• Both psychosynthesis and existential psychotherapy 1 begin with the self of the individual; both attribute a central importance to the concept and experience of `identity'.
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1. Roberto Assagioli. Psychosynthesis - a Collection of Basic Writings. Penguin Books Ltd., England, 1985

• Both believe that each individual is constant development, is growing, actualizing successively  many (latent) Potentialities.
• Both believe that such individual is looking for meaning in life.
• Values __ ethical, aesthetic, religious __ are important to indivi-duals.
• Each individual is constantly controlled by choices and decisions and with the consequent  responsibility which they entail.
• Both schools consider that there is a need of achieving a clear awareness of the motivations  which determine the choices and the decisions.
• They recognise the depth and seriousness of human life, of the place of anxiety in it, and of the  suffering which has to be faced.
• The emphasis of both is on the future and of its dynamic role in the present.
• Both recognise the uniqueness of each individual and the need of a unique method of treatment for each person/patient.

The difference between psychosynthesis and existential psychology, mostly a matter of difference in emphasis, can be described as follows. (These differences help to highlight the unique features of  psychosynthesis).

• Psychosynthesis gives a central place to will as an essential function of the self and as the  necessary source of all choices, decisions, and engagements. Psychosynthesis mentions phases of the will. These are (I) goal, valuation, motivation, (ii) deliberation, (iii) decision, (iv) affirmation, (v) planning and (vi) direction of the execution. There are various techniques for arousing, developing and strengthening the will.1
• A second point of difference from some existentialists, concerns the nature of self and the  search for self-identity. Assagioli believes that the experience of self and of pure self awareness is an inner reality which can be empirically verified and deliberately produced through appropriate techniques.

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1 Roberto Assagioli. The Act of Will. An Esalen Book, Penguin Books Ltd., England, 1979.

• Another difference is the recognition of the positive, creative, joyous experiences which human beings often have along with the painful and tragic ones. Masolw calls these 'peak experiences'   __ self-realisation, fulfillment, achievement, illumination, peace and joy.
• The experience of loneliness is not considered in psychosynthesis as either ultimate or essential.  It is a stage, a temporary subjective condition which alternates with, and can be replaced by, the genuine living experience of interpersonal communication and relationships.
• Deliberate use can be made of large numbers of active techniques for :

1. the transformation, sublimation, and direction of psychological energies.
2. the strengthening and maturing of weak or undeveloped functions.
3. the activation of superconscious energies and the arousing of latent potentialities.

• The conscious and planned reconstruction or recreation of the personality, through the  cooperation and the interplay of the patient and therapist.

Assagioli's Concept of the Personality
Assagioli conceptualised personality as follows. He qualified that the model gave only a structural and  static representation of our inner constitution leaving out its dynamic aspect which he maintained was the most important one.

1. Lower Unconscious

This contains the elementary psychological activities which direct the life of the body; the intelligent  co-ordination of bodily functions.

• the fundamental drives and primitive urges
• many complexes charged with intense emotion
• dreams and imaginations of an inferior kind
• lower uncontrolled par-psychological processes
• pathological manifestations such as phobias, obsessions and so on.

2. Middle Unconscious
   This is state which is similar to our waking consciousness and easily accessible to it.
3. The Higher Unconscious or Superconscious
   From this region we receive our higher intuition and inspiration -- artistic, philosophicar or scientific insights, urges to humanitarian and heroic action. This area is the source of higher feelings such as altruistic loves; in this realm are higher psychic function and spiritual energies.
4. The Field of Consciousness
   This is the part of our personality of which we are directly aware; the incessant flow of sensations, images, thoughts, feelings, and desires which we can observe, analyse and judge.
5. Conscious Self
   The self or the point of pure self-awareness can be ascertained by the use of careful introspection. The changing contents of our consciousness ( The sensation , thoughts, feelings, etc. ) are one thing, while the 'T' the self, the centre of our consciousness is another.
6. The Higher Self
   This is the true self, a permanent centre situated beyond or 'above' the conscious self or ego. This self is 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. The real distinguishing factor between the little self and 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 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.
7. The Collective unconscious
   This is a term first used by Carl Jung and it indicates that we are all linked to each other through this common stream of consciousness. Processes of psychological osmosis' are going on all the time, both with other human beings and with the general psychic environment.
   After understanding the model of the personality , the task before us becomes one of integration of the conscious self which pulls us into the tasks of daily living, responding to life's pressures either superficially or drives by the complexes and needs of the lower self--with the Higher Self ( or true self) of which we are often unaware, because it is latent and does not reveal itself directly to our consciousness. When we can achieve this harmonious inner interaction, we will begin to achieve right relationships with others.

