Editing Psychosynthesis (section)

== Model of the person ==
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:::::1: The Lower [[Unconscious mind|Unconscious]]
:::::2: The Middle Unconscious
:::::3: The Higher Unconscious or Superconscious
:::::4: The Field of [[Consciousness]]
:::::5: The Conscious Self or "I"
:::::6: The Higher Self
:::::7: The [[Collective Unconscious]]
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The concept of the human psychological constitution in psychosynthesis theory is illustrated in the so-called "Egg Diagram," which maps the human psyche into different distinct and interconnected levels.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Assagioli |first=Roberto |title=Psychosynthesis: A Manual of Principles and Techniques |publisher=Hobbs, Dorman & Co. Inc. |year=1965 |edition=1st |location=New York |publication-date=1965 |pages=25–26 |language=English}}</ref>

===The Lower Unconscious===
For Assagioli, the lower unconscious contains the elementary psychological activities which direct the life of the body; the fundamental drives and primitive urges; many emotionally charged complexes; many dreams and imaginings of a “lower kind;” “lower” uncontrolled parapsychological processes; and various pathological manifestations such as phobias, obsessions, compulsive urges and paranoid delusions.<ref name="Assagioli, R. 1965 p.204"/> By another account, 'the lower unconscious, which contains one's personal psychological past in the form of repressed complexes, long-forgotten memories and dreams and imaginations'.<ref>William Stewart, ''An A-Z of Counselling Theory and Practice'' (2005) p. 386</ref>

According to John Firman and Ann Gila, "the lower unconscious is that realm of the person to which is relegated the experiences of shame, fear, pain, despair, and rage associated with primal wounding suffered in life. One way to think of the lower unconscious is that it is a particular bandwidth of one's experiential range that has been broken away from consciousness. It comprises that range of experience related to the threat of personal annihilation, of destruction of self, of nonbeing, and more generally, of the painful side of the human condition.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last1=Firman |first1=John |title=Psychosynthesis: A Psychology of the Spirit |last2=Gila |first2=Ann |publisher=State University of New York Press |year=2002 |isbn=0-7914-5533-5 |location=Albany, NY |pages=153–154}}</ref> As long as this range of experience remains unconscious, the person will have a limited ability to be empathic with self or others in the more painful aspects of human life."<ref name=":3" /> Firman and Gila assert that the lower unconscious is ''formed'' when a person separates experiences of empathic failures from consciousness.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Firman |first1=John |title=Psychosynthesis: A Psychology of the Spirit. |last2=Gila |first2=Ann |publisher=State University of New York Press |year=2002 |isbn=0-7914-5534-3 |edition=1st |location=Albany, NY |publication-date=2002 |pages=47 |language=English}}</ref>

Roberto Assagioli’s approach to the lower unconscious is diametrically opposite to this: he regarded it as part of the fundamental constitution of a human being.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Assagioli |first=Roberto |title=Psychosynthesis |publisher=Hobbs, Dorman & Co. Inc. |year=1965 |edition=1st |location=New York |publication-date=1965 |pages=16–17 |language=English}}</ref> He did ''not'' assert that either the lower and higher unconscious are by definition repressed. Comparing his egg diagram to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, he states: “We can look at the diagram of the psychological constitution of man [egg-diagram]. The basic and normal personal needs concern the lower and middle psychological life, both conscious and unconscious.”<ref>{{Cite book |last=Assagioli |first=Roberto |title=The Act of Will |publisher=Viking |year=1973 |isbn=9780140038668 |edition=2nd |location=New York |publication-date=1973 |pages=110 |language=English}}</ref> Assagioli accepted that parts of the lower unconscious are repressed, but not all of it. There is also no evidence that Assagioli accepted the concepts of “personal annihilation” or “nonbeing” that these writers discuss. These writers share an outlook and use terminology derived from certain existentialist philosophers (Jean-Paul Sartre asserted that nothingness is part of reality, and nothingness is a ''lack of being'').<ref>{{Cite web |last=Daigle |first=Christine |title=Sartre's Being & Nothingness: The Bible of Existentialism? |url=https://philosophynow.org/issues/53/Sartres_Being_and_Nothingness_The_Bible_of_Existentialism |access-date=2025-01-10 |website=Philosophy Now}}</ref> Assagioli explicitly contradicted this position, saying, “In certain periods men can feel internally isolated, but the extreme existentialist position is not true, ''neither psychologically nor spiritually''.”<ref>{{Cite web |last=Assagioli |first=Roberto |title=Psychosynthesis and Parapsychology |url=https://kennethsorensen.dk/en/product/psychosynthesis-and-parapsychology/ |access-date=2025-01-10 |website=Kenneth Sørensen|date=30 May 2022 }}</ref>

