ABSTRACT
There have been two periods in the twentieth century in Europe and America when recoil from our materialistic, scientific, atheistic world has brought about a reaction in the shape of religious and spiritual awareness and mysticism. The first was at the turn of the century, when Western confidence was in many ways at its zenith, when it seemed that real human progress was possible and happening, and that human knowledge would triumph; this period has already been discussed as the time at which psychosynthesis was founded. The second period was in the 1960s, when psychosynthesis became internationally known. Then, a reaction against many of the values of Western civilization, its misuse of nuclear energy, the arrogance and wealth which impoverished the rest of humanity, its assumption of dominance and control, brought about a movement of counter-culture, a movement towards simplicity and respect for the environment, towards spirituality and an acceptance that humanity is only one element in the universe and must, if it is to survive, become part of nature, instead of striving to be master of the universe. In both periods, the religions of the East played an important part.
