A branch of developmental psychology concerned with aiding people usually business managers to make the most of their abilities during the pursuit of their professional careers. Psychosynthesis is an approach to human development that was developed by Roberto Assagioli in 1910. It is both a theory and a practice where the focus is to achieve a synthesis of the various parts of an individual’s personality into a more cohesive self. That person can then function in a way that is more life affirming and authentic. Another major aspect of psychosynthesis is its affirmation of the spiritual dimension of the person, for example, the “higher” or “transpersonal” self. The higher self is seen as a source of wisdom, inspiration, unconditional love, and the will to meaning in our lives. Psychosynthesis is founded on the basic premise that human life has purpose and meaning and that we participate in an orderly universe structured to facilitate the evolution of consciousness. A corollary is that each person’s life has purpose and meaning within this broader context and that it is possible for the individual to discover this.
Assagioli was a pioneer of the psychoanalytic movement in Italy and a contemporary of both Sigmund Freud and Carl Gustav JUNG. Early in his work, he observed that repression of higher, superconscious impulses (later known as repression of the sublime) could be just as damaging to the psyche as repression of material from the lower unconscious. Traditional psychoanalysis recognizes a primitive, or “lower” unconscious the source of our atavistic and biological drives. But Assagioli supposed that there is also a higher unconscious, a superconscious an autonomous realm from which originate our more highly evolved impulses: altruistic love and will, humanitarian action, artistic and scientific inspiration, philosophic and spiritual insight, and the drive toward purpose and meaning in life. Psychosynthesis is concerned both with integrating material from the lower unconscious and with realizing and actualizing the content of the superconscious. To this end, it uses a wide range of techniques for contacting the superconscious and establishing a bridge to that part of our being where, so Assagioli claimed, true wisdom is to be found. The superconscious is thereby accessible, in varying degrees, to each one of us and can provide a great source of energy, inspiration, and direction. Psychosynthesis helps us in our attempt to manifest this part of ourselves as fully as possible in everyday living.