"The lower unconscious merely represents the most primitive part of ourselves...It is not ''bad'', it is just ''earlier'' '.<ref name=":6">Pierro Ferrucci, ''What We May Be: The Vision and Techniques of Psychosynthesis'' (London 1990) p. 204.</ref> Indeed, 'the "lower" side has many attractions and great vitality'.<ref name=":6" />

=== The Middle Unconscious ===
According to Roberto Assagioli, “the middle unconscious is formed of psychological elements similar to those of our waking consciousness and easily accessible to it. In this inner region our various experiences are assimilated, our ordinary mental and imaginative activities are elaborated and developed in a sort of psychological gestation before their birth into the light of consciousness.”<ref name="Assagioli, R. 1965 p.204"/>

The middle unconscious is a sector of the person whose contents, although unconscious, nevertheless support normal conscious functioning in an ongoing way (thus it is illustrated as most immediate to "I"). It is the capacity to form patterns of skills, behaviors, feelings, attitudes, and abilities that can function without conscious attention, thereby forming the infrastructure of one's conscious life.

The function of the middle unconscious can be seen in all spheres of human development, from learning to walk and talk, to acquiring languages, to mastering a trade or profession, to developing social roles. Anticipating today's neuroscience, Assagioli even referred to "developing new neuromuscular patterns".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Assagioli |first=Roberto |title=The Act of Will |publisher=Penguin |year=1973 |isbn=9780140038668 |edition=2nd |location=New York |publication-date=1973 |pages=191 |language=English}}</ref> All such elaborate syntheses of thought, feeling, and behavior are built upon learnings and abilities that must eventually operate unconsciously.

According to Firman and Gila, 'Human healing and growth that involves work with either the middle or the lower unconscious is known as ''personal psychosynthesis'' '.<ref>John Firman/Ann Gila, ''Psychosynthesis: a psychology of the spirit'' (2002) p. 177</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Assagioli |first=Roberto |title=The Act of Will |publisher=Penguin |year=1973 |isbn=9780140038668 |edition=2nd |location=New York |publication-date=1973 |pages=121 |language=English}}</ref>

===The Higher Unconscious or Superconscious===
Assagioli referred to The Higher Unconscious or Superconscious as the region from which “we receive our higher intuitions and inspirations—artistic, philosophical or scientific, ethical “imperatives” and urges to humanitarian and heroic action. It is the source of the higher feelings such as altruistic love, of genius and of the states of contemplation, illumination and ecstasy. In this realm are latent the higher psychic functions and spiritual energies.”<ref name="Assagioli, R. 1965 p.204"/>

The higher unconscious (or superconscious) denotes "our higher potentialities which seek to express themselves, but which we often repel and repress".<ref name="Assagioli, R. 1965 p.204"/> As with the lower unconscious, this area is often not available to consciousness, so for many people its existence is inferred from moments in which contents from that level affect consciousness.

