The Seeds of the Psychosynthesis Trust – 1965-1969
Over the last few years as we have been bringing greater clarity to The Psychosynthesis Trust’s emerging organisational purpose ‘Revealing wholeness through helping people to awaken to who they really are’. Looking back at the origins of the Trust during the 1960s has provided a font of inspiration as well as offered insight into the source energy that has influenced the unfolding of the Trust even as we know it today.
We hope that in sharing more about the source energy of the Trust you too will feel inspired as well as feeling connected to the larger story that has an important place in society and in enabling human potential.
This short summary has been drawn from original documents including the 1965-1969 Board Minutes – which is an incredible artefact of about 300 hand-typed pages of the Advisory Council meetings that took place between 1965-1969.
The Context of the Time
This excerpt taken from an extraordinary Board meeting in May 1993 in which Geoffrey Laytham, who had been one of the original Trustees, gave an account of the context of the times in which the Trust was seeded.
“In 1951 there was practically no provision of psychotherapy or counselling in the UK and only medically qualified people were allowed to treat mentally ill patients. Psychology was in its infancy and still very much orientated towards behaviourism and animal experimentation. It was a relief when Abraham Maslow’s book ‘Motivation and Personality’ came out in 1954 and described his study of psychologically healthy people. This was not welcomed by most other psychologists so Maslow started a mailing list to be distributed to sympathetic colleagues. The first list was in 1957, and the third one in 1959 contained the name of Roberto Assagioli. Contact was thus made with the Psychosynthesis Research Foundation in America and regular newsletters were received from the Secretary Frank Hilton. In 1963, Assagioli had sent a draft of his exercises to interested psychologists in the UK. We tried these out and reported back to him.
His book containing revised exercises was published in 1965 – ‘Psychosynthesis – a Manual of Principles and Techniques’. In 1964 a conference was held at Attingham Park Shrewsbury under the auspices of George Trevelyan on Psychosynthesis, and it was the first public recognition of this topic in Britain. One of the speakers was Dr Gabriello Cirinei, Vice President of the Psychosynthesis Institute in Florence. From this weekend meeting, the Psychosynthesis and Education Trust was subsequently registered in August 1965.”
The pioneers of The Psychosynthesis in Education Trust
The founding source energy came from pioneering individuals who were psychiatrists, educators, psychologists, lecturers, authors, mystics and priests. They were educated and well known in their fields and were also very active in sharing their practice and interests. Several of them were born in other countries such as South Africa, Belgium, USA and The Netherlands. And a few of them had also endured hardships as their families fled Nazi Germany. There was an equal blend of men and woman and a number of them had direct relationships with Assagioli. There was an original governing body of the Trustee Board as well an Advisory Board which stewarded the day-to- day development of the Trust’s work.
The Trustee Board:
The Trustee Board comprised of 4 members including Roberto Assagioli who was perceived as ‘our Founder’. Although Assagioli was based in Italy, he made regular annual visits to the UK to give lectures and to meet with Trustees and Council members. He was active in shaping the strategic direction of the Trust and members regularly sent him progress reports.
- Dr Geoffrey Leytham: a lecturer in Psychology at University of Liverpool. Geoffrey was the person who opened the first programme in September 1965 and gave a lecture on ‘Psychological Health and Maturity’. He helped to ‘house The Trust’s physical assets in his house in the Wirral whilst the Trust was dormant between 1969 and 1974 when Diana Whitmore revivified the organisation. Geoffrey remained involved in the Trust through the 1990’s.
- Sir George Trevelyan: a pioneer of radical education in the UK and helped to inspire movements such as Lamplighters, the Soil Association, the Findhorn Trust and the Teilhard de Chardin Society. In 1947, Trevelyan was appointed Warden of Attingham Park, the first Adult Education College in Britain. Attingham Park in Shropshire is where many of the psychosynthesis annual lectures took place.
- Professor Joseph Lauwerys: a prominent educationalist originally from Belgium who played an important role in the foundation of UNESCO as well as many international educational initiatives. He was also a secondary teacher as well as being an active in building the cooperative movement.
- Paul Beard: an authority on psychical research and President of the College of Psychic Studies for 16 years and the author of Survival of Death (1966) an analysis of the arguments for and against life after death.
The Advisory Council Members
- Dr (William) Ford Robertson (Chairman): OBE and a psychiatrist.
