About the Workshop
You are invited to the first of 10 session series reflecting on the work of "ecologian" Fr. Thomas Berry and scientist Brain Swimme, through a Psychosynthestic lens. Over its course, the programme offers experiential learning in regard:
Energies and Processes: Assagioli interpreted human experience as a world of energies and processes that are neither good nor bad, but must be harnessed through conscious, integrative, and purposeful action.
The "Egg" Diagram: His model of the psyche includes the lower, middle, and higher unconscious, all surrounded by and interacting with the "collective unconscious" (7), representing the individual's interface with the larger cosmic whole.
The Inner Universe: He viewed the inner life as a microcosm of the outer cosmos. Just as humanity explores outer space, Assagioli emphasized the "exploration and conquest of the inner worlds" to discover and utilize internal energies, similar to atomic energy, to transform humanity.
For Assagioli, the cosmos is a living, evolving entity, and human Psychosynthesis is the intentional process of aligning personal development with this larger cosmic evolution, transforming the "dark forces" of the unconscious into "light" and purpose.
Assagioli speaks of the cosmos, universal forces, and cosmological perspectives, particularly when discussing the transpersonal dimension of human existence and the evolution of consciousness. He held a broad, spiritual, and holistic view that considered human beings as part of a larger, living universe.
Cosmic Evolution and Synthesis: Assagioli viewed synthesis not just as a psychological tool, but as a "law of nature" and a developmental process governing all living beings. He believed in a "creative divine intelligence" driving the evolution of life.
The Solar System as a Living Entity: In his writings on group life, Assagioli speculated that "enormous aggregations of stars which form the Milky Way and the countless other galaxies may be the visible aspects of stupendous cosmic Group Entities". He suggested we can understand the "Life ensouling our Solar System" and its "Ray-quality of Love-Wisdom".
Spirit and Matter Polarity: Assagioli referred to the "cosmic manifestation" of duality, specifically the fundamental polarity between Spirit and Matter.
Influences Outside the Psyche: Assagioli recognized the existence of "forces" and "energies" beyond the individual, noting that "perhaps influences foreign to the psyche itself are at play, as in extranormal phenomena".
Universal Consciousness: He often discussed the "higher unconscious" or "superconscious" as a link to broader, universal, or spiritual realities. He emphasized that human beings are "included in a web of individual and social connections, within a wholeness of a flowing and happening life".
Influence of Theosophy: Assagioli was exposed to theosophical ideas early in life, which influenced his holistic view of the human being’s place within the cosmos.
Meet the Facilitator
Scott Thompson
Scott's full biography is given in the 10 session description of the course (here). Assagioli wrote that Psychosynthesis takes us "to the door of the Mystery", and leaves us to make sense of this in our own way. Science and scholarship has developed considerable in the past 70 years, and one could say that while the Mystery remains as powerful as ever, the door has moved! In this regard, Scott writes: Over the last decade or so I have been introduced to what I believe is beyond this door. And it is elegantly simple and for each of us to experience: we are attempting to know ourselves in the largest context possible. Beyond the door of mystery, beyond the door of our many identifications at the level of psyche, beyond that of gender, race, religion, even our species, is a larger identification, a larger context: the universe itself. "This universe is a single multiform energetic unfolding of matter, mind, intelligence, and life," write Thomas Berry and Brian Swimme in The Universe Is A Green Dragon, recognising that all existence—from stars to humans—shares a common origin and is part of one, unfolding story. And we are the universe in human form.Swimme and Berry further describe this "single multiform reality" as "Undivided Wholeness in Flowing Movement," emphasizing the active, developing nature of the cosmos. We might see Bio-Psycho-Synthesis in the same light.