Psychosynthesis stresses that any distinction between “higher” and “lower” unconscious is developmental, not moralistic. The lower unconscious is simply our past, and forms the ‘foundation’ of our present awareness.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Parfitt |first=Will |date=n.d. |title=Psychosynthesis Psychotherapy Part 3: Lower, MIddle and Higher Unconscious |journal= |via=Institute of Psychosynthesis, London}}</ref> Assagioli, however, did stress the evolutionary differences and development of the three sectors in the egg diagram. In the ''Act of Will'' he says the following: “The existence of different levels of being having different values is an evident and undeniable manifestation of the great law of evolution, as it progresses from simple and crude stages to more refined and highly organized ones. Applying this to the sphere of love … it is evident that a love that is overpowering, possessive, jealous, and blind is at a lower level than one that is tender and concerned with the person of the loved one, that seeks his well-being and desires the union of the best aspects of both personalities.”<ref>{{Cite book |last=Assagioli |first=Roberto |title=The Act of Will |publisher=Penguin |year=1973 |isbn=9780140038668 |edition=2nd |location=New York |publication-date=1973 |pages=98–99 |language=English}}</ref>

Conscious contact with the higher unconscious can be seen in those moments, termed peak experiences by Maslow, which are often difficult to put into words, experiences in which one senses deeper meaning in life, a profound serenity and peace, a universality within the particulars of existence, or perhaps a unity between oneself and the cosmos. This level of the unconscious represents an area of the personality that contains the "heights" overarching the "depths" of the lower unconscious. As long as this range of experience remains unconscious – in what [[Robert Desoille|Desoille]] termed '"repression of the sublime"'<ref>Ferrucci, p. 156</ref><ref>See also “Repression of the Sublime” by Frank Haronian, PhD. New York, Psychosynthesis Research Foundation Issue No.30, 1972. <nowiki>https://www.synthesiscenter.org/PDFgallery.htm</nowiki> download #0130.pdf.</ref> – the person will have a limited ability to be empathic with self or other in the more sublime aspects of human life.

The higher unconscious thus represents 'an autonomous realm, from where we receive our higher intuitions and inspirations – altruistic love and will, humanitarian action, artistic and scientific inspiration, philosophic and spiritual insight, and the drive towards purpose and meaning in life'.<ref>Stewart, p. 386</ref>

The higher unconscious in psychosynthesis must not be confused with Freud’s “superego.” Assagioli asserted, “There is one point that needs clarification; and that is that there are different levels of moral consciousness, and it is important to distinguish between them. On the one hand, there is the moral consciousness that Freud referred to by the name “super-ego,” which is largely derived from prohibitions and parental commands. This type of “conscience” is linked to intense emotional charges, such as fear of doing wrong and guilt for every transgression, and consequently is harmful. This type of morality, produced by introjected external influences, is rigid, strict and intransigent.<ref>Assagioli, R. “Comments on Henry Baruk’s Technique on the Relationship Between Psychotherapist and Patient,” at https://kennethsorensen.dk/en/comments-on-henri-baruks-technique-on-the-relationship-between-psychotherapist-and-patient/.</ref> According to Assagioli, “the superconscious constitutes the higher section or aspect of the person of which the ego or self (the point in the middle of the circle) is not normally aware. But at times the conscious self rises or is raised to that higher region where it has specific experiences and states of awareness of various kinds which can be called “spiritual” in the widest sense. At other times it happens that some contents of the superconscious “descend” and penetrate into the area of the normal consciousness of the ego, producing what is called “inspiration.” This interplay has great importance and value, both for fostering creativity and for achieving psychosynthesis.<ref name=":12">{{Cite book |last=Assagioli |first=Roberto |title=Psychosynthesis |publisher=Hobbs, Dorman & Co.Inc. |year=1965 |edition=1st |location=New York |publication-date=1965 |pages=36–38 |language=English}}</ref>

Concerning the ''experience'' of the Higher Self, Assagioli differentiates between the experience of the contents, processes and activities of the superconscious and the ''contentless'' experience of the Higher Self. He said that there is a "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.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Assagioli |first=Roberto |title=Psychosynthesis |publisher=Hobbs, Dorman & Co. Inc. |year=1965 |edition=1st |location=New York |publication-date=1965 |pages=202 |language=English}}</ref>

