Piero Ferrucci believes that each of us has a healthy core and that we have several ways to tap into that source. This, of course, is a somewhat different perspective from many of his predecessors and contemporaries in the field of psychology, who favor a more biochemical or analytical approach to the workings of the mind.

Ferrucci's mentor Robert Assagioli was a colleague of Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung; by challenging the emphasis on pathology, Assagioli developed the idea that psychosynthesis is the key to a healthy mental outlook. The focus of psychosynthesis is bringing together disparate aspects of one's personality in order to form a more cohesive, authentic, and higher-functioning self.

Ferrucci feels that suffering comes from denying the best parts of ourselves. "We not only suppress violence and sex--as Freud said--but more to the point we suppress love and inner beauty because that’s much scarier," he comments. "It is much easier to be like everyone else. If you’re creative, happy and joyful, you are probably different from others.”

For more, check out the great article on Dr. Ferucci at http://www.odemagazine.com/article.php?aID=4066&l=en.

Labels: Think Tank

25 August, 2006