- Mrs Anita Gregory: German: born British psychologist and parapsychologist. Gregory was a lecturer at the Polytechnic of North London.
- The Reverend Martin Israel: Originally from South Africa, a pathologist, Anglican priest, and an author of several books, most notably Precarious Living (1976), The Dark Face of Reality (1989), Angels — Messengers of Grace (1995) and The Devout Life (2001).
- Mr Johan Quanjer: was a philosopher-mystic and a central figure in the ‘New Age’ spiritual movement for more than 40 years. Originally of Dutch origin he was also an author interested in new forms of governance. 1973 he coined the term ‘pneumatocracy’ which refers to the principle of the rule of the spirit in governance.
- Mr Alexis DuPont de Bie: an American of the famous DuPont family who had a special interest in gifted children. He helped to provide initial resources including financial donations, tape recorders and his home is where the Advisory group met during 1965.
There were others on the Advisory Council who we know less about. This includes:
- Mr Blewett(Treasurer)
- Miss Mary Wignall
- Mr Alistar Samson
- Audrey Beste
Coming into form
The very first Advisory Meeting was on 6pm, Tuesday, May 25th1965 at Alexis Dupont’s home at 40 Rawlings Street in West London. At this meeting, Dr. Ford Robertson accepted the role of Chair. The first item on the agenda was the Trust Agreement and it was noted that there was to be an emphasis on ‘education’. There was £2,000 in the current account (£40,000 in today’s terms)and this was to last for about 1-2 years.
Grounding in location
From the records, it seems the Council was extremely committed and disciplined as they met regularly and consistently for 4 years. In the first few years they met every 2-3 weeks and then moved to monthly and then quarterly. Their meetings were usually from 7 to after 10pm and they kept meticulous records of all of the meetings. They tended to their relationships and also put principles for relating in place.
The issue of ‘accommodation’ became very ‘acute’ in September 1965 and so Council member Audrey Beste enlisted an indirect contact, Mrs Tawles, who offered the basement flat in her home at 20 Gloucester Walk as a home for the Advisory Group meetings. They had met at Gloucester Walk every 3 weeks during 1965.
20 Gloucester Walk
143 Talgarth Road
As the Advisory Group started to expand the work in the first year, it became apparent they needed to move to a more spacious and permanent site from which they could start to offer talks and discussion groups. Through another relational connection, Mrs. Sarah Lawrence, they found a new location at 143 Talgarth Road in Earls Court in West London. It is presumed this was her home and she offered the spacious studio in the attic for lectures and for meditation meetings. For anyone who knows these buildings, they are very large and beautiful artist studios which are located just next to Collette House- home to The Study Society at 151 Talgarth Road. Here is a little modern peak at into one of the Talgarth studios (also once known as St Pauls Studios) which might help you imagine the meetings of the past!
Discovering One’s Identity
The Trust became an official entity in August 1965 and it was registered as a ‘non-profit educational corporation’. It was initially called the ‘Psychosynthesis in Education Trust’ and commonly referred to the organisation as ‘P.I.E.’ in the Advisory meeting minutes. In the early years, as they tuned into the development of the work, the name of the organisation changed several times.
In 1966, Assagioli felt that the name of P.I.E. should be changed. He suggested that the word “education should be dropped to enable wider scope for the work” and that the organisation name was to be called ‘Psychosynthesis’. They called the organisation ‘Psychosynthesis’ for a little less than a year after which in late 1967 they then changed it to ‘Psychosynthesis in Education – An Association for the Study of Personal and Spiritual Integration’. Then a few years later in 1969, they shifted back to ‘Psychosynthesis in Education Trust’ and included the supporting statement– ‘A Search for Life Abundant’.
In the early days, one of the clear aims of the Advisory Group was to ‘disseminate’ information about psychosynthesis as well as to enlist others to help them spread the work as ‘co-workers’ and collaborators. In reading the history, ‘co-workers’ was a term that Assagioli seemed to use often with his peers.
Developing the practice
The Advisory Council saw The Trust as ‘an educator of lay people’. They placed an effort in sharing the work with educators and nurses as well as people of influence. And later in 1968, they began to develop curriculum for teachers at Theological Colleges which could help to reach enlightened church going people. They also explored working with gifted children but this didn’t develop further.
Records show they invested in advertising through magazines and newspapers such as The Spectator, New Statesmen the Times.