===Subpersonalities===
William James recognized that various psychological traits are not integrated, but form behavioral roles that he called "the various selves," which shift according to the relationships we have with other people, surroundings, groups, etc.<ref name=":14" />  Roberto Assagioli calls these "subpersonalities," and recognized that they are part of everyday normal behavior. You can recognize them by noticing that "you behave differently in your office, at home, in social interplay, in solitude, at church, or as a member of a political party . . . 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."<ref name=":14" />

[[Subpersonality|Subpersonalities]] form a central strand in psychosynthesis thinking. 'One of the first people to have started really making use of subpersonalities for therapy and personal growth was Roberto Assagioli', psychosynthesis reckoning that 'subpersonalities exist at various levels of organization, complexity, and refinement'<ref name=":13">John Rowan, ''Discover Your Subpersonalities'' (1993) pp.131-132.</ref> throughout the mind. A five-fold process of recognition, acceptance, co-ordination, integration, and synthesis 'leads to the discovery of the Transpersonal Self, and the realization that that is the final truth of the person, not the subpersonalities'.<ref name=":13" />

Some subpersonalities may be seen 'as psychological contents striving to emulate an [[archetype]]...''degraded expressions of the archetypes of higher qualities'' '.<ref>Ferrucci, p. 54-55</ref> Others will resist the process of integration; will 'take the line that it is difficult being alive, and it is far easier – and safer – to stay in an undifferentiated state'.<ref>Parfitt, p. 88</ref> Roberto Assagioli said that [some] subpersonalities are the semi-independent nuclei of a number of differing and conflicting tendencies.<ref name=":12" /> Other subpersonalities, or roles, are those played in the different social groups . . . which [a person] may have or may want to play in life.<ref name=":14">{{Cite book |last=Assagioli |first=Roberto |title=Psychosynthesis |publisher=Hobbs, Dorman & Co. Inc. |year=1965 |edition=1st |location=New York |publication-date=1965 |pages=74–78 |language=English}}</ref> "One should become clearly aware of these subpersonalities because . . . it is possible to synthesize [them] into a larger organic whole without repressing any of the useful traits."<ref name=":14" />

===The Conscious Self or "I"===
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The "I" or conscious self is a point or center of pure self-awareness: the direct "reflection" or "projection" of the Self, distinct but not separate from the personality and all contents of conscious experience.<ref name="Assagioli, R. 1965 p.204"/> The "I" is a center of consciousness, or awareness, and will, whose field of consciousness (the part of our personality of which we are directly aware) is represented by the concentric circle around the "I" in the star diagram.

It is well to become aware of the relationships between the self and the will on one hand and the various other psychological functions on the other. The will has been placed at the center of the star diagram in direct contact with the conscious I, or personal self, to show the close connection between them. Through the will, the I acts on the other six psychological functions, regulating and directing them. The diagram is oversimplified, like all diagrams, but it helps to give prominence to the central position of the will.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Assagioli |first=Roberto |title=The Act of Will |publisher=Penguin |year=1973 |isbn=9780140038668 |edition=2nd |location=New York |publication-date=1973 |pages=11–13 |language=English}}</ref> The self is not only a center of awareness. "There is another part of the inner self – the will-er or the directing agent – that actively intervenes to orchestrate the various functions and energies of the personality."<ref name=":16" />

