If we look more widely at the political and scientific context during Assagioli’s life (and indeed for much of this century), we begin to see that there was/is inherent in the culture a split between religion and science, and more deeply, a ‘myth of isolation’ (Goodbread Radical Intercourse) infusing the West during this time.  And therefore, despite the exciting movements and potential of the beginning of this century, there may be tendencies towards implicit beliefs of separateness within not just the development of psychosynthesis, but the way in which it is practised now.  I make this assertion because there is much evidence to suggest that the culture and its prevailing scientific paradigm has a very powerful impact on us as individuals whether we overtly ‘agree’ with it or not.  It becomes part of our psyche, which is especially obvious when we address the way in which we are connected to the collective unconscious in future chapters.

s and there are therefore strong psychodynamic roots in psychosynthesis.  In his doctoral thesis Assagioli gave a critique of Freud’s approach, claiming it was incomplete as it did not address the actualised elements of human nature and how to enable man to fully live his potential.  From early on he challenged the purely scientific and reductionist attitudes of the time, bringing to the forefront the possibility that man also has self actualising potential which can be stimulated and developed.

He was influenced by many spiritual and philosophical traditions and people, such as the Russian esotericist Ouspensky, the Sufi mystic Inhayat Khan,  Jung, Buber, the founder of logotherapy Viktor Frankl and Alice Bailey, with whom he was a close friend.  His concerns were towards fragmentation and the possibility for synthesis at both an individual and collective level, including an interest in education and social issues.  These spiritual and mystical influences mean that within psychosynthesis lies a deeply optimistic and structured approach to not just personal development, but spiritual synthesis, personally and culturally, in which the individual finds a meaningful, purposeful and interconnected place within the whole.