ABSTRACT

This chapter discusses the three major questions. The first was on the origin of the ideas that lay behind the creation of psychosynthesis. The second question was on the nature of the knowledge in psychosynthesis. In tracing the clear messages given by Plato, Dante, and the gnostic and neoplatonic writers, a pattern emerges which is a repetition of the themes behind psychosynthesis. One source of knowledge for Assagioli is certainly what Thomas Huxley called the perennial philosophy, repeated in twentieth century psychotherapeutic dress. The other source of knowledge certainly lies in the twentieth century techniques of psychology and psychoanalysis both disciplines striving to be explicitly scientific, but only partially succeeding. The third question brings us on to the third part of empirical study. The chapter explores how psychosynthesis, and Jungian therapy, could develop at the turn of the century. It explains psychosynthesis and twentieth century psychotherapy.