My forthcoming book ‘The Act of Imagination’ now has a publication date – 14th April 2026 – so coming soon! In the meantime, a sneak pre-view of the ‘forward’, by the wonderful Molly Young Brown – who was my dream choice to do so. Why? Because she is both a direct link back to Roberto Assagioli, the founder of psychosynthesis, from whom she was taught, and also her thinking and practice of psychsoynthesis has developed in an ecological and ‘systems’ direction, which chimes nicely with the direction I take in the book. I’m therefore very grateful and feeling somewhat blessed to have this opening from Molly to set the scene for readers. Here it is below:
Foreword
by Molly Young Brown
Psychosynthesis has been foundational to my professional and personal life since I encountered the field in my late 20s. My husband, Jim, and I studied with Dr. Roberto Assagioli when I was 31 (in 1973). At that time he emphasized that he wanted psychosynthesis to evolve and urged me (and I suspect nearly everyone who studied with him) to carry psychosynthesis forward in whatever ways I could.
So I began teaching psychosynthesis and offering one-on-one sessions as a psychosynthesis guide. Eventually, I published two major books in the field: Unfolding Self: The Practice of Psychosynthesis (Allworth2004) and Growing Whole: Self-Realization for the Great Turning (Psychosynthesis Press 2009)
Although, for the last 35 years, I have focused my teaching and writing on the Work That Reconnects, I never left psychosynthesis. Moreover, I have come to realize that many people working for the “Great Turning” towards a life-affirming and just world could benefit greatly from psychosynthesis (or similar psycho-spiritual modalities).
Psychosynthesis can help people attune to an inner source of clarity and strength that is so needed in today’s chaotic world, as well as transform old unconscious patterns that can compromise the effectiveness in their activism. I believe that psychosynthesis can support, and even help shape, the desperately needed radical changes to our societies, economies, and political structures.
So I welcome The Act of Imagination as a major contribution to the evolution of psychosynthesis in today’s world.
Ambiguities and Contradictions
Through all these years, I have continued to heed Assagioli’s call to help psychosynthesis evolve. Along with close colleagues, I have questioned some of the ambiguities and contradictions within psychosynthesis theory and practice, and often formulated my own revisions and/or adopted other psychosynthesists’ proposed adaptations.
In many cases, I’ve just let the contradictions slide, knowing that all human knowledge is provisional and subject to change.
So I have been thoroughly delighted that, in this book, Allan Frater directly addresses these contradictions, explaining how they occurred and making room for conflicting perspectives as the difference between an analytical-empirical approach and an experiential-synthesis approach.
He explains that Assagioli wanted to make psychosynthesis acceptable in a culture dominated at that time by analytical-empirical (I might add “reductionist”) science. Nevertheless, I am certain that if he had to choose between them, Assagioli would come down solidly on the experiential-synthesis side—and Frater supports that with several quotations.
Assagioli often said and wrote that psychosynthesis (with a lower case p) is a natural process available to all humans, given adequate support and nurture. In other words, he was trying to describe and uplift common human experience, not trying to create a new belief system, theory, or dogma. He also urged practitioners especially to experience a practice themselves, so that they would know what it feels like and what effects it might have before suggesting the practice to a client.
Frater also suggests that many of the specific concepts, structures, and exercises that Assagioli proposed are meant to be metaphorical rather than ultimate pronouncements about Reality (for example, the oval diagram, the star diagram, or the Disidentification Exercise). Reading this, I realize that I have often approached and used most of Assagioli’s teachings in just this way—trying them on for size, as it were, seeing what effect they have on my behaviour and consciousness, and asking myself if they really work for me. If they do, great! If they don’t, forget about it!
Systems Thinking and Psychosynthesis
When I began to study systems thinking in the 1990s, I recognized that psychosynthesis is a systems psychology, and I even wrote a paper on that theme! So I am excited that Frater explicitly shows how Assagioli was a systems thinker, way before “systems thinking” was widely known.
Indeed, I could say that Assagioli was an early ecological thinker. I acknowledge that most Indigenous cultures and many Eastern religious traditions (which Assagioli studied) were originally based in a deep ecological understanding of living systems, long before Western scientists and thinkers developed systems thinking or systems theory, or even the field of ecology.
Frater illustrates how growth and change through psychosynthesis occur in the same way that all living systems function in interaction with the larger ecosystems of which they are a part. So, rather than trying to direct a client’s process or imposing preconceived outcomes, Frater urges psychosynthesis practitioners to facilitate, support, and trust their client’s ongoing process as a living system. He not only urges this but also gives very practical guidance on how to do it.
Frater describes how synthesis is actually how healthy systems function (providing me with another “aha!”). Synthesis is the goal of psychosynthesis, of course. But true to essential systems thinking, synthesis is understood as dynamic, ecological, and ever changing in response to an ever changing world. We never arrive at a final state of being.
Imagination in Psychosynthesis
Anyone who has studied psychosynthesis knows about the importance of imagination; specifically as one of six personality functions illustrated in the “star diagram”. And many psychosynthesis practitioners use a lot of “guided imagery” and “inner dialogue” in their work with individuals and groups.
Frater goes beyond this, however, explaining just how critical and basic imagination is to psychosynthesis guiding/counseling/coaching/therapy. Psychosynthesis can help us become aware of imagination’s role in our everyday lives, in the stories we unconsciously live out in our lives, in the images and interpretations we project onto others and the larger world, in who we think we are.
As we become aware of how imagination shapes our thoughts, feelings, and behaviour, we can discover how to work with the transformative possibilities of this imagining in order to create healthier and more empowered stories for ourselves and our world. Frater guides the reader through how that works, especially in therapy, with case studies from his own practice.
Although Frater focuses primarily on one-to-one psychosynthesis therapy and counseling, I see implications far beyond the therapist’s office. Like Assagioli, I have believed from the start that psychosynthesis can and should be shared in a variety of educational settings in order to give people tools and perspectives they can apply to their own lives.
I look forward to exploring how understanding “the act of imagination” can help us all live more fulfilling and creative lives and together transform our societies, economies, and political structures to serve and sustain all of life, human and more-than-human, on this pearl of a planet.
Molly Brown
Mount Shasta, California
9 December 2025