79. Psychosynthesis Exercises and Transpersonal Qualities

I wanted to write a post about Transpersonal Qualities ( eg. cooperation, goodwill, humour, renewal) because I had had some kind of influx about them during the time I have been writing about, 2018-9. I thought I would do a quick google search about them, having not looked into them since and I came across this post where they are briefly mentioned;

https://psychosynthesistrust.org.uk/psychosynthesis-exercises-for-personal-spiritual-growth/

Around the mid 20teens, I did a year-long course in Psychosynthesis. Psychosynthesis was devised by the Jewish Italian Psychiatrist Roberto Assagioli in the mid-twentieth century and is said to be based around Kabbala. He describes it thus (I am quoting from the article);

“The basic purpose of psychosynthesis is to release, or let us say, help to release, the energies of the Self. Prior to this the purpose is to help integrate, to synthesize, the individual around the personal self, and then later to effect the synthesis between the personal ego and the Self.”

The course was at the Institute of Psychosynthesis in London and I did the first year on the way to becoming a counsellor/psychotherapist. (I had done a couple of introductory weekends and was blown away.) My spiritual path moved into the fast lane and I could only just hold on to the pace of things going on inside. Psychosynthesis therapy is on the spiritual end of the spectrum of psychotherapies – if you are going through an awakening, and are seeking a therapist, someone with this training might offer better understanding and help.)

The blog post I referenced above are exercises that are not necessarily exclusive to Psychosynthesis but I think they are a good collection, having done them myself.

The author covers twelve exercises / activities;

1. Psychological workbook

2. The “Who am I” exercise

3. The Evening Review

4. The Dis-identification Exercise

5. Self-identification

6. The Inner Dialogue

7. Evoking and Developing Desired Qualities

8. Transpersonal Qualities

9. Ideal Model Exercises

10. A Psychosynthesis Autobiography

11. The Blossoming of the Rose

12. Self

There are more exercises, particularly visualisation exercises that I have used. Sometimes I found it useful to put the lead in and lead through them onto a voice memo on my iPod.

Maybe what is missing is a grounding exercise say for example the one where sitting in a chair one visualises roots growing into the ground from one’s feet. There are other ways of grounding and they are covered in one of my earlier blogs.

My “Infusion” about Transpersonal Qualities

This is what I wanted to write about when I went looking for the Transpersonal Qualities (No. 8 in the article above.)

There were some ideas lingering in me when I sensed inward – the idea of Transpersonal Qualities from Psychosynthesis, and the Angel in the painting, “The Annunciation” by Edward Burns Jones, who is up in the air as though levitating. (This struck me because I had had dreams where I could move easily at will while being several feet above the ground, though I could not understand their meaning.)

I felt nothing for a long time, and then I got a sensation in my throat. Out of that came a sense of connection between the Angel, levitating, and transpersonal qualities. Then I held them all together. 

It came to this; 

• The Transpersonal is in the Self, being connected across people and it is not unreasonable to view that those qualities are expressions of the Self. 
• The angel can be the messenger, the archetypal messenger of the Transpersonal Qualities.
• They express directly, or through another messenger then through the individual.
• The Transpersonal quality is a grace, something that enables a shift into growth. 

It is as though the Angel exists in a vantage point that is in flow in levitation, aside from the turmoil of a given situation. They can influence the turmoil by bringing these qualities to context and transforming the divisive, fearful, hateful, anxious, depressed, with a balanced, broader transpersonal infusion. 

This felt so inspiring to me, and so spiriting. 

When I talk of Angels (as with all spirits) I talk of attitudinal energies that are personified. I have had visions of angels, but they have not had wings. They have a perfection about them; beautiful, intelligent knowing, absolutely present to the moment, and unsurmountable strength. They are a part of the Self, the whole, you and me.

I am wary of talk of angels and so on, but then this is what I experienced. Sometimes I do find a short spell where there is a run of revelations coming together, what some mystics call illuminations. “Aha” moments that Plato likened to being in enlightenment? However, there is always doubt about the truth value of all this.

The Psychosynthesis course repeatedly revealed to me how events that seem random have a purposeful pattern, it was not taught, but for those with eyes to see it was obvious, and they are for me a strong supporter of the validity of the spiritual process; when the movements and activities of others are not imagined or influenced but are fitting into a greater purposeful order of which they are not aware.