Still Running Off at the Keyboard

NON-CHRISTIAN PRACTITIONERS OF PSYCHOSYNTHESIS - WHERE ARE THEY FOUND?

I've mentioned the Theosophical Society in conjunction with Roberto Assagioli before. In their website you can read the book "THE SEVEN HUMAN POWERS: LUMINOUS SHADOWS OF THE SELF, by Shirley J. Nicholson.

The following passages are taken from Chapter 1, "Psyche and Cosmos":

Freud introduced the concept of the subconscious as the realm of our worst antisocial selves, the sewer of the mind and heart. C. G. Jung expanded that idea to include the collective unconscious, including the memories and capacities that all humans have shared since the birth of humankind. Roberto Assagioli and other more recent transpersonal psychologists have added the concept of the superconscious, the part of ourselves that, though unconscious, is grander and more noble than our ordinary conscious selves. Transpersonal psychology now includes parts of the Self that transcend the individual—universal experiences of higher consciousness that are not limited to a personal mind. ...

Esoteric traditions throughout history have understood in precise detail the many functions and levels of consciousness. They offer a model for the realms that comprise the human psyche, with its depths and shallows, its beauties and horrors. These traditions have also taught us how to develop latent aspects of the self and how to awaken our finer unconscious potentials. ...

According to Theosophy, as well as to Vedanta and other Indian systems, “The reality behind all is Brahman, pure consciousness,” as the Indian sage Shankaracharya put it. ...

Leading scientists are finding support for this ancient idea in contemporary quantum physics. Saul-Paul Sirag says, “There is only one consciousness in a cosmic sense.” Fred Alan Wolf concurs that there is “one basic consciousness in which we are all one”. ...

Ken Wilber,[who often speaks at Catholic events] a principal theorist in the transpersonal movement, refers to this level of experience as a deeper within and a wider beyond.

Practices such as Yoga and meditation are designed to help us wake up to the reality of our true being in atma. They teach us to quiet the mind and find stillness at deep levels within. We slowly come to identify with that aspect of ourselves that is beyond the seemingly separative outer levels and rooted in the essence that permeates all. We come to sense unity within diversity, or as Blavatsky states, “from ONE light, seven lights” (Secret Doctrine 1:122).

The Theosophists look to psychology as often as the Catholics do in this post-Vatican II Church.

The Chief of The Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids, Philip Carr-Gomm, is trained in psychosynthesis.

Kabbalah Course On-Line refers to psychosynthesis on the webpage titled "Liber Initium (A Guide for Beginners)" "What is Magick?":

Magick is "the art and science of causing change to occur in conformity with will". This is the definition given by the occultist Aleister Crowley, who was one of the most influential occultists of the early 1900's. It basically means that any act that you undertake, so long as it conforms with your will, is a magical one. To begin with, it sounds like a loose description - surely it means that everything is a magickal act, and everyone is therefore a magician? This is partly true - the Universe has to be a magickal place for magick to work - but as you will see as you undertake your studies and work, few people understand their own will and the nature of the universe around them. In that sense, we begin ignorant and only through our enquiries do we uncover our own nature and begin to perform real acts of Magick in accord with that nature. ...

So, if we are to understand our Will, surely this is just psychology then? There is a whole school of Psychology, "Psychosynthesis," dedicated to the discovery and use of will. Is that not enough? Well, most magicians begin by studying psychology to gain a deeper understanding of their psyche, and this is recommended before further study is undertaken to ensure that later work does not overbalance the person and turn them into a stark raving mad lunatic. This is probably the worst danger to any occultist - and those around them! It is like building a house of cards; you have to have a nice solid foundation, as wide as possible, before adding anything else on top of it. It doesn't stop you (witness the hundreds of 15 yr. old wannabes on the newsgroups asking how to summon demons), but it damn sure makes life easier later on!

Not surprisingly then, given the Crowley source, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn also looks to psychology and psychosynthesis:

Regardie often related Reichian ideas to the magic of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. He was particularly fond of one magical exercise called the Middle Pillar Ritual. In this technique the magician visualizes successive spheres of light at various points above, below, and along the spinal column while vibrating certain words. This generates a certain kind of energy, which, according to Regardie, is identical to Reich's orgone. This energy is then circulated around and through the entire body by means of further visualization.

Legitimate esoteric orders have always been primarily intended to provide a context within which initiation may safely and effectively occur. As will be shown here, there are many parallels between initiation and forms of psychotherapy that take into account the spiritual dimensions of growth. Regardie even advised that the two should be considered as complementary processes, and that initiation should always be accompanied by some form of psychotherapy.

Israel Regardie wrote the rituals for the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. Scroll through the website. There is a picture of Christ crucified entwined with snakes. The familiar Rosicrucian cross is pictured as well.

The Wikipedia description of Psychosynthesis indicates that the objective is in essence to become your own god:

In the true Western fashion, Tranpersonal Self is not just the target of "I", the impersonal Self-it is the living source, the fount of symbols, messages and the guide. In this respect, Assagioli merges Eastern Tantric tradition ( disidentified "I" who becomes the chief actor of "projective" experiences of identification with various symbols of the superconscious/Bardo) and Western tradition of Higher Self as living guide (Inner God, Christ, Lapis).Also, Assagioli draws on wide field of experiential material of existential psychology ( Maslow, Frankl,..).

Becoming your own god and manifesting your own will is in tune with New Age concepts, as would be expected considering the source is Djwhal Khul. Why, then, is psychosynthesis, which promotes these two concepts, finding a home in what appears to be the Catholic right--Ignatian spirituality? Where are the Jesuits trying to take the Catholic faith?