How can this be done? Assagioli suggests the following steps:

1. Through knowledge of one's personality.
2. Control of one's various elements.
3. Realization of one's true self - the discovery or creation of a unifying centre.
4. Pyschosynthesis: the formation or reconstruction of the personality around the new centre.

Let us examine each of these steps.

Through knowledge of one's personality All aspects of one's personality need to be opened out: the conscious and all levels of the unconscious. Discovering the forces of the lower unconscious - through psychoanalysis, hypnosis, finding the meaning of dreams, intensive journal retreats, etc. - will begin the process of liberating us from obsessions, fears and conflicts. Exploration of the regions of middle and higher unconscious will help us discover our latent abilities, and true vocations. These do seek to express themselves, but because of lack of understanding or fears we often repel or repress them. Through this exploration of the unconscious, we will have at our disposal the use of psychic energy which can empower us to vast learning and creation.

Control or harmonising of the various elements of the personality After discovering various aspects of the conscious and the unconscious it is necessary to direct them so that their energies can be used positively. The fears and conflicts which dominated us can be understood and resolved so that they cease to obsess us. This is done through the process of standing apart and critically and compassionately examining the various elements of the fears and conflicts, their genesis and the rationale for them to be present - `we are dominated by everything with which our self becomes identified; we can dominate and control everything from which we disidentify ourselves.'
The exercise on `Sub-Personalities' (see Appendix 3) helps us to embrace these dark and negative aspects of ourselves and to transform them into allies which aid our psychological and spiritual growth.

Realization of one's true self. What was to be achieved is to expand the personal consciousness into that of the self, to unite the lower with the Higher Self.
To a great extent, this happens spontaneously through a process of natural inner growth fostered by the experience of life. But this process is generally slow: it can be accelerated by deliberate conscious action and by the use of appropriate active techniques. The director of Sub-Personalities or the pictures of the `ideal model' are examples of the unifying centre. (see discussion below on Subpersonalities and Ideal Models.)

Psychosynthesis : the formation of reconstruction of the personality around the new centre. This, then, is the final step of the process : building a new personality - coherent, organised and unified - round the unifying centre. This, too, has several stages: (I) visualization of the new personality to be developed or the purpose to be achieved (ii) defusing the negative unconscious complexes and using the transformed energies (iii) developing the aspects of the personality which are either absent, deficient, or inadequate for the purpose we desire to attain.
Psychosynthesis has two aspects:`personal' psychosynthesis and `spiritual' psychosynthesis. The first is aimed at the development and perfection of the personality and the second, at its harmonious coordination and increasing unification with the Higher Self.
Psychosynthesis may also be considered as the individual expression of a wider principle, of a general law of inter-individual and cosmic synthesis.
Sumitra's experience at the end of a six day psychosynthesis workshop is described in the box below.

Sumitra's Case

Goals
To develop my integrated self :

• by shaping and blending of my day-to-day stories.
• by giving expression of my aspirations, legitimate needs and rights.

And thus living a balanced life

Sub-goals

1.Write a letter or the Provincial, to free me from January 1991 for a sabbatical of six months to one year, during which time I would be free to plan my own programme..

1. One month holiday.
2. Vipassana.
3. Short stay - Ashram experience.
4. Sadhana.
5. Spend time with my paints (art work).
6. Find my new career/apostolate/mission.

2. Start sitting on the Observer's chair and strengthen the Director in me...
3. Prioritise my prayer life, my work and my needs. Have meals at the proper time, balanced with enough sleep, rest and relaxation.
4. Spend time with friends and family members. Write short letters and reply to letters.
5. Starting getting other sisters to do the work and special jobs, so that I gradually prepare others and eventually I can easily move into other areas, where I can do what I would really like to do.
6. Start being me, listening to what I am / or have not been saying or doing all this while, and respond to it authentically.
7. See how my Higher-Self can be integrated with my lower-self.

Synthesis of the subpersonalities and my experience
We need people, who mean something to us. People to whom we can turn, that being with them is like coming home. Gift I received : inner freedom.
These goals emerged after Sumitra saw that the Vessel-Up-to-the-Brim (Picture I ), Task Master (Picture 2), and Dumping ground (Picture 3), all depicted a theme of over-work and over-stretching. The Snail (Picture 4) was the part which reacted when the first three subpersonalities over-played their parts. This was actually the safety valve. The Flower Girl (Picture 5) and Sounds of Silence (Picture 6) represent strong inner needs. Through her plan of action as outlined in the goals, Sumitra hopes to balance out the first three subpersonalities with the Flower Girl and Sounds of Silence so that Helping Hand (Picture 7), and Burning Candle (Picture 8) can do their work effectively and the Voyage, (Picture 9) through life can proceed as God meant it to.

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