As I said in the previous posting "Finding the balance", for year I struggled to reconcile the philosophy upon which my meditation practice was based, with my psychological beliefs. Meditation allows for systematic transcendence of the problem, a tactic obviously very different from reliving experiences through classic, past-oriented, therapy work.

But as I meditated and evolved, baffled by the observation that, no matter where I was on Maslow’s pyramid, I needed not to be sane, nor particularly high on it, to transcend that level and experience fullness of being (I recently discovered Ken Wilber’s integral approach, which expresses the same belief in the ability to integrate the personal and higher/spiritually fulfilling self no matter at what level one does so), I also experienced a need to address certain personal issues in therapy. The two practices conflicted, at times, as one brought me to the past, and the other one kept me in the present. I have not resolved my conflict, but I do believe that the two practices can complement each other.

My current psychological position (it is quite fluid and constantly evolving) incorporates principles from humanistic psychology, as I have an unshakable faith in human abilities to overcome obstacles and fulfill one's potential. It’s close to transpersonal psychology, because I believe in the contact with a transcendental reality that you may choose to call the Transcendent, Atma (God), or Being. And, it is also close to existential psychology, as I believe that issues such as death, loneliness and meaning are at the core of human life and fuel existential anxiety, or the lack thereof, it depends what one does with it. Which brings me to another main point. I give a fundamental importance to free will, and the human ability to choose one's destiny, as well as to bounce back from difficult spots.

Psicosintesi was founded in Italy around 1926 by Roberto Assagioli, and it seems to me as if it does incorporate all the above approaches. It stresses the importance of harmonizing and integrating the personality while attempting to connect (and ultimately transcend) higher levels of the psyche (the transpersonal part). Psicosintesi is a dynamic model, but does not bear the negative connotation of more traditional psychodynamic approaches. The person is considered is his/her bio/psycho/spiritual totality, and the focus is on self-realization and harmonization of the polar opposites through the synthetic power of the ego.

The psychosynthetic process takes place at two levels: personal (psychological development and expression of the various potentialities, and transpersonal (contact with higher levels of the psyche, internal awakening). One of Psicosisntesi’s basic idea is that we are parts of an universe which is organized, according to natural laws, to support consciousness development; we are all interconnected with it and each other, and each of us has a purpose and meaning in it.

This approach really fits me because I also adopt a cosmological view of the human being, and the transpersonal part, which is essential for me, obviously relates to my meditation practice. This approach is coherent with my idealistic/cosmological philosophical position, as I have previously discussed it. However, although this approach is very close to what I believe, it’s not completely “it”.
I am constantly developing an refining my psychological approach, towards something that will really feel fully and completely satisfactory. As I grow as therapist, I am more and more clear about what I like to do and what I think is helpful, in a holistic and integral perspective.