PSYCHOSYNTHESIS The roots of guided imagery, Roberto Assagioli, begs an important question:
What are the roots of psychosynthesis?
Roberto Assagioli was Alice Ann Bailey's personal emmisary in Italy and based his model of the human soul squarely upon her esoteric writings, which were reputedly inspired by her "spirit guide" the Tibetan Djwahl Kuhl.
Abraham Maslow's prestigious contribution to mainstream thought in the fifties and sixties, "Transpersonal psychology" was based in part upon Assagioli's Psychosynthesis, effectively reinforcing this spiritually
toxic psycho-babble right into the mainstream of the educational establishment.These days psychosynthesis is completely out of the closet and is training a new generation of teachers to approach children exactly as Bailey had admonished would be necessary to usher in a New Age and New World Order.
(see Education in the New Age, by Alice Bailey, published by Lucis Publishing, 1954)The most alarming quality about Psychosynthesis is not that it is a doctrine of demons, or that it is going to change society's "world-view," which of course it is doing effortlessly. What is most alarming is the ultimate goal of this holistic process - namely the synthesis (coming together of two) of the "lower self" (you) with the "higher self" (the
oversoul - Lucifer) and the burning of all bridges of access back to the lower self, or in common vernacular, permanent demon possession. When society is thus integrated, as John Lennon said,"And the world will be as one."
That's the game plan of the new age brass and education is one of the three strategic institutions targeted for their paradigm shift. [Source: Willy]
Guided imagery, or imagination, is a wide-spread practice in public and private schools. The roots of this practice are clearly in the occult. There is an interesting entry in Charlotte Iserbyt's book, "the deliberate dumbing down of america," which sheds new light on the ROOTS of guided imagery:
Psychosynthesis: A Manual of Principles and Techniques (Psychosynthesis Research Foundation: Crucible imprint of Aquarian Press, Thorsons Publishing Group: Northamptonshire, England, 1965) by Dr. Roberto Assagioli, a practicing psychiatrist in Florence, Italy, was published.
Roberto Assagioli defined psychosynthesis as the formation or reconstruction of a new personalitythe transpersonal or spiritualSelf. An excerpt from Psychosynthesis explained: "What distinguishes psychosynthesis from many other attempts at psychological understanding is the position we take as to the existence of a spiritual Self. We consider that the spiritual is as basic as the material part of man essentially we include within the study of psychological facts all those which may be related to the higher urges within man which tends to make him grow towards greater realization of his spiritual essence. Our position affirms that all the superior manifestations of the human psyche, such as creative imagination, intuition, aspiration, genius, are facts which are as real and as
important as are the conditioned reflexes, and therefore, are susceptible to research and treatment just as scientifically as conditioned reflexes."
As psychology began to assert itself as an acceptable science in the sick sixties, Assagiolis psychosynthesis concept iscredited with creating a paradigm that enabled an integration (synthesis) of psychology with spirituality. Assagioli emphasized a holistic worldview, laying groundwork for the future educational pedagogy of holistic
educationof the 1990steaching the whole child. He was also the originator of a group of exercises for Spiritual Psychosynthesis based on what we now call role playing. These include: on the Legend of the Holy Grail,on Dantes Divine Comedy, and on the Blossoming of the Rose.Assagiolis view of the human psyche included a progression from lower to higher order consciousness (or thinking) which is similar to NewAge ideas about the evolution of man into a collective consciousness.These
ideas laid the philosophical foundation for character education, values clarification, and consciousness-altering techniques used in the classroom.For example, the sick sixties were hallmarked by the emergence of transpersonal psychology, a designation typified today by the statement, Im OK, youre OK. One of its promotersand a disciple of Roberto
Assagioli was Jack Canfield. Canfields name appears on many education curricula and training programs utilizing behavior modification for values clarification. [Sarah's Note: Canfield was also associated with
Promise Keepers literarature and mentioned in some of the books related to PK.]Significantly, Roberto Assagiolis selected appendices in Psychosynthesis include an article entitled Initiated Symbol Projection (ISP) written by a German psychiatrist named Hanscarl Leurner. According to a note by
Assagioli, Dr. Leurner now prefers to call his method Guided Affective Imagerya form of guided imagery widely practiced in elementary and secondary classrooms, business training sessions, counseling sessions,
and religious services. A description of what Leurner called his psycho-diagnostic and psycho-therapeutic technique is provided:
"The subject is seated in a comfortable chair or on a couch (lying down), asked to close his eyes, and induced to relax a light hypnoid state has proved valuable. Deep and regular breathing [t]hen, in a psychological
state characterized by diminished consciousness of the outer world, reduced conscious criticism and self-control, the subject is asked to visualize .In the phenomenology of medical psychology, they are similar to hypnogic visions.
[Ed. Note: The fact that guided imagery is a psychological technique raises a question regarding its use in the classroom by teachers who are not professional therapists.]
This comes from Page 73-74. There are many other references in Charlotte's book to the use of this technique in the classroom, in particular documenting all of the federal monies and policies that have funded such
"experiental" and "esoteric" methodologies to be used on children in the classroom. (The book is available by calling 207-442-0543 in case anyone is interested.) [Sarah Leslie Conscience Press http://www.christianconscience.com
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