Assagioli describes the experience of the conscious “I” with these words: “the body, feelings, and mind are ''instruments'' of experience, perception and action, tools that are changeable and impermanent. But the 'I' is essentially different: it is simple, unchanging, self-conscious. The experience of the 'I' can be formulated as follows: 'I am I, a Center of pure consciousness.' Affirming this with conviction does not mean that one has already achieved the ''experience'' of the 'I,' self-identification, but it is the path that leads there and is a means of mastering our psychic activities." … "All this is preparation for the final ''positive'' stage, the affirmation and experience of self-consciousness: 'I am convinced and affirm that I am a Center of pure awareness, of pure self-consciousness; I am a Center of will, capable of mastering, directing and using all my psychic functions and my body. I AM. Let us dwell on this statement, striving to realize this pure consciousness of ''being'', this stable, unchanging Center, steady as a rock amidst the churning waves of becoming. 'I AM.'"<ref name=":17">Assagioli, R. “Exercise of Disidentification and Self-Identification.” Lecture Course on Psychosynthesis dated March 8, 1964. Assagioli Archive Doc. #23994. Translation found at <nowiki>https://kennethsorensen.dk/en/exercise-of-disidentification-and-self-identification/</nowiki>.
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Assagioli developed his "Exercise of Disidentification and Self-Identification" to help people make the distinction between the "I" and its experiences:<blockquote>1. The first stage is to sit comfortably, releasing all muscle and nerve tension; this can be helped by a prior practice of the relaxation exercise. It is good to keep the spine straight, the head slightly lowered; close the eyes; then take a few deep, slow, regular breaths. (pause)

2. Affirm slowly, with attention and conviction, “I have a body, but I ''am not'' my body. My body may be in different conditions of health or sickness, it may be rested or tired, but this has nothing to do with Me, with my true Self. My body is a valuable instrument of experience and action in the outer world, but it is only a tool; I treat it well, I try to keep it healthy, but ''it is not my self''. I have a body, but I ''am not'' my body." (After a period of training one can simply repeat the final sentence several times, “I have a body, but I am not my body.” The same applies to the later stages as well.)(pause)

3. We affirm with conviction, “I have emotions, but I ''am not'' my emotions. They are different, changing, conflicting, while I always remain me, myself, in the alternation of hope and discouragement, joy and sorrow, irritation and calm. I can observe, understand and judge my emotions, and become more and more capable of mastering, directing and using them.” — “I have emotions, but I ''am not'' my emotions.”(pause)

4. “I have desires, but I ''am not'' my desires. Desires are also changeable, conflicting; they are a succession of attractions and repulsions. There are desires ''in me'', but they ''are not'' Me." (pause)

5. “I have a mind, but I ''am not'' my mind. It may be more or less developed and active; it is undisciplined, but little by little I can master and direct it. It is an organ of knowledge, both of the external world and of the internal world, but it ''is not'' myself. I have a mind, but I ''am not'' my mind.” (pause)

6. All this is preparation for the final ''positive'' stage, the affirmation and experience of self-consciousness: “I am convinced and affirm that I am a Center of pure awareness, of pure self-consciousness; I am a Center of will, capable of mastering, directing and using all my psychic functions and my body. I AM.” <ref name=":17" /></blockquote>Psychosynthesis suggests that "we can experience the will as having four stages. The first stage could be described as 'having no will{{' "}},<ref name=":15">Will Parfitt, ''The Elements of Psychosynthesis'' (Dorset 1996) pp. 57-58</ref> and might perhaps be linked with the hegemony of the lower unconscious. "The next stage of the will is understanding that 'will exists'. We might still feel that we cannot actually do it, but we know...it is possible".<ref name=":15" /> "Once we have developed our will, at least to some degree, we pass to the next stage which is called 'having a will{{' "}}, and thereafter "in psychosynthesis we call the fourth and final stage of the evolution of the will in the individual 'being will{{' "}} – which then "relates to the 'I' or self...[and] draws energy from the transpersonal self".<ref>Parfitt, p. 59-60 and p. 34</ref>

It is the "I" who is aware of the psyche-soma contents as they pass in and out of awareness; the contents come and go, while "I" may remain present to each experience as it arises. But "I" is dynamic as well as receptive: "I" has the ability to affect awareness, in addition to the contents of awareness, by choosing to focus awareness (as in many types of meditation), expand it, or contract it.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Firman |first1=John |title=Psychosynthesis: A Psychology of the Spirit. |last2=Gila |first2=Ann |publisher=State University of New York Press |year=2002 |isbn=0-7914-5534-3 |edition=1st |location=Albany, NY |publication-date=2002 |pages=35 |language=English}}</ref>

