthy aspects of the patient, particularly to his moral conscience. He identifies his procedure with a word he himself created:Chitumnie which means in his interpretation"the method of trust"; that is, trusting the patient.

This was and is of special interest to us because for very many years we have used a similar technique, arrived at independently of Baruk. However, our emphasis is not so much on moral conscience, but consists in the attitude of addressing oneself to the better part of the patient, together with the same spirit of confidence, of trust in and appreciation of the patient, mentioned by Baruk. Our experience in putting and demonstrating trust in the patient has yielded very gratifying results. This has been done specifically in serious situations, such as with patients who have attempted suicide. In such cases the ordinary procedure would be to keep on the safe side and have the patient committed to an institution; but in contrast, in those cases we have addressed the patient in terms such as the following:

"You know the serious nature of what you have committed. Professional procedure, and in a sense even my duty, indicate that you should be placed in an institution for your own protection. But there is an alternative which I offer to you: if you will give me your word of honor not to make any other attempt at suicide for a determined period of time (generally we specify one month; in more serious cases, one

week) I am willing to begin with you an intense psychotherapeutic treatment. You realize the serious consequence to yourself and indirectly to me if you were to make another attempt at suicide during this period. So, if you feel that you have enough control over yourself to sincerely give me your word of honor not to make any further suicide attempt for this short period of time, then I am willing to take the risk. And, at the end of this period, you will know enough about psychotherapy and the general possibilities of this treatment to judge for yourself if you are ready and willing to go on renewing your pledge —or if you should not feel able to renew your pledge, then you will willingly go to an institution. There my treatment can be continued, but you will have external protection from your self-destructive impulses."

In every case in which we have adopted this method the result has been positive. During those periods, of course, the treatment has been very intensive, sessions being held either daily or every two days.

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This subject of the psychotherapeutic relationship is fundamental in psychotherapy, and we have but touched on a subject which warrants a deep study and the development of a series of appropriate techniques which would help the therapist in the development of the right inner action. We realize, of course, that in this respect the personality of the therapist is one of the most important factors.

In America, Rogers has strongly emphasized the importance of trust in the ability of the patient to marshal certain positive, constructive forces, and to these Rogers addresses himself. However, we do not go along completely with him in a purely non-directive approach, for we feel that active techniques are necessary in cases where the therapist is faced with much more than a simple counseling situation. Further, we think that the role of the active counselor is a normal constructive role in interpersonal relationships. It should be a function equivalent to that of "the wise guiding father" who, through example and the answering of spontaneous questions of his children, has won their confidence and respect. The role of the father is to give such guidance as can avoid many trials and errors and even serious mistakes, and thus shorten and make easier the way to the desired self-direction, self-realization of youth. In some respects the mother can also play this role, especially with daughters in helping them to understand their right feminine roles; but this requires that the mother herself has fully realized this role and is adequate to the task.

Referring again to the methods of Henri Baruk, may we observe that the moral sense or conscience is one of the direct characteristics of the spiritual Self, although it is not the only one. We think, therefore, that the therapist in addressing himself to the better and higher nature of the patient, while yet giving full consideration to the moral aspect, should not limit himself to that moral sense alone, but realize the advisability of appealing to the other aspects and activities of a spiritual and superconscious nature — such as are described in the corresponding sections of our exposition.

There is a limitation in this technique as it concerns psychotic cases and psychiatric patients. This is evidenced in Baruk's writ- ings and his description of certain cases in which he describes the effects of his technique. It demands a great deal not only of patience and attention and interest on the part of the therapist, but also of time. Therefore, it is necessary that not only the therapist assume this attitude of trust, but also all the people who have to deal with the patient during the course of treatment. They too should be instructed to assume the same attitude, so as not to undo what the therapist is endeavoring to accomplish; and further, they should be asked to actively cooperate with him, to help create an atmosphere of confidence in the patient. Therefore, all the time devoted by the therapist to this end, in training members of the family and nurses or other assistants, would be well spent. This training of nurses and assistants is valid not only for one or two patients, but for all those with whom, later on, both the therapist or the nurses will have to deal. This is being increasingly recognized, particularly in America, under the term of "therapeutic community."

