Synthesis (from greek): to put together, to combine separate elements to form a connected whole
As is inherent in the name, synthesis is central to psychosynthesis. This process of connecting elements is ongoing in all life. What changes along the path of self-actualization that the seven fundamental experiences explores, is how our awareness influences the direction of the synthesis.
The kind of attention we pay actually alters the world (Iain McGilchrist)
As Petra Guggisberg lays out in her comprehensive work on psychosynthesis, synthesis can be automatic or conscious, and can happen at the level of the personality or the transpersonal level.
For me, in this context, synthesis is another word for integration of psychic material into a growing sense of wholeness. It happens once our conscious mind has become aware of and fully accepted a previously split off part of the personality. As a consequence, our perspective of our self and the world is enriched.
An example from everyday life: a while ago, I became irritated with a colleague who I find complains about his situation without doing anything about it. Whenever I was around him, I felt stuck and after a few conversations that seemed to be going on repeat, I started thinking of him as self-centered and behaving like a victim. I started avoiding him, but my irritation didn’t go away. I realized that the stuckness was also mine.
When I look closer at my own part in the drama, I realize how scared I am of ending up as the victim. I much prefer to see myself as independent and actively creating my fate. I see then that I can’t empathize with him because I don’t dare to feel what he feels. When I look inward to find experiences of victimhood, memories flood me. When I open to this part of me, my compassion for the victim in me, and also in my colleague, flows almost in the same instant. A bit later, I notice that my avoidance and irritation have softened considerably.
This is a process of psychological synthesis. When new connections are formed in us, it changes our perspective of the world.
Once the path of self-reflection, disidentification and synthesis become trusted companions in our dealings with everyday trials, we learn to direct our attention both to the pain inside, but also to where the potential for growth and expansion exists within. And then synthesis can happen beyond the personality level, in how we invite transpersonal qualities to guide us to sublimate destructive emotions into more constructive actions. This is when the inner path of self-reflection opens us up to the higher level of consciousness.
Anna Thurdin Hedblad, founder Paxsum AB