Regarding the conscious self or “I,” Assagioli wrote, The changing ''contents'' of our consciousness . . . are one thing, while the “I,” the self, the ''center'' of our consciousness is another."<ref name="Assagioli, R. 1965 p.204"/> "The reflection appears to be self-existent but has, in reality, no autonomous substantiality. It is, in other words, not a new and different light but a projection of its luminous source".<ref name="Assagioli, R. 1965 p.204">Assagioli, R. (1965). Psychosynthesis. New York: Hobbs, Dorman & Co. Inc. pp. 16-21</ref>  The next section describes this "luminous source", the Self.

===The Self===
At the top of the oval diagram, shown as a “star” that is partly within and partly outside of the oval, is the Self (which has also been called the Higher Self or the Transpersonal Self). Assagioli wrote, “The conscious self is generally not only submerged in the ceaseless flow of psychological contents but seems to disappear altogether when we fall asleep, when we faint, when we are under the effect of an anesthetic or narcotic, or in a state of hypnosis. And when we awake the self mysteriously reappears, we do not know how or whence—a fact which, if closely examined, is truly baffling and disturbing. This leads us to assume that the re-appearance of the conscious self or ego is due to the existence of a permanent center, of a true Self situated beyond or “above” it.”<ref name="Assagioli, R. 1965 p.204"/>

Assagioli understood the Higher Self as a superconscious entity or being that pervades the personality with its energies through the superconscious: ”The key thought is in the [Bhagavad] Gita: “Having pervaded with one part of myself the whole universe, I remain”. What “remains” is ''the Self on its own level''. Yet while it remains there, it can pervade and is pervading the whole universe of the personality, and this it does ''through'' the superconscious.”<ref name=":8">Assagioli, R. and James Vargiu. “The Superconscious and the Self.” Unpublished article used at Psychosynthesis and Education Trust, London and available at https://kennethsorensen.dk/en/the-superconscious-and-the-self/.</ref> Assagioli also understood the Higher Self as a transcendent being: “This Self is above, and unaffected by, the flow of the mind-stream or by bodily conditions; and the personal conscious self should be considered merely as its reflection, its “projection” in the field of the personality.<ref name="Assagioli, R. 1965 p.204"/> The transpersonal Self is “outside” time and above it. It exists and lives in the dimension of the Eternal.”<ref>Assagioli, R. “The Conflict Between Generations & The Psychosynthesis of the Human Ages.” New York, Psychosynthesis Research Foundation, Issue No.31, 1973. https://kennethsorensen.dk/en/psychosynthesis-of-the-ages/.

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When it comes to the ''experience'' of the Higher Self, Assagioli differentiates between the experience of the contents, processes, and activities in the superconscious and the contentless experience of the Higher Self, which must not be confused.

Assagioli describes Self-Realization (not to be confused with self-actualization)<ref name=":7">Assagioli, R. (1973). The Act of Will. New York: Penguin Books. pp.86-87.</ref> as “the realization of one’s True Self — the discovery or creation of a ''unifying center: the controlling Principle of our life.''<ref name="Assagioli, R. 1965 p.5" /> He presents the Self-realization process in three ascending stages. In ''The Act of Will'', Assagioli states:

“In the terminology of psychosynthesis, self-actualisation corresponds to personal psychosynthesis. This includes the development and harmonising of all human functions and potentialities at all levels of the lower and middle area in the diagram of the constitution of man [i.e. egg-diagram]… Self-realisation concerns the third higher level, that of the superconscious, and pertains to Transpersonal or spiritual psychosynthesis.

Self-realisation itself has three different stages. The first is the activation and expression of the potentialities residing in the superconscious: it includes… various types of transcendence… Leonardo da Vinci or Goethe would be good examples of this.

