There are few books that truly rank a 5 Star rating, and there are few books which come close to this one's significance in the history of modern psychological thought. Freud and Jung have been overrated and over-idolized, but as their contemporary RA deserves a much wider following -- and his work as the father of Pschyosynthesis has a much more integrative view of the deeper human psyche's recesses. This is both a treatise of fundamental ideas and a practical book for practioners of psychotherapy and psychiatry, as well as social work, education, and human sciences (sociology, history, anthropology, etc.). RA had none of the fears that many others had of seeming to be a kook - because he wasn't. This was a man whose personal life story (blind, etc.) stands as testimony to what he was capable of, and this book only reinforces the gorwing (buut still largely unheard view) that he will become on the most important dead-but-still-important psychological thinkers/doers in the coming decades.

This book is written for and more useful to therapists but is worth reading by anyone who wants to become familiar with psychosynthesis. Assagioli was the founder of psychosynthesis, which sees humans as tending naturally toward harmony with self and the world.

This is just a brief summary of central Assagiolian doctrines:

We may divide spiritual/life "paths" according the the question: who is the chief protagonist of psycho-spiritual process ? Basically, it's equal to answering the question: who am I ?

1. The Transpersonal Self (TS)-the sun presiding over the "egg/field" of psyche. ( Transpersonal or Higher Self is different from Jungian definitions; it is not totality of psyche. It is Atman, containing & governing psychological life, but in essence, albeit reachable, utterly beyond & above. It's completely "other" & "closer than your jugular vein" at the same time ). This is the position of non-dual schools like Advaita Vedanta or Ch'an ( Zen) Buddhism.

2. The "I"-radiant ray of the Self ( TS ) This is the position of various schools, having different goals. For brevity: Buddhist & Hindu ( not Kashmir Shaivite)Tantra, Taoist alchemy, some forms of Sufism. "Modern" schools & teachers include Psychosynthesis, Gurdjieff or Hazrat Inayat Khan.

3. The psyche- the psychomental complex; in the diagram, it's the "egg" as if cut off from the the sun of TS ( of course, it never happens: just, in this process psyche/soul is an entity longing to contact & fuse with TS/God, who is experienced as "the other"). This is the way of majority of traditional mysyicisms, as well as some modern therapies ( Jung ). In Jungian school, "soul"/psyche, not pure "I", nor the Self ( especially as ego-consciousness ): so, the Jungians would say- I'm psyche currently reduced to ego consciousness, but passing through process of cleansing, maturing, expansion...

Transpersonal consciousness

The 2nd path, that of Tantra, is achieved by disidentification technique aiming to isolate the "I", empower it by activating its most essential attribute, will, and with this new, enriched & more efficient "I", mould the psyche & ascend the ladder of more & more heightened awareness, with the final goal of blending "I" with the source, the TS. In contrast to the Zen or Jungian approaches, it is an "activistic" one, projecting the "I" into a variety of states of mind/psyche. In Buddhist Tantricism there is a technique of identifying the dis-identified principle of consciousness/"I" with the multitude of real or imagined objects ( heart of guru; identifying with Boddhisattva of, say, compassion; entering the yantra/mandala signifying some aspect of Trikaya/Buddha Nature ). This is similar to Assagiolian Psychosynthesis. After achieving a degree of d-i and relatively balanced psyche in personal PS, the ascent of crystallized "I" begins, in course of which "I" controls, moulds & expands areas of awareness. On the way to & through the superconscious, the liberated "I" reshapes fields of conscious life, achieving a new position of center of conscious life & widening the channell through which the influx of spiritual energies feeds the psyche. The Assagiolian approach, as contrasted to orthodox ones ( Tibetan, Taoist, Shaivite,..) has a few novelties to offer: 1. It is free from culturally conditioned symbols ( better, it uses them freely without being confined to a specific symbolism ). 2. Its exercises are given in "distilled" form ( especially in "The Act of Will"), hence not burdened with extremely complex & superfluous visualisation trappings which impede the spiritual progress. 3. In the true Western fashion, TS 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 ( d-ied "I" who becomes the chief actor of "projective" experiences of identification with various symbols of the superconscious/Bardo) and Western tradition of TS as living guide ( Inner God, Christ, Lapis).Also, Assagioli draws on wide field of experiential material of existential psychology ( Maslow, Frankl,..).

I got to this book years after having read self-help books such as Creative Visualization by Shakti Gawain, all of Carlos Castaneda, books about TAO and Zen, Edward DeBono, books about creativity, learning and thinking, various ancient oriental and North American aboriginal authors, etc. I have to rate it very highly as being useful WHEN YOU NEED TO GET TO ACTION. This is a rare thing.

Books that have that authentic ability to trigger you to action are rare, and Gawains book is one. The Act Of Will is also constantly useful to me, as a way to help me clarify my own strengths and weaknesses, and to quickly focus on progress. I got into publishing, but a recession came upon the market, and I got demotivated. I tell you, you can't afford to give up on your own highest aspirations. Will power, from start to finish of some act of creative endeavor, is a challenge. Failures on that path, like bodies in a vicious war, are stacked very very high.

To make your own way in any endeavor, you will find your inspirations, goals, and will power coming up against limits, both internal and external. The Act Of Will really helped me see again, and to feel again, the real value and deserved attention that my publishing was. I should not have let it drift, but I was on my own.

To anyone who can relate to either being or feeling alone when you consider some venture, then why not gather some terrific support. Best advisors are rarely there when you need them (in the flesh). So instead, take the personal advice from geniuses, and get on with it!!

Take this book home and use it. I hope the will power to do that much, is with you today. This book will greatly improve the odds that your will power will be much more consistent and powerful in the very near future.

Cheers!!!!!!!!!!!