In 1965, the main focus of the work was the offering of a ‘General Course’ which comprised of a series of lectures on various themes as well 6 group meetings in which they practiced exercises. In 1966 there were 33 people on the General Course.
Public lectures were offered several times a year and these lectures were primarily taught by the Advisory Board however sometimes they sought ‘guest speakers’.
As they developed the work, they shared in different ways between 1965-1969 including:
- Weekly small ‘Discussion Groups’ which were hosted at 143 Talgarth Road
- An informal meditation group that met regularly at 143 Talgarth House and was hosted by Mrs. Sarah Lawrence
- ‘Public Meetings’ which were held at Leighton House (Holland Park and which is now a museum that you can visit) and were usually attended by about 50-75 people
- Regular lectures at Guildford Chapter House, Guildford Cathedral and St Augustine’s College Canterbury. They did this to further the work outside of London.
- An ‘Annual Conference’ at Attingham Park (see link for the interesting history of Attingham Adult College) which was usually attended by 100 people and had themes such as ‘The Conference on Creative Development’
They carefully recorded all of the lectures and then published and distributed them as pamphlets, exercise charts, books and mimeographs which we know as handouts which were made from a stencilling machine.
The Council clearly paid attention to quality and detail and they and made sure they invested in the best printing and recording equipment. This included using ‘a high technology’ tape recorder that Alex DuPont de Bie had donated to the organisation in 1966. He has subsequently brought back ‘the most advanced tape recorders’ from the USA so the Trust could be pioneering in its distribution.
In 1968 – 1969, P.I.E.’s offer evolved into a programme of courses. Each of the Council members would be scheduled to give the lectures and to teach the courses for the Programme.
Some of the key themes on the lectures and courses included:
- Genesis of the mind
- Relaxation- aims and techniques
- Self-actualisation
- Healing
- The Will
- Living life to the Full
- Work and Leisure in the Age of Automation
- The Art of Loving
- Loneliness
- Relationships
- From Fear to Understanding – The Quest for a Meaning to Life
- Ageless wisdom – fairy tales and myths
- Mysticism and mediumship
- Gifted children
Most of the income for the Trust during those times was generated through:
- Lecture attendee Income
- Sales of books, lecture pamphlets, charts and mimeographs
- A ‘silver collection’ for people to offer donations at events
They were very aware of their finances and made sure that they had Council members who were knowledgeable in accounting. Their running costs were just over £1000 per year -which is worth about £20,000 today. Their main expenditure was printing the material, hiring the studio and lecture halls and paying for Assagioli’s annual visit.
Building the Field
The Advisory Council was in regular contact with Frank Hilton, the President of the Psychosynthesis Research Foundation (PRF) in the US. Copies the PRF newsletters can be found here and make for interesting reading in which you can learn more about the activities of psychosynthesis in other countries during this time.
The Council was also in regular contact with the Meditation Group for the New Age (MGNA) – part of the Centre for Creative Meditation which was established in 1957 by the founding trio of Assagioli, Nancy Magor and Michal Eastcott. The Centre for Creative Meditation was housed at Sundial House in Tunbridge Wells. This is where Assagioli would stay for his annual six week stay in the UK during which international summer conferences were also held.
In her later years, Michal Eastcott (pictured below with Assagioli) bequeathed £400,000 in her will to The Psychosynthesis Trust which was used to purchase the building at 92-94 Tooley Street in April 1992.
More info on the Centre for Creative Meditation including recordings from Assagioli’s visits can be found here and here.
Michal Eastcott with Roberto Assagioli – Photo Courtesy of Creative Meditation Website
Taking a pause
On September 19th 1969 at 8pm, the Advisory Group met for the last recorded meeting. It is not clear in minutes why they decided to stop or what their intentions were – so we remain very curious about this. One could surmise that after 4 years of intense activity the Council members were tired and needed a break.
We hope that you enjoyed this summary of the Trust’s source energy of the 1960s and have found it inspiring and that it brings you closer in feeling part of this larger unfolding story.
We invite you to share your reflections on this history as well as to share any additional nuggets of history you might have that will help us to build our collective understanding of the history and heritage of the Psychosynthesis Trust.
“A group is not just a place or a gathering of people, it is also an evolving field of consciousness that gives rise to new ideas and ways of being.”
Janet Derwent, on behalf of the Sundial House Group for Creative Meditation