The second stage of Self-realisation is the ''direct awareness'' of the SELF, which culminates in the unification of the consciousness of the personal self, or “I”, with that of the Transpersonal Self. Here one might mention those who have done self-sacrificing work for a beneficent cause in any field. Active humanitarians who have given themselves to a cause are good examples: Gandhi, Florence Nightingale, Martin Luther King, Schweitzer. Schweitzer is typical because he gave up even some of his higher interests – music and culture – in order to do humanitarian work. In terms of will, it is the unification of the personal will with the Transpersonal Will.

The third stage of Self-realisation is the communion of the Transpersonal Self with the Universal Self, and correspondingly of the individual will with the Universal Will. Here we find the highest mystics of all times and places.”<ref name=":7" />

The relationship of the "I" and the Self is paradoxical. Assagioli was clear that "I" and Self were from one point of view, one.  He wrote, "There are not really two selves, two independent and separate entities. The Self is one".<ref name="Assagioli, R. 1965 p.204"/> Such a nondual unity is a fundamental aspect of this level of experience. But Assagioli also understood that there could be an experience of illumination that is initiated by the Transpersonal Self as well:<blockquote>Consciousness is able to participate, at least in part, in what takes place in the superconscious, and to receive the gifts that come down from the Spirit, and then ''contemplation produces illumination''. How can one say ''what illumination is''? In human language it is already difficult to express the delicate nuances and tones of normal states of mind, to indicate the different qualities of inner experiences; but how much more difficult is it to give an adequate idea of states of mind that are so much higher or more intense, and qualitatively so different from the usual ones! <ref name=":18" />

Accounts of religious experiences often speak of a "call" from God, or a "pull" from some Higher Power; this sometimes starts a "dialogue" between the man [or woman] and this "higher Source"...<ref>Assagioli, R. (1973). The Act of Will. New York: Penguin Books. p.114</ref></blockquote>In his essay "Contemplation and Illumination," which was originally part of a series of lectures in 1934 at his Institute in Florence, Assagioli discusses such experiences in more detail, quoting [[Richard Maurice Bucke|R. Maurice Bucke]], [[Charles Grandison Finney|Charles Finney]] (former President of Oberlin College) and French philosopher [[Blaise Pascal|Pascal]], and for specific examples refers us to William James' well-known survey ''[[The Varieties of Religious Experience|Varieties of Religious Experience]],'' first published in 1902. The most well-known example of the experience of illumination initiated from a higher level is the account of the conversion of the [[Paul the Apostle|apostle Paul]], as recounted in The [[Acts of the Apostles]].<ref name=":18">Assagioli, Roberto, "Contemplation and Illumination," lecture from 1934 in Italian, given at the Institute of Psychosynthesis in Florence. The original title is "Contemplazione e Illuminazione" and this essay is available as Documents #23204 and 23205 at the Assagioli Archive, https://www.archivioassagioli.org/index.php</ref>

However Assagioli made a clear distinction between experience of the Self and experience of God, or The Universal. He said, “those who have these higher human experiences usually mix the experience of the Self with expressions about God, or some superconscious aspect, such as beauty or the simple experience of ecstasy. Or they jump directly to the Universal Self . . .There is such an intense feeling of oneness that people often do not pay attention to the fact that it is ''the Self'' [not the personal self or “I”] that experiences Oneness.” This is a subtle but crucial issue. If one were truly immersed in the universal, ''one would not know it''.<ref name=":9">Interview between Stuart Miller, PhD, and Roberto Assagioli conducted January 23, 1973 at the Psychosynthesis Institute in Florence, Italy. An Italian translation of this interview is available at the Assagioli Archives in Florence. Available online at https://kennethsorensen.dk/en/experiences-of-the-self/.</ref>

Roberto Assagioli insisted that the ''actual'' experience of The Self is often mixed up with other experiences. The conscious experience of the Self is exemplified by such experiences as illumination or mystical union: it is not an ordinary “experience.” Self-consciousness can be experienced through exercises and a gradual, one might say “scientific” procedure. We tend to jump from the personal to the Universal . . . without the experience of illumination of the Self, and also of intermediate degrees, the percentage of self-consciousness at the higher levels and of communion with the Universal.”<ref name=":9" />