There is one point which perhaps needs clarification, that there are different levels of moral conscience, and that it is very important to distinguish between them. On the one hand there is the moral conscience that Freud discussed at length under the title of "super-ego," which is to a great extent introjected from parental prohibitions and parental commands. This type of conscience is on the level of the personality, so to speak, and to a great extent is tied in with very strong affective charges of fear of consequences, of doing things wrong, etcetera This has a rigidity to it, and a type of an almost childish "black-and-white" sort of morality.

In contrast, the moral conscience that issues from the spiritual Self is quite different. It is a wise, loving type of moral conscience; it is not harsh, and follows to some extent the principle so well expressed in the words of the Christ: "Love thy neighbor as thyself." This means "love thyself" with a real wisdom and understanding of the problems of the personality; therefore, this type of conscience does not have rigidity and, going beyond specific codes of conduct, has a certain quality of universality of values attached to it.

This distinction is very important and has to be kept well in mind to avoid the repressive moralism against which psychoanal-

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ysis and in general the modern world have reacted, sometimes in a violent and extreme way. But there is to be found in the personality the elementary manifestation of the higher, true, genuine, spiritual morality which has been emphasized —and rightly so— by Baruk. It is the sense of justice. Baruk says that even in the most seriously affected patients this sense of justice persists. Many violent patients are infuriated by real or supposed injustices done to them, even of a very small kind, because they are symbolic of injustices rendered to them in the past; and Baruk, in dealing with such patients, examines particularly and deeply this point of justice and injustice, with—it seems —very good results. He has gone deep into the subject and has developed a test for the sense of justice which he calls —using a Hebrew word —the Tsadek-Test. This was expounded by him in his book Le Test Tsadek, le jugement moral et la delinquence.

Some General Comments on the Techniques

We would repeat what was said at the outset, these are only introductory notes on the techniques of psychosynthesis. They are first approximations which should be practiced and put to the test. We will be glad to receive from fellow clinicians any comments, reports, elaborations, additions, and experiences with specific cases; and we will heartily welcome any cooperation of this kind.

We have been asked if we can provide statistics covering the results of the applicatiori of the techniques. We are of the opinion that statistics of this nature would be difficult to compile and of doubtful value for the following reasons:

1. The treatment of each patient calls for a combination and alternation of techniques that differ according to the specific features and needs of each.

2. Each patient is considered, investigated, and treated more from the standpoint of his specific individual constitution and situation than as a member of a class.

In other words, we aim more at making an assessment (as indicated in this Manual) than a standard diagnosis. In fact, we often find in the same patient symptoms that are generally attrib- uted to or classified under different psychiatric labels; such as combinations in different proportions of psychosomatic disorders, neurotic manifestations, sexual abnormalities, etcetera

Concerning results, we can state that the best ones have been achieved in the cure of psychosomatic disorders, phobias, and homosexual tendencies.

Another fact we have ascertained is that the success of a treatment is positively correlated much more with the degree of active cooperation on the part of the patient than with the nature and intensity of his symptoms. This explains the paradoxical finding that in some cases more serious troubles respond to treatment more readily than less serious ones. The former may arouse in the patient a stronger incentive to accept and meet the demands made by the treatment.

For these reasons, we feel that research can be more profitably directed towards the intensive study and treatment of a comparatively small number of cases — resulting in detailed and thoroughly discussed case histories—than towards a more general treatment of the large number of cases needed for statistical purposes.

May we again suggest that fellow therapists will find it interesting and rewarding to experiment themselves with the techniques before or parallel to their utilization in therapy—or, modified and adapted, in education.

There are many techniques that we have not been able to discuss in these pages, but it is hoped that it will be possible during the coming years to present some of the remaining techniques. Further, there is still the big task of illustrating by means of actual cases how the various techniques are applied in specific therapeutic situations. However, it is felt that at this stage it is more important to present the essence of some of the fundamental techniques rather than go into too much detail. This also has the advantage that future presentations will incorporate combined experience of a much wider and larger group of therapists in